The novel follows the life of an English prisoner shipped to the first penal colonies in Australia in the 18th century. Much of the novel is set in the penal colony on Norfolk Island. It starts off with the prisoner's life in Bristol, England and describes in detail his survival of the transportation on a prison ship to Norfolk Island and how he dared to hope in the hard life of a convict.
Gavin Lockley worked closely with Colleen McCullough and spent most of 2010 on Norfolk Island, the penal colony to which the musical's main character Richard Morgan was sent. Lockley's previous works including The Symphony of Australia and Ballads of the Bush have sought to express the history and essence of the nation and create a distinctive national musical heritage. Whilst Ballads of the Bush sets popular Australian verse to music, and the Symphony of Australia celebrates a nation, Morgan's Run is a narrative about the founding of a nation and its character.[3]
