This is the story of the poet E.J. Brady who began his writing career in 1890s Sydney during the Great Strikes. Charming, charismatic and handsome, Brady forged friendships with Sydney’s radicals and bohemians. He carved a place for himself in the literary scene as the Australian poet who wrote of the sea. During his career Brady travelled the length and breadth of Australia writing optimistically of her beauty and promise in poetry and prose. In 1909 he went on holiday with his family to the remote coastal settlement of Mallacoota, escaping scandal and disgrace in the cities. Mallacoota was to become his domain where Brady styled himself as a ‘poet and pioneer’ living on nature’s frontier. In telling the story of E.J. Brady’s poetry, dreams and passions, Sarah Mirams delves insightfully into a writer’s life and Australia’s literary, social and environmental history.