AustLit
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'How a community imagines the past contributes to the shaping of its present culture; influences that community's vision for the future. Yet much about the past can be difficult to access, as it can be lost or hidden. Therefore, when retelling first contact stories, especially when the documentary information is limited to a colonial perspective, how might a writer approach fictionalizing historical Indigenous figures? 'Will Martin' (2011), a tale written as part of my practice-led PhD, is a fictional retelling of the eighteenth century sailing trip, taken along the New South Wales coast, by explorers Matthew Flinders, George Bass, and Bass's servant, William Martin. This paper traces my attempts to discover how to approach fictionalizing the historical Indigenous figures that Flinders met. Examining how some non-Indigenous writers have appropriated Indigenous culture and investigating what some writers have said about non-Indigenous writers creating Indigenous characters, provided me with some guidelines. Interviews with Indigenous elders, and other members of the Illawarra community, helped me imagine the gaps in knowledge. In the fictional retelling, using unreliable narration to suggest there may be multiple stories around a single historical event, some of which we may never get to hear, became a useful narrative strategy.' (Author's abstract)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Last amended 11 Dec 2014 16:46:31
http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-10069-20130717-0031-www.textjournal.com.au/oct12/mckinnon.htm
Writing White, Writing Black, and Events at Canoe Rivulet
TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses
Subjects:
- Will Martin 2011 single work novella
- In His Own Sweet Time : Carmen's Coming Out 2004 single work criticism
- Autographs : Contemporary Australian Autobiography 1996 anthology autobiography extract
- Mutant Message Down Under 1991 single work novel
- The Lieutenant 2008 single work novel
- The History Question : Who Owns the Past? 2006 single work essay
- The Secret River 2005 single work novel
- Respect V Political Correctness 1994 single work criticism
- Carpentaria 2006 single work novel
- Plains of Promise 1997 single work novel
- The Life of Matthew Flinders 2002 single work biography
Export this record