A rambunctious and unreliable musical odyssey through the life and times of American-born King O'Malley, founding member of the Australian House of Representatives, father of our national capital and advocate for the creation of a national bank.

The plays in this volume were landmarks in the development of a rough new all-Australian theatre that celebrated the rude colour of Australian language and mores. It was a period of comedy and satire, but these plays reveal a sharp social criticism at work beneath the larrikinism.