This is the story of the birth of Queensland's booming Gold Coast. Pioneer Thomasine and her husband, Walter John (Jack) Browne, voyaged out to South Queensland to be the first family to settle on the isolated Nerang River on what was to become the Gold Coast. Widowed at 29 with four young children, Thomasine had been hit with the news of the murder of her father and brother in New Zealand by Maoris. She gave up a privileged life in London to marry Jack, and she had a further 11 children, six of whom survived. Thomasine was a leader in fostering music and the arts in Nerang while Jack spearheaded the development of Nerang and the Gold Coast. The bridge leading from the main Highway into Nerang, named the Walter J. Browne bridge, is testimony to his community work.


The author, Sandra J. Darroch, is a great-great-granddaughter of Thomasine and Jack, and is the author of nine books, including the first, definitive, biography of Lady Ottoline Morrell.