The song's title comes from a poem by
Thomas Osbert Mordaunt. During the band's appearance on the live music TV show
Cold: Live At The Chapel, Richards revealed the song was written while he was housesitting for
Deborah Conway, and was inspired by, and named after, a book she owned about an Australian wartime photographer
Neil Davis. Richards has said, "Deborah has a wonderful collection of records and books. She was on holidays, so I was looking after the house and taking advantage of all that. I was also listening to a lot of early
Bob Dylan, which would explain the chord progression." The song was picked up and played by radio station
Triple J then later by
Nova, giving the song more radio exposure. During its original chart run in 2006, the song reached number 33 on the
ARIA Singles Chart. Following its win, the track re-entered the ARIA chart at number 29, its peak, the next month. ==Reception==