Australian Short Stories

This anthology includes five masterly written short stories about the most important strands of Australian history. While they all have their setting in Australia and deal specifically with Australian phenomena, they also have relevance to the post-colonial experience in general. Spanning a period of time from 1892 to 1986, they include a story that describes the harshness and inhumanity of the convict system (How Muster-Master Stoneman Earned His Breakfast by Price Warung, 1892), a short story that graphically describes the lonely and dangerous life of early settlers in the Outback (The Drover's Wife by Henry Lawson, 1892), two stories about the interaction of whites and aborigines in Australia (Marlene by Katharine Susannah Prichard, 1944 and Going Home by Archie Weller, 1986), and finally, a story that describes the suspicion and mistrust that old stock Australians harbour against the more recent immigrants (Neighbours by Tim Winton, 1985). Short Stories: How Muster-Master Stoneman Earned His Breakfast (William Astley aka Price Warung), Marlene (Katherine Susannah Pritchard), Going Home (Archie Weller), The Drovers Wife (Henry Lawson) and Neighbours (Tim Winton). The collection starts with Price Warungs How Muster-Master Stoneman Earned His Breakfast (24 May 1890), a dark and realistic description of a convicts fate in Australia in the second half of the 19th century. The following group of stories deals with the Aborigines and their problems. Marlene (1941) by Katharine Susannah Prichard skilfully uses the point of view of half-castes, of those people belonging to neither of both parent races, to blend past and present events. Thea Astleys Heart Is where the Home Is (1987), depicts the fate of a young Aboriginal mother who fights against the practice of the white colonizers the forceful removal of Aboriginal children from their families in order to integrate them into white society. Going Home (1986) by Archie Weller, the only indigenous writer in this collection, describes the disappointing experience of a young Aborigine, who, having succeeded in the white mans world as a footballer and an artist, returns to his home to celebrate his twentyfirst birthday. However, here the old poverty and the prejudices of the white people catch up with him again. Nature as a backdrop, a threat or a source of regeneration plays a great role in the third group of stories. The Drovers Wife is a realistic description of the hard and dangerous life of the early settlers in the Australian outback, whereas Trees Can Speak suggests a return to nature, a return to the source of regeneration and to oneself. In the third story of this group, The Children, the author chooses the technique of an interview between a first-person narrator (a reporter) and a hard-working father who is trapped in a moral dilemma when a forest fire breaks out in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne. Unlike the preceding group of stories , the last one is set in an urban or suburban environment. Neighbours shows a young newly married Australian couple from the suburbs trying to settle down in the part of a city where mainly immigrants live. They feel like sojourners in a foreign land and in the beginning find it difficult to accept the way of life of their neighbours. The last short story of this collection, The Lottery, is set in the 1930s shortly after the Great Depression. It describes a crucial moment in the life of a lower middle-class family in the suburbs. The protagonist, a family man who has always been the dominating partner in the marriage, is in for a big surprise when his wife wins the lottery.

How Muster-Master Stoneman Earned His Breakfast by Price Warung (William Astley)
Summary The story How Muster-Master Stoneman Earned His Breakfast by Price Warung published in 1892 deals with the penal system in Australia and the punishments of the arrested convicts. It takes place at a prison in Tasmania, Australia. One prisoner called Glancy is about to be executed for killing an overseer. From his cell he is able to observe the building of the gallow he is going to die at. Annoyed by the preparation of the prisons chaplain called Ford, he refuses to listen and tells him to leave and not to come again this night. Later Ford notices a flustered mood in the courtyard. Glancy managed to escape during the night by killing the night guard with his own weapon while he had a nap. By digging he could leave his cell quietly and run into the bush. Surprisingly Glancy returns and tells the Muster-Master Stoneman, who is the boss of the prison, that he just wanted to dishonor the grave of the overseer he killed by spitting on it. Stoneman went furious and gives 100 lashes to Glancy as a punishment for escaping. In the next morning Glancy is executed like he wanted to be. Characterization of Muster-Master Stoneman In the short story How Muster-Master Stoneman Earned His Breakfast, written by Price Warung in 1892, the Muster-Master is one of the protagonists. He is Muster-Master of the station, governor of the jail in the penal colony and a magistrate of the territory (cf. p.22, ll.78). He is a very barbaric character (cf. p.22, ll 7-10), as well as extremely cruel and sadistic as he orders Glancy to be whipped although he is executed the next day. On top of that he sends the Executioner Johnson to Glancy in order to rub salt into his wounds (cf. p.23, ll. 6-8). In the course of the story it turns out that he tries everything to make the prisoners life hell. Furthermore, he likes to demonstrate his superior position and enjoys exercising power over other people. He wants everything to be done on time (cf. p.22, l. 21) and cannot stand being contradicted (cf. p.22, ll. 4-6). Muster-Master Stoneman is called a devil by Glancy (cf. p.22, l. 18). Moreover, he is a deceptive man. He often uses a very vulgar, blasphemous language, for example, when he knows that Glancy has escaped. He calls him the [damned] hypocrite(p.18, l.15) and then cries, Its too [damned] bad! (p.18, l.17). Later his blaspheming becomes obvious when he says, By [God], Ill show you I mean it after ordering Glancy to be whipped. His name Stoneman reflects his cold personality because stones are liveless, grey and cold. After the hanging he has breakfast as if nothing had happened. He is so cold-hearted that he feels no regret or mercy.

