That Deadman Dance Analysis
• How do images of space and place convey ideas about Australia in two of the texts you have studied this semester?
Kim Scott’s That Deadman Dance begins with Bobby Wabalanginy’s poetic imagination illustrating the Australian ocean shore(1-5). Throughout the whole novel, the landscapes of Australia are describes through the eyes of Aborigines and settlers, depicting two very different portraits of the land; a bountiful home and a deadly unknown land.
Similarly, Kate Greenville’s Secret River describes Australia as a harsh environment in the eyes of her protagonist; a reluctant colonist called William Thornhill.
This essay will focus on the descriptions of Australian landscapes in the views of two different communities, of the inhabitants …show more content…
Instead of trusting an indigenous tracker’s skills, a settlers goes into the bushland with his men to search for his missing daughter.
The lyrics of this song introduce us to two different voices, that argue of the different point of views of the characters. The father claims that the land belongs to him, arguing that the perimeter of a fence, his signature on paper and his hard work proves his ‘rights’ of land ownership. The aboriginal man, Albert, however defines the land as being an extension of himself, that it ‘owns’ him and thus this is where he belongs.
This duality of voices is present in many books on the colonisation of Australia, the main conflict being the settler versus the aborigines’ claim to place. While the White invaders explained their power over Australian space by qualifying it as Terra Nullis (an empty land ready for settlement), the Aborigines were present long before the first settlers, nullifying the description and redefining it as …show more content…
The history of many places in Australia includes an early period of reliance on Aboriginal people’s knowledge and then a rejection of their claims to ownership of the places gradually ‘settled’ by white people. They need their support and goodwill to tame the land.
Christine Chaine reflects on the bitter truth that in the past Menak and Bobby and others were treated with respect as owners of this place, but that now, having created a settlement Chaine and his fellows feel no such obligation: ‘It may have been expedient at one time, but was no longer necessary.’ (367)
White view of Aust/ Gothic
The landscape of Australia was Gothic.
‘All day they worked to escape the confinement of scraggly, twisted, pressing scrub. It was as if a great many limbs restrained them, disinterestedly; as if thousands of fingers plucked at their hair and clothing. Tree roots tripped them.’(49)
Governor Spender and his wife Ellen think: ‘You might drown in forest, sink and never be seen.’ (174)
‘Rain spat on the walls…made sharp silver thorns’ (3)
Aboriginal pov Settlement
However, if the Australian’s flora and fauna intimidated the White men, so did the settlements to
Kim Scott’s That Deadman Dance begins with Bobby Wabalanginy’s poetic imagination illustrating the Australian ocean shore(1-5). Throughout the whole novel, the landscapes of Australia are describes through the eyes of Aborigines and settlers, depicting two very different portraits of the land; a bountiful home and a deadly unknown land.
Similarly, Kate Greenville’s Secret River describes Australia as a harsh environment in the eyes of her protagonist; a reluctant colonist called William Thornhill.
This essay will focus on the descriptions of Australian landscapes in the views of two different communities, of the inhabitants …show more content…
Instead of trusting an indigenous tracker’s skills, a settlers goes into the bushland with his men to search for his missing daughter.
The lyrics of this song introduce us to two different voices, that argue of the different point of views of the characters. The father claims that the land belongs to him, arguing that the perimeter of a fence, his signature on paper and his hard work proves his ‘rights’ of land ownership. The aboriginal man, Albert, however defines the land as being an extension of himself, that it ‘owns’ him and thus this is where he belongs.
This duality of voices is present in many books on the colonisation of Australia, the main conflict being the settler versus the aborigines’ claim to place. While the White invaders explained their power over Australian space by qualifying it as Terra Nullis (an empty land ready for settlement), the Aborigines were present long before the first settlers, nullifying the description and redefining it as …show more content…
The history of many places in Australia includes an early period of reliance on Aboriginal people’s knowledge and then a rejection of their claims to ownership of the places gradually ‘settled’ by white people. They need their support and goodwill to tame the land.
Christine Chaine reflects on the bitter truth that in the past Menak and Bobby and others were treated with respect as owners of this place, but that now, having created a settlement Chaine and his fellows feel no such obligation: ‘It may have been expedient at one time, but was no longer necessary.’ (367)
White view of Aust/ Gothic
The landscape of Australia was Gothic.
‘All day they worked to escape the confinement of scraggly, twisted, pressing scrub. It was as if a great many limbs restrained them, disinterestedly; as if thousands of fingers plucked at their hair and clothing. Tree roots tripped them.’(49)
Governor Spender and his wife Ellen think: ‘You might drown in forest, sink and never be seen.’ (174)
‘Rain spat on the walls…made sharp silver thorns’ (3)
Aboriginal pov Settlement
However, if the Australian’s flora and fauna intimidated the White men, so did the settlements to