Colonialism: The Concept of Property & The Secret River

     Civilization is a complicated construct. At the end of the day, that’s all it really is, though– a construct. Even so, we abide by the rules of our societies as absolute for fear of being an outcast or being punished. With entirely different standards, rules, and often moral compasses, how do two different civilizations, especially when they speak different languages, interact? What happens when they initiate a dispute? More specifically, how does one decide complicated exchanges like the possession of property or land, especially when one civilization was there first? Grenville’s The Secret River details this discrepancy and confusion under the all too real colonization of Australian Aboriginal communities by European settlers.      Though we mainly follow the perspective of Thornhill and his family, most of the settler characters show no real care or consideration of Aboriginal property. Before landing, the main mindset is that they deserve to take ...

     In “Rescuing Indigenous Land Ownership: Revising Locke’s Account of Original Appropriation through Cultivation,” S. Stewart Braun analyzes an essential quote from philosopher John Locke, which was used to justify the acquisition of land– especially taking from and relocating indigenous communities. Locke claimed that cultivation is the means by which people can establish ownership over land. Numerous 17th and 18th century politicians used this quote from a reputable philosopher to rationalize settlement. Additionally, European settlers legally claimed indigenous land to be unoccupied despite it clearly being inhabited, due to a lack of visible cultivation. Braun claims that Locke certainly did not believe in a “hierarchical ordering of human persons in order to justify colonial acquisition” and certainly believed in equality.      Instead, Braun offers ways we can use the quote to instead account for the importance of land in our lives, especially ...

     Dolores Herrero’s “Crossing The Secret River: From Victim to Perpetrator, or the Silent/Dark Side of the Australian Settlement” interprets Grenville’s intentions behind The Secret River from a multifaceted perspective, acknowledging many different criticisms and conversations had about the author. The first perspective looks at the article from the vantage point of an attempt at an Australian apology, “the apology in postcolonizing Australia,” “however indirect and insufficient, to Indigenous Australians (89). Herrero claims that Grenville’s popular novel brings out the ‘secret’ from settler colonialism’s violent history, representing the horrid massacre as a necessity. This interpretation does call into question Grenville’s representation of the Aboriginal people, as we exclusively see them through the eyes of the settlers, who are mostly bigoted. Though the intention is that we see these victims through the eyes of the colonizers, the lack of Aboriginal character o...

     Jennifer Mae Hamilton’s “‘Labour against Wilderness’ and the Trouble with Property beyond The Secret River” discusses Thornhill’s obsession with property, his “labor against wilderness,” and the significance of this portrayal for how readers are meant to interpret it. She notes that Thornhill’s infatuation with property is born of his failure to hold anything of his own until reaching Australia, and how it is the driving force behind all of his motivations, and eventually the justification for murder and colonization as it “trumps the lives of Aboriginal people, who are problematically equated with birds: ‘They got no rights to any of this place. No more than a sparrow’ (Grenville 290)” (Hamilton 5).      Eventually, despite finally claiming the property he has longed for his whole life, he should have felt triumphant, but realized too late that there may be something more at stake. While not fully accepting responsibility, the reader can tell that he ...

     Jakelin Troy’s “Language Contact in Early Colonial New South Wales 1788-1791” details real historical accounts of initial contact between English settlers and Aboriginal Australians at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson, Australia. The First Fleet is led by Governor Arthur Phillip who eventually established the colony of New South Wales. The Aboriginals and the settlers initially tried communicating on friendly terms. Additionally, aiming to establish a common language was of utmost importance for Phillip. Despite their initial affable interactions, the Aboriginals were eventually upset by the colony’s presence as colonists were stealing from Aboriginals and attacking them, all out of Phillip’s control. Very upset by the failure in communications, Phillip doled out heavy punishments to offenders in an attempt to control aggression. As Aboriginals also began retaliating with violence, he feared an all-out war. Due to the urgency of communication, in an act of desperation Phi...

Braun, S. Stewart. “Rescuing Indigenous Land Ownership: Revising Locke’s Account of Original Appropriation through Cultivation.” Theoria: A Journal of Social & Political Theory, vol. 61, no. 139, June 2014, pp. 68–89. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.libproxy.scu.edu/10.3167/th.2014.6113904. Hamilton, Jennifer Mae. “‘Labour against Wilderness’ and the Trouble with Property beyond The Secret River.” Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism, vol. 20, no. 2, 2016, pp. 140–55. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.libproxy.scu.edu/10.1080/14688417.2016.1166066. Herrero, Dolores. “Crossing The Secret River: From Victim to Perpetrator, or the Silent/Dark Side of the Australian Settlement.” Atlantis: Revista de La Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos, vol. 36, no. 1, June 2014, pp. 87–105. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mlf&AN=2014701697&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Troy, Jakelin. “Language Contact in Ear...