“The Secret River” by Kate Grenville
This historical fiction relays the story of a Englishman transported to the penal colony of New South Wales in the early 1800s.
Perhaps the most compelling part of the book was the portrayal of the English colonists attitude toward — and resulting violence against — the aboriginal populations. Because the aboriginal people did not do things the way the English did; did not hold similar values, did not make decisions from the same initial premises, did not make sense to the English, the English population belittled and mocked and derided and verbally and physically abused them. Physical and racial differences are the most obvious differences, but I think that is the veneer over the cause of the contempt. The English didn’t hate them because they black, they hated them because they were so vastly different in lifestyle and culture. The aboriginals were hated and abused because they were Other.
I see the same pattern on one of my husband’s relative’s Facebook posts regarding his political Others. Because his political Others do not hold similar values, do not make decisions from the same initial premises, do not make sense to him, he belittles and mocks and derives and verbally abuses them.
So often, when reading the dismissive tone of the colonists towards the aboriginals, I thought of my in-law’s posts. It was the same tone, yet he would be horrified to be affiliated with the racist colonists. So much different, but so much the same.
The Secret River gave me a good look at the life and times of New South Wales in the colonial period, but it never really grabbed me. I could have easily not finished the book without a backward glance, but since it was an audiobook, I let it play whilst I did my chores.
“In 1806 William Thornhill, an illiterate English bargeman and a man of quick temper but deep compassion, steals a load of wood and, as a part of his lenient sentence, is deported, along with his beloved wife, Sal, to the New South Wales colony in what would become Australia. The Secret River is the tale of William and Sal’s deep love for their small, exotic corner of the new world, and William’s gradual realization that if he wants to make a home for his family, he must forcibly take the land from the people who came before him. Acclaimed around the world, The Secret River is a magnificent, transporting work of historical fiction” (Amazon).
