AustLit

Brennan gives a detailed eyewitness account of a corroboree held by a group he names as the Borrogorang tribe, whose lands extended from the Hawkesbury River to Cape Howe. Following the ceremony the chief's daughter, Mudra, is married to an African American, Tom Britt. Their daughter, Millie Francis Britt, spurns her Aboriginal admirer, Boomerang Whittaker, and instead marries ticket-of-leave holder Tom Simmons, an apparently reformed and devout man. After Millie is abducted by Boomerang and subseqently rescued the couple move to the Victorian goldfields, only returning to Goulburn when they learn of Boomerang's death. Once back in Goulburn Simmons's true nature is revealed and a broken-hearted Millie leaves him to follow her own path, eventually making a happy second marriage. Throughout her adventures Millie's initiative, goodness, skills and prowess sustain her, but she ends her days in hardship following the death of her second husband. Brennan sees her fate as an indictment of so-called civilisation.