A vessel lying abandoned on the mudflats of Hindmarsh Island in South Australia lived for over 60 years after 1891. In that time it passed through the hands of 10 different owners and operators. Its working life is set against a backdrop of tumultuous political, social and environmental events that served not only to unhinge and uproot people and families, but also entire institutions and the youth of a nation, viz. the closing years of the Australian Industrial Revolution; two world wars; two international economic depressions; and in the face of threats real or imagined, the ...