First published in five volumes by George Robertson 1877-8. This abridged edition 1969.

Contents:

Part one: Down and out:
A morning at the hospital [Melbourne Hospital].
The outcasts of Melbourne.
A night in the Model Lodging-House.
Sydney Common lodging houses.
The waifs and strays of Sydney.
Sixpenny restaurants.
Pauper funerals.

Part two: Life in prison:
Six hours in a dark cell.
A month in Pentridge.
Gately the Hangman.

Part three: Middle class morality:
In a fashionable church [Scots Church, Collins Street].
A suburban church [Christ Church, South Yarra].
At a bazaar [St Luke’s Church and Parsonage, Emerald Hill].
‘Sabbath-breaking’ in Sydney.
Sydney theatres and bars.

Part four: Cold charity:
A day in the Immigrants’ Home [Melbourne].
Three days in the Benevolent Asylum [Melbourne].
At the Sailors’ Home [Melbourne].
Ragged schools.
State baby-farming [boarding out system].

Part five: Manly sports:
A brutal football match [Melbourne Football Club versus Carlton].
Boxing with skin gloves.
Bare knuckle bouts.

Part six: The demi-monde [crime and criminals]:
The theatre vestibules.
The Magdalen Asylum [prostitution].
The Protestant Female Refuge.

A ‘Vagabond’ bibliography.

Index.