The opening scene of 'Colonial Born: A Tale of the Queensland bush' takes place at a homestead in the Australian bush. The house is described as unpretentious and made of hard-wood slabs and shingles, with a heavy chimney and verandah. The surrounding area consists of cultivation paddocks with lucerne and pumpkin vines. Behind the house is the untouched bush with dead, ring-barked trees. The scene is picturesque and particularly meaningful to the man who worked hard to make the bush yield to civilization at that spot.