In 1868, after their father is wrongfully convicted and deported on the last prison ship to Australia, twelve-year-old Patrick and the rest of the McWaid family determine to stay together and follow him to the far-off continent

In Australia, having settled with their family in a kind but mysterious riverboat captain's shantyhouse, twelve-year-old Patrick and his older sister Becky are captured by bushrangers

Book 3 in the Adventures Down Under series for middle-grade readers. Patrick McWaid continues to search for his father in the 1860s Australia, but heavy rains make river travel perilous and threaten their lives.

In late nineteenth-century Australia, as tension mounts between the white settlers and a band of aborigines at Dingo Creek, thirteen-year-old Patrick takes sides when he helps teach the aborigines how to play cricket

Thirteen-year-old Patrick McWaid and his entire family must rush to raise his grandfather's paddle steamer from the river bottom, repair her and deliver her to her new half owner or his grandfather will lose his remaining half ownership. Along the way they face adventures typical of Australia in the 1860s.In Australia in the 1860s, thirteen-year-old Patrick McWaid and his family rush to raise his grandfather's paddle steamer from the river bottom, repair her, and deliver her to her new half owner before his grandfather loses his remaining half ownership

During the drought-stricken year of 1869, Michael McWaid gets swept away by a hot-air balloon along with his brother Patrick, and the boys must make their way home in spite of dust storms and a devastating fire that nearly destroys the city of Wentworth,Australia.During the drought-stricken year of 1869, Michael McWaid gets swept away by a hot-air balloon along with his brother Patrick, and the boys must make their way home in spite of dust storms and a devastating fire that nearly destroys the city of Wentworth,Australia

When thirteen-year-old Patrick and his family befriend a young Chinese immigrant who arrives in Australia in 1855, they face the prejudices of local miners

While helping his family operate a paddle steamer along the Murray River in Australia during the 1860s, thirteen-year-old Patrick gets into serious trouble because of his friend