Book excerpt: This is a narrative about three Gray families and their new lives in their chosen home of Van Diemen's Land in the late 1820s There are two volumes: the first written by Kate Dougharty in the early 1950s and the second more recently by her great nephew Dr Ian Broinowski. The former sees the world through the eyes of the fours Grey girls who arrived in 1829. Their preparation for such an adventure to a remote colony 12000 miles from Ireland was to be sent to finishing school in Paris to learn music, dancing and French. Necessary attributes for catching a suitable husband. We are given a unique insight into their ethos, loves and losses while living on their property, Eastbourne, near Avoca. It is both entrancing and revealing. On their way out Margaret is proposed to by the Governor of Rio de Jenerio but realises in time that her future residence would provide all the comforts of a harem. Fifteen year old Catherine is forced to cut off the finger of her groom and falls in love with William Talbot who gives her a Claddagh ring passed down from Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth meets young Frederick Maitland Innes who eventually becomes Premier of the Tasmania and whose family line is also followed.Volume Two offers background to the social and economic theatre on which their lives are staged. Their family journey originated centuries before in Ireland during the tumultuous English Civil War when their ancestor Lt Colonel John Grey stepped ashore at Ringsend, Dublin as part of Cromwell's Army on the 15th August 1649. It goes onto explore the many events since which have steered and influenced the lives of one family and its descendants.