 The piece was first drafted in 1990, but gained creative impetus after the composer survived the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 along with six other colleagues from Opera Australia.In partnership with the director and dramaturg Michael Campbell, the script was re-written, focussing on how traumatic events alter the way humans remember things, especially the feeling of dislocation of time and the loss of identity.The creators then workshopped the score in the Centre for Performance Studies at the University of Sydney by means of a grant from the Australia Council for the Arts and private sponsorship in 1999, and two years later scene four of the completed score was given a concert performance in the Sydney Opera House in September 2001, conducted by the noted Australian composer Richard Mills.