On a soft October evening in 1802, on the

lawn before Government House, eighteen-

year-old Susannah King stands watching a

French corvette under topsails as it moves

slowly into that noblest of harbors, Sydney

Cove. In this enchanted and forever-

remembered hour, the governor s daughter

awaits the returning Post-Captain Nicholas

Baudin. He is her first lover and she is to be

his last, but the echoes of their encounter

will ring with deepening tones through the

lives of many others, and through the first

turbulent decades of the Australian nation-

to-be.