Re-presenting the Past: Authenticity and the Historical Novel A novel and exegesis by Richard Carroll BA (UQ), Honours First Class (QUT) Creative Writing and Literary Studies Discipline Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology Submitted as a requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 ii Keywords Aboriginal people, appropriation, authenticity, Brisbane, creative writing process, culture studies, fact/fiction dichotomy, genre studies, historical novel, historiography, literary studies, practice-led research, protocols for non- Indigenous authors, Queensland history, representation, research and aesthetics in fiction, Tom Petrie, whiteness, white writing black. iii Abstract The practice-led project consists of a 51,000 word historical novel and a 39,000 word exegesis that explores the defining elements of historical fiction and the role it plays in portraying the past. The creative work Turrwan (great man), tells the story of Tom Petrie, an early Queensland settler who arrived at the Moreton Bay Penal Colony in 1837 at the age of six. Tom was unusual in that he learnt the language of the local Turrbal people and was accepted as one of their own. The novel explores relationships between the Aboriginal people and settlers with the aim of heightening historical awareness and understanding of this divisive era in Queensland’s history. I believe that literature has neglected the fictionalising of the early history of Brisbane and that my novel could fill this gap. The project is a combination of qualitative and practice-led research: qualitative through the exegesis which consists of mainly discursive data, and practice-led through the creative work. In response to questions raised in the process of writing the story, the investigation explores the historical novel in an attempt to better understand the nature of the genre and how this knowledge could inform the creative work. My research brings together diverse aspects of writing a historical novel in an original way through its examination of authenticity as a common thread. The main findings of the research are: paucity of novels set in early Brisbane and its surrounds; a definition of the historical novel; an insight into the role authenticity plays in historical fiction; reasons iv why historical novelists are under fire from some contemporary Australian historians; suggested protocols for non-Indigenous authors writing about the Indigenous people of Australia; how writing about a culture other than one’s own can benefit both cultures; the impact of the research on the writing process and; how Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland influenced the writing of the novel. v Table of Contents Abstract …..…………………………………………………...........……....….iii List of Illustrations ……………………………...……………………...…….vii Statement of Original Authorship ……………..…………………………….viii Acknowledgements …………………………...……………………….....…...ix Creative Work: Turrwan ……………………………………………...…….....1 Exegesis: Re-presenting the Past: Authenticity and the Historical Novel .....214 1. Introduction ...……………………………………….....……215 1.1 The Novel and Brisbane ….………………………....…222 1.2 Methodology ...................................................................244 2. The Historical Novel ……………….…………………...…..251 2.1 The Fact/Fiction Dichotomy ...……..……………......….252 2.2 Defining the Genre …………………….………...……...258 2.3 Authenticity ...……………………………….……...…...263 2.4 Fictive History ………………………………….…...…..272 3. White Writing Black ……………………….……….......…..278 3.1 Whiteness and Representation …...….…………………280 3.2 Appropriation, Theft and Misrepresentation ...…………291 3.3 Author, Audience and Authenticity …..................……..295 3.4 Absence Versus Inclusion …………...............…............298 3.5 On the Right Track: Journey to the Stone Country ..…...302 3.6 Application to the Creative Work .….…...…………..…305 vi 4. Writing the Novel …………………………………….……..314 4.1 From Film Script to Novel ………………………...…....316 4.2 A Sense of Place …………………………………...……321 4.3 Reminiscences: A New Look at an Old Document ...…...325 4.4 Creating Plausible Characters ………………………......344 5. Conclusion ………………………………………......………363 6. Appendix A: Timeline ........…………….……….........……..369 7. Appendix B: Illustrations .......................................................374 8. Works Cited ….………………………….…………........…..380 9. Works Consulted ……………………….……………...……397 vii List of Illustrations Figure 1 — Plan of Brisbane Town .……………………………...…..…....….4 Figure 2 — Tom Petrie ...................................................................................374 Figure 3 — Brisbane 1844 …………….…………….………..