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'First published in 1923, The Incredible Journey tells the story of Iliapa, an Aboriginal woman, who embarks on a long, arduous journey through the Australian outback in search of her son after he is abducted by a white man. Catherine Martin said that she wrote this novel 'in order to put on record, as faithfully as possible, the heroic love and devotion of a black woman when robbed of her child'.'
'The novel presents a vivid picture of the Aboriginal people (viewed through the eyes of a white novelist), their culture, their dispossession and, in particular, this abhorrent white practice of taking Aboriginal children away from their parents.' (Source: Goodreads website)
Contents
- The Incredible Journey : Introduction, single work criticism (p. vii-xiii)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also e-book.
Works about this Work
-
The Telling of Marmel's Story
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 24 no. 2 2009; (p. 54-68) The essay discusses Brimming Billabongs, 'the first Aboriginal "autobiography", albeit simulated, but also the first fictional narrative to rely upon an Aboriginal character as a focalising persona' (55). -
'To Put on Record as Faithfully as Possible' : Catherine Martin
2005
single work
biography
— Appears in: Uncommon Ground : White Women and Aboriginal History 2005; (p. 241-256)'...The Incredible Journey, published in 1923, presented a positive view of Indigenous motherhood and raised the issue of stolen children at a time when white public opinion had little interest in or sympathy for these issues... (Source: Allen, Margaret. 'To Put on Record, as Faithfully as Possible': Catherine Martin. New ed. In: Cole, Anna (Editor); Haskins, Victoria (Editor); Paisley, Fiona (Editor). Uncommon Ground: White Women in Aboriginal History. New ed. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2005:241)
-
Ambivalent Eulogy: Catherine Martin's 'The Explorers'
1996
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , Winter vol. 41 no. 2 1996; (p. 29-47) The author argues that 'The Explorers' differs from other literary responses to the tragedy of the Burke and Wills expedition, in focussing on Wills rather than Burke as hero, in its trenchant moral criticism of British society, and in its ambivalent treatment of the terrain the explorers crossed. -
Catherine Helen Spence and Catherine Martin
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Writing a New World : Two Centuries of Australian Women Writers 1988; (p. 176-184) Spender discusses the fact that both Catherine Helen Spence and Catherine Martin were advocates of human rights, using their fiction for social change. Their viewpoints were both Australian and assertively feminine. -
Coonardoo : A 1988 Reading of a 1928 Novel
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Blast , Winter no. 6/7 1988; (p. 5-6)
-
Finding Lost Fictions : And the Rehabilitation of Romance
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 91 1987; (p. 6-7)
— Review of A Black Sheep 1888-1889 single work novel ; The Bond of Wedlock : A Tale of London Life 1887 single work novel ; The Incredible Journey 1923 single work novel -
Untitled
1924
single work
review
— Appears in: English Review , January vol. 38 no. 1924; (p. 124)
— Review of The Incredible Journey 1923 single work novel -
Fine Series of Second-Time-Around Fiction
1987
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 5 September 1987; (p. 13)
— Review of The Incredible Journey 1923 single work novel ; Lady Bridget in the Never-Never Land : A Story of Australian Life 1915 single work novel ; The Bond of Wedlock : A Tale of London Life 1887 single work novel -
'To Put on Record as Faithfully as Possible' : Catherine Martin
2005
single work
biography
— Appears in: Uncommon Ground : White Women and Aboriginal History 2005; (p. 241-256)'...The Incredible Journey, published in 1923, presented a positive view of Indigenous motherhood and raised the issue of stolen children at a time when white public opinion had little interest in or sympathy for these issues... (Source: Allen, Margaret. 'To Put on Record, as Faithfully as Possible': Catherine Martin. New ed. In: Cole, Anna (Editor); Haskins, Victoria (Editor); Paisley, Fiona (Editor). Uncommon Ground: White Women in Aboriginal History. New ed. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2005:241)
-
Coonardoo : A 1988 Reading of a 1928 Novel
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Blast , Winter no. 6/7 1988; (p. 5-6) -
Wives and Mothers Like Ourselves, Poor Remnants of a Dying Race : Aborigines in Colonial Women's Writing
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Kunapipi , vol. 10 no. 1-2 1988; (p. 76-91) Along the Faultlines : Sex, Race and Nation in Australian Women's Writing - 1880s-1930s 1995; (p. 121-134) -
Ambivalent Eulogy: Catherine Martin's 'The Explorers'
1996
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , Winter vol. 41 no. 2 1996; (p. 29-47) The author argues that 'The Explorers' differs from other literary responses to the tragedy of the Burke and Wills expedition, in focussing on Wills rather than Burke as hero, in its trenchant moral criticism of British society, and in its ambivalent treatment of the terrain the explorers crossed. -
The Incredible Journey : Introduction
1987
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Incredible Journey 1987; (p. vii-xiii)
- Bush,
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cReunion,cIndian Ocean - Africa, Africa,