Marlene by Katherine Susannah Prichard

Summary Mrs. Boyd and her English visitor Mrs. Allison ride to a halfcaste camp to look after Molly, who has been missing lately. The habitants of the camp try to avoid the questions about Molly and rather use their time to point out their miserable position and living conditions. They feel superior to the abos and try to be just like the white, but the white still dont accept them as equal and act superiorly, so that halfcaste live in poverty, get badly paid if they are lucky to have a job and cannot even decide to marry without agreement of the white. They neither belong to the white nor to the aborigines. In the end Molly appears having borne a baby last night. Mrs. Boyd becomes sincerely angrysince she is disappointed in her and keeps thinking about the halfcastes as immoral so that she moves the camp out of the district. (Also good for halfcastes because the camp was really bad)

Mayor Issues The short story "Marlene" by Katherine Susannah Prichard deals with life of the "half-castes" and their position in society. They live in "wurlies of bak, bagging and matted leaves".(P. 30, l.4). By reason of this plainly living conditions the hygiene is very bad. Besides, the half-castes wear "cast-off clothing of the townspeople" (l.23) which consist of "dungarees and khaki trousers, skirts and shirts grey with grime and grease (...) and also wollen jackets and coats" that were already threadbare (cf. pp.30-31, ll.21-23). The women often wear dingy black dresses and frayed cardigans (cf.p.34. ll-173-174). There is an additional problem and field which the half-castes ought to put up with: their jobs. It is very difficult to find jobs, on the grounds that the whites own land that is private property and so the half-castes are not allowed to work on a farm or in the mines, Neither they are not allowed to sell the fish they have caught nor to shoot or trop (cf.pp.35-36, l.226). All in all they have not got the oppurtnity of working or getting jobs as the whites do not want them to work on the roads (cf.p.36,ll.229-230). As soon as they have the chance to work , they would be put upon by the whites because of the pay. In addtion, the half-castes do not feel unite with the Aborigines. Although they are not able "to live in a black camps now" (P. 36,l.266). The reason is that they think and live differently. In summary, the life of the half-castes is not easy and they have to deal with many problems. On account of this loss of identity they cannot live with the Aboriginees as it complicated the social existence. Although they try to adjust their lifestyle to the whites they are not accepted and integrated in their society.

Going Home by Archie Weller

Summary The Aborigine Billy Woodward lives in Perth since 5 years, but was born in Koodup. He visited the college in Perth and continued his education in the institute of technology. He is not only sportive talented but also creative so that he earns his money as footballplayer and with his exhibitions. Billy fells more connected to the white than to his origins, the aborigines. He is ashamed of his relatives since they are ugly and not as clean as he is. When he turns 21 he decides to visit his parents and drives home in his new car. On his way he gets to know Darcy, an aborigine, who tells him of the death of his father. Buying alcohol, a conflict arises between the white barman and Billy since the white feels superior and insults him. In this key-scene Billy recognizes that he is black and never will fully assimilate in white man culture, though he lives in Perth. Arriving home, he is being welcomed by his brother, but his mother avoids speaking, because she is angry he did not turn up at his fathers funeral. Carlton and Rennie return to the city to get some more beer. When they reentered the house, they got a golden watch as a present for Billy. On the next day Billy encounters the police, who is searching for the occupants of a robbery, happening last night. Billy gets arrested since people witnessed having seen his car at the robbery and the golden watch on Billys wrest seems like the stolen one. Billy realizes again, that there is no way to escape his origins. Carlton, who committed the crime gets also arrested. Mayor Issues "Going Home" is a short story written by Aboriginal author Archie Weller. It explains to the audience the racist issues that affect the Aboriginals and the Europeans of Australia. "Going Home" is set in a small town in Western Australia called Koodup, and a small Aboriginal community nearby. Antagonism between the races grows with more anger and contempt, with the whites treating the Aborigines as less than human. The Aborigines seem to have realised that they might never get the chance to live in freedom and success, and become bitter and despairing and take actions that seem inevitably to leave them either dead or arrested. Such as drinking alcohol, doing drugs and thieving. Racism has had a major effect on Billy Woodward's life, even during his life in Perth. When Billy finds his drunken uncle on his doorstep, he yells at him and forces him away, and then moves house the next day. This is an example of how Billy is ashamed of his people, and has shunned them in order to claim a high place in society. Upon arriving home, Billy experiences his first major racist issue. The owner of the local bar uses racist language toward Billy, and refuses to sell him alcohol. When Billy's friend, Darcy Goodrich tells the owner that Billy just got home, the barman immediately says "Just got home, eh? What was he inside for?" this presumption that Billy was in jail demonstrates that the barman thinks the Aborigines only leave if they are arrested. Racism is also a problem with the police in Koodup. An example is when they arrive at the community to investigate a crime which Billys brother had committed the previous night. When they found out the Kingswood belonged to Billy, they placed him under arrest, without

