The Last Colonials is the third novel in the series chronicling the lives of South Australia’s pioneering Ragless and Wilson families. The story continues as another family joins the dynasty with the arrival in the colony of a Scottish printer named Benjamin Brookman and his young family and their subsequent connection through marriage to the Ragless and Wilson bloodlines.
It is set in the latter part of the 19th century at a time when the colony was experiencing cycles of boom and bust during a period of rapid expansion. As the original colonials now enter their twilight years, they begin handing over the management of their businesses and pastoral leases, built up over many years with blood, sweat and tears to a new generation.
The story opens as John Ragless Jr. leaves Yalpara, his property on the Black Rock Plain near Orroroo, in the care of his sons as they continue his pastoral legacy and take up other leases in the rugged Flinders Ranges and beyond. The novel follows their lives over 25 years, highlighting their achievements and challenges, their joy and heartbreak. United by kinship, this new generation of pioneers are forced to navigate many new challenges as they continue in the footsteps of their forebears as one era gives way to the next.