Discussion and Prologue Analysis The Secret River Discussion and Prologue Analysis

Discuss the following with a partner: Is Australia a racist country? “Is Australia more or less racist than other countries?” “Should public figures be sacked for racism?”

Secret River Analysis ‘Strangers’ (1-6): Can you answer the following questions? Summarise the events of the prologue What does the title ‘Strangers’ represent or refer to? Which characters are introduced in this section? What is the central issue faced by Thornhill?

Answers: 1. William Thornhill, convict, and his family arrive from England and spend their first night in New South Wales; Thornhill has his first encounter with an Aboriginal person. 2. The title describes Thornhill’s relationship with an unnamed Aboriginal man; the broader relationship of the cultures each man represents; and Thornhill’s relationship with the colonial landscape. 3. William Thornhill (the main character/protagonist), hi wife Sal, their two children (Willie and Dick) The central issue faced by Thornhill is his feeling of isolation and uncertainty in an unfamiliar country.

He feels: Vulnerable when faced with the ‘naked black man’ (p.6) He shouts ‘Be off!’ (p.5) Question: What are the motivations for Thornhill shouting at the Aboriginal man?

Answer: His instinct for self-protection, prompted by the thought of ‘his skin punctured and blood spilled beneath these chilly stars’ (p. 5) His desire to defend his family, ‘those soft parcels of flesh: his wife and children’ (p.5) A courage inspired by both his anger and his new freedom after many months as a prisoner in the close confines of the convict transport. Question: Why does Grenville choose to present this particular scene as the prologue – how does it direct our reading of the entire novel? Question: What themes can you see in the prologue?

Themes Love? Belonging/Comfort? Conflict? Land ownership? Identity?

Socio-historical Context Task: Read the article on the ‘Skeletons are out’ Access the following link and answer the following questions: ‘History Wars’ What are the ‘history wars’? Outline the two sides. What do the terms: the ‘white blind fold’ approach and the ‘black arm band’ approach refer to?

Emancipist An emancipist was any of the convicts sentenced and transported under the convict system to Australia, who had been given conditional or absolute pardons. The term was also used to refer to those convicts whose sentences had expired, and could also be used of free settlers who supported full civil rights for emancipated convicts.[1] An emancipist was free to own land and was no longer subject to penal servitude. An emancipist could be released from his or her sentence for good behaviour, diligent work, or the expiration of his or her sentence. One limitation placed upon emancipists with a conditional pardon - a ticket-of-leave - was that they were not allowed to leave the Australian colonies. This limitation did not apply to former convicts whose term of servitude had expired, or who had been unconditionally pardoned, and more than half of all male convicts did leave the Australian colonies on the expiration of their sentence [it was more difficult for women emancipists to leave, as they had fewer opportunities of "working their passage" away from the colonies].

Penal Servitude

A short history of convict Australia