even asking him if he had committed the crime. "You Woodwards are all the same, thieving boongs." Through these actions it is obvious that the police do not care about the Aboriginals rights, and do not treat them as equals. In the short story "Going Home" racism is a major issue, and has had a major effect on the different characters, both European and Aboriginal. A result of the racism is that the Aborigines feel they must "act stupid" in order to get things in the community. In Going Home, Archie Weller use metaphors to emphasise the way the Aborigines are feeling with themselves, and the way they are being treated. An obvious example of this is when Archie writes about the trees, he says they are black tortured figures, with shaggy heads and pleading arms. Ancestors crying for remembrance''. This tells of the loss of Aboriginal culture, and how they feel they are being tortured, by the racism the whites throw at them. Archie Weller's contribution to Australian readers is shown through his use of common and slang language in his story, which enables the audience to easily understand the events that occur. The novel "Going Home" successfully expresses the way racism has effected both Aboriginal and European society, and it shows that it is unnecessary for this treatment to occur.

"The Drover's Wife" by Henry Lawson

Summary "The Drover's Wife" by Henry Lawson, is a short story about a bush woman who lives with her four children and one snake dog while her husband is away droving. The drovers wife is left all alone to take care of her children. A snake enters the house and the drovers wife has to be extra careful and kill the snake before it causes any harm to her family. Snakes are known to have caused deaths to both animals and humans. The drovers wife needs to protect her children at all time, as the snake is hiding in the house. The danger of a snake in her house reminds the woman of the tough challenges she had to face alone in the bush. She fought droughts, floods, bulls and drunken men. Somewhere near dawn, she is finally able to catch the snake with the help of her snake dog Alligator and kills the one foot large snake. This is a story about life in the bush and the different challenges that a woman hast to face without presence of her husband (19 miles away from civilization, around the beginning of the 1900's , Australian bush, monotonous landscape) Plot The Introduction or Opening Stage (Exposition): The story unfolds with the description of the land and the drovers family . The drovers wife is the only adult in the house and she takes care of four children. They are very young children who are playing in the house. The Rising Action Stage: One of the children yells, when a snake is seen in the house. The cheerful atmosphere changes and the drovers wife fears the unexpected would happen. Alligator, the drovers dog, which is big and ferocious, tries to get the snake, but it disappears into the crack in the slabs. The drovers wife knows that the snake is dangerous. She brings her into the kitchen and prepares the table in the kitchen as the bed for her children. She watches over them all night long. There is fear in the drovers wife.The drovers wife waits patiently the whole night for the snake. Climax: She uses the club and hits the snake. Alligator pulls the snake out again. She continues to hit the snake. She hits the snake on its head and crushes it. The Drovers wife throws the mangled snake into the fire. The Falling Action Stage: She put on more firewood and watches as the snake burns. The boy and alligator watch the snake burn too. The drovers wife pats the dog and the dog becomes tame back. The Closure or Ending: Tommy hugs his mother and declares that he will never go droving.

Characterisation The main character in the short story is The Drovers Wife whose name is never mentioned in the story. The other characters (minor) are: - Tommy (son, who is the eldest among the children) - Alligator, the snake dog protecting the family from danger The Drovers Wife: -authoritative - protective - caring - loving - responsible, hopeful - rational - realistic/practical (down-to-earth) - innocent - helpful, hardworking - determined, brave, - worried/nervous/troubled/ frightened - hardworking - assertive, wise, careful in making decisions - supportive - anxious to see her husband Moral Value 1. It is important to appreciate and protect the gift of life 2. It is important to be responsible; love for the family; protecting the younger generation 3. It is important to be practical and act rationally; being brave to face challenges in life 4. The Need for Proper Planning to Overcome Problem

Neighbours by Tim Winton

The short story "Neighbours" written by Tim Winton is about a young couple who have moved to a new suburb where a lot of European immigrants live. First, both the young couple and their neighbours have prejudices, but after a while they find out that they can be friends and that they can help each other in their daily lives, so that everybody is happy and satisfied with their neighbourhood and their life. In the story the author doesn't use names for the characters he describes. Thus, the characters are not defined and the result of that is that the characters can be regarded as role models for everyone. The young couple lived in expansive outer suburbs before they moved. First, they feel like sojourners and don't talk to anyone. The so-called "young man" stays at home and writes his thesis of the development of the twentieth century novel. The "young woman" works in a hospital. But in autumn their life changes because they start to plant vegetables. After that the whole neighbourhood starts to talk with them and they offer their help. So the young couple becomes proud of their neighbours. Although the couple has not planned on a pregnancy, the young woman is pregnant in spring and after a short while their neighbours become aware of it. Everybody offers their help and they are very polite. After the birth of their son all the neighbours are excited and wish their best. The birth is a wonder for the young man and at the end he realizes that "the twentieth century novel had not prepared him for this." (l. 17/18) The story shows that immigrants can be seen as social enrichment to Australian society. Their great sense of community helps the couple to understand that intolerance, prejudice and discrimination are based on ignorance. They changed their attitude and at the end a nice and helpful community arose.