Born on Norfolk Island, William Charles Wentworth was the first European-born Australian to achieve recognition outside Australia. As a young man, he was part of an expedition to cross the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, which provided new grazing land for the colony.

In 1816, Wentworth travelled to Britain to study law and in 1819, he published the first edition of this book on New South Wales. In it, he advocated encouraging free settlers to come to the colony, establishing an elective assembly and introducing trial by jury. On returning to Australia, he spent the remainder of his political life fighting for the rights of convicts and in 1853 led the committee that drafted the constitution of New South Wales.