It tells the history of two of Australia's early colonists. The Rev. Samuel Marsden, alias 'The Flogging Parson', was one of the most notorious Magistrates in the Colony at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Joseph Holt, alias 'Richard Hale' was an Irish political prisoner, transported to New South Wales in 1800 and subsequently imprisoned without charge, brought before the Court on false charges and transported to Norfolk Island where he was treated as a felon.