Jane and Alice Melville are looking for respectable work and a living wage. Although well qualified - they have been given a 'boy's education' by their uncle Mr Hogarth - neither can find a suitable position. They are disinherited by their uncle who believes that this will make them into independent women. But a knowledge of accountancy, minerology and agricultural chemistry counts for nothing in a woman (even a woman like Jane Melville) in nineteenth century Scotland. Driven to desperation in their struggle to support themselves, eventually they look to Australia for new opportunities. But life in the new world has its own problems. First published in 1867, Mr Hogarth's Will adds a personal dimension to an exciting period in Australia's history and it reinforces Catherine Helen Spence's pre-eminent place in Australian literature.