William Skyvington explores the background of his maternal Irish ancestors. Their family names were Walker, Hickey, O'Keefe, Kennedy and Cranston. Among them, there was a convict and a bushranger, but most of the others were simple folk fleeing from poverty in the Old World. Rural pioneers, they were seeking greener pastures than those of their native Ireland. Their one-way journey to the Antipodes was a gigantic adventure, culminating in their helping to found a new nation.