Description of 11 works by the 19th-century Scottish sculptor William Brodie that were commissioned by the Scottish historiographer John Hill Burton. Burton was the first and perhaps most significant of Brodie's patrons. The sculptures were moved in the first decade of the 20th century to the home in South Australia of Burton's grandson, John Burton Cleland.

The article describes the family mythology that had arisen around some of these sculptures that have not been seen publicly since they were exhibited in the Royal Scottish Academy annual exhibitions between 1847 and 1861.