"This book explores the lives of the women associated with the founders of the Melbourne Mechanics' Institution. Without the willingness of these women - the wives and mothers, the sisters and daughters - to travel to a far corner of the world in support of the aspirations of their menfolk, the early history of the Port Phillip District, forerunner of Victoria, would have been very different. Under the most challenging of conditions the women provided the stability of family and community networks, enabling the men to focus on their pioneering efforts.
The book is in two parts. Part I looks at the challenges these women faced on their journey to Australia, the conditions confronting them on arrival, and their experiences in adjusting to the new set of societal expectations that existed in the primitive but fast-evolving community.
Part II of the book presents studies of a number of these women, setting the scene with the pioneering experiences of Port Phillip's initial "First Ladies". Their intriguing stories, and those of the other early women studied, shed a fresh light on the fledgling settlement." -- Back cover