William Buckley was a convict sent from Britain to Australia in 1803, as part of the voyage of HMS Calcutta, which was commissioned to establish a new penal colony in Port Phillip (near the modern city of Melbourne). The colony was swiftly abandoned and on hearing that the ships were to leave to search for a new site in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), Buckley escaped with three others.

Initially avoiding contact with Indigenous Australians, he soon received help from a small family which looked after him for a time. Several months later, he met a group of Wathaurong women who welcomed him, believing he was the returned spirit of one of their people, and returned with him to their camp. Buckley remained with the Wathaurong for 32 years before his meeting with the first settlers of what was to become Melbourne and his subsequent pardon and return to European society. This book, published in 1852, recounts Buckley’s story, as told by him to the writer, John Morgan. At its publication, the account was presumed to be fictional, but it is now recognised as an accurate account of Indigenous life.