A story is supposed to have a beginning, a middle and an end. SHRIFT is a story that is always returning to the beginning - transportation. The transported exile often sheltered under an assumed persona as protection from the brutal environment, but oftentimes the reinvented character had fatal consequences. SHRIFT is a tale from 'beyond the limits of settlement' in early NSW. The hangings, the escapes, the mutiny and the murders are all part of our colonial history, remembered (with some historical imaginings) by the participants.