……...…...…375 Figure 4 — Aboriginal Huts ...........................................................................375 Figure 5 — Dundalli ….………………………………………..........…...….376 Figure 6 — Treadmill ……………….........................................................…376 Figure 7 — View of Brisbane 1835 …………………………....…..........….377 Figure 8 — Petrie Family House, Queen St Brisbane ……………….….….377 Figure 9 — Murrumba Homestead ………………………............................377 Figure 10 — Journal Entry ……………………………………….......……..378 Figure 11 — Samford Bora Ring ………………………...……...............….379 viii Statement of Original Authorship The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. QUT Verified Signature Richard James Carroll Date: February 2014 ix Acknowledgements Principal Supervisor: Dr Kári Gíslason Associate Supervisor: Dr Susan Carson Fran Whittred Uncle Joe Kirk Shane Carroll Final Seminar Panel Chair and Panel members And especially Rose, for her belief in me and her support at all times. TURRWAN 2 Foreword Eighteen thousand years ago the sea rose to engulf the coastal plain that extended to what are now Stradbroke and Moreton Islands in south-east Queensland. As a result of this cataclysmic event, the Brisbane River and the bay as we know them today came into being. According to archaeological evidence, Aboriginal people were present along the coast for approximately fourteen thousand years prior to the flooding of the coastal plain. The Aboriginal people saw themselves as integral to, and responsible for, the land they inhabited. They knew their country intimately – their survival depended on their knowledge of flora, fauna, landscape and weather. Country, for want of a better word, encompasses the spiritual world where the landscape comes alive through spiritual beings and ancestors; it embraces all aspects of the Aboriginal people’s relationship to the physical nature of their environment. Country is perpetuated through every aspect of daily life and particularly in ritual, dance, song, stories and art. The Australian Indigenous peoples considered themselves as custodians of the earth and its creatures. They were an integral and vital part of a multitude of interdependent bonds within the universe, and their attachment to where they lived was their essence. They believed that those who destroy country, destroy themselves. However, the English colonisers saw the world differently and had no time for what they dismissed as superstition. To them, there was only one law—their own. And they could not understand, or chose 3 not to, that the people they had invaded might also have their rules and regulations. This is the story of Tom Petrie, an early Queensland settler who arrived at the Moreton Bay Penal Colony in 1837 at the age of six. Tom was unusual in that he learnt the language of the local Turrbal people and was accepted as one of their own. Tom acted as guide, messenger, interpreter, explorer, timber cutter and surveyor for the white settlement. With the help of Dalaipi, a Turrbal clan leader, he established the property of Murrumba in the North Pine area where the town of Petrie was later named after him. The Petrie family played an important part in the development of south-east Queensland. Tom’s father Andrew was the superintendent of works for the penal colony, the first free settler and a major builder in the new town, while Tom’s elder brother John became the first mayor of Brisbane in 1859. The land that our white ancestors conquered was not an empty wasteland. Australia was inhabited by peoples who had lived and developed on our island continent since time immemorial. Through the reconciliation process we have come to recognise this heritage but there is still much to be done. Relations between black and white on Queensland’s early frontier were complex, with misunderstandings on both sides. Turrwan recounts those troubled times in an attempt to foster discussion and hopefully contribute in some way to the emergence of a balanced view of the events that forged this state. 4 Figure 1 — Plan of Brisbane Town (George Browne, 1839) 5 I now once More hoisted English Colours, and in the Name of His Majesty King George the Third took possession of the whole Eastern coast from the above Latitude down to this place by the Name of New South Wales together with all the Bays, Harbours, Rivers, and Islands, situated upon the said Coast. Captain James Cook, 22 August 1770 January 26 is a day that commemorates the armed invasion of our lands. In 1788, the British fleet landed on our soil and laid claim to land that was sovereign to 500 indigenous tribes. Every inch of our land had its own name