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First Tuesday Book Club: Navigating 'The Secret River'

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Drawing of men in boat shooting at Indigenous people on riverbank
First Tuesday Book Club: Navigating 'The Secret River'

SUBJECTS:  English, History

YEARS:  9–10


Kate Grenville's multiple-award-winning novel 'The Secret River' explores an earlier period of Australian history.

What is it that makes this novel so compelling and troubling for its many Australian readers?

As you watch this clip, consider how this book encourages readers to re-evaluate their beliefs and values.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What is meant by the term 'terra nullius'? Why is this concept so crucial to an understanding of Australian history? What do you think readers can gain from fiction that explores their histories?
  2. 2.What issues does Kate Grenville address in 'The Secret River'? Why did she set her novel in colonial times? What does Michael Williams admire about the novel? What does it force readers to do? What significance does Jennifer Byrne find in the reference to Thornhill Point? What is concealed beneath William Thornhill's house? Why does Jason Steger refer to this as a 'fantastic image'?
  3. 3.In what way/s might William Thornhill's story be seen as representative of a broader Australian story? How do the panellists interpret Thornhill's house as a symbol related to this? From what you've heard in the clip, why do the panellists consider this an important Australian novel?
  4. 4.Kate Grenville says she has 'come at the problem though imagination and empathy' so that her readers might think, 'Well, this is the actual experience of life on the frontier … What would I have done in that situation?' Fiction writers embellish historical accounts with imaginative writing to draw their readers in, but do you think there should be a limit to the level of embellishment? Why?



Acknowledgements

Department of Parliamentary Services Broadcasting.


Date of broadcast: 4 Dec 2012


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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