Examples of Conflict from Secret River Part Three

A Hundred Acres

At the start of this chapter William returns from one of his trips to discover that the Aboriginals have made a campsite on part of ‘his’ land. This is one of William’s biggest fears as he now realises that he will once again have to confront the Aboriginal’s over the land. We get the idea that William does not hate the Aboriginals, rather he does not want to be involved with them, he is happy for them to be around as long as they don’t affect him. William seems to openly avoid confrontation and conflict, and this is also true of his actions with Sal, as he avoids telling her his true feelings and thoughts in order to prevent an argument.

Page 194 – In this section William goes to ‘talk’ to the Aboriginals in order to make them move on. ‘Youse lot best bugger off’ are his first words, and it is quite clear that William is uncomfortable in having them camping near him and his family. The Aboriginal woman speaks back to him and give William the impression that they have firm ideas about staying. This is where we get to see that William is beginning to understand the Aboriginals in some way. William draws an outline of his land trying to explain to the Aboriginals that this is now his land. The Aboriginals offer him some of the daisy yams to eat which he refuses, and show this obstinate streak in him that he refuses to understand the Aboriginal culture and make some effort to build a relationship with them.

Page 200 – It is on these pages that we start to see that the Thornhills are starting to become more accustomed to the presence of the aboriginals, to the extent that they have given some of them names such as, ‘Whisker Harry’, ‘Black Dick’ etc. They may have done this to make them seem less threatening and to give them a point of reference and familiarity. We also see Sal trade with the aboriginal women, but the aboriginal women treat the bonnet that Sal gives them with disrespect. It seems at this stage of the novel we get more of an insight in to the aboriginals and realise that as strange as the aboriginals are to the Thorhills, the Thornhills are just as strange to them . We also get to see these ‘savages’ becoming more human as they express their sense of humour.

On page 203 – We see Ned and Dan scorn the aboriginals for their perceived lack of work, Ned and Dan view them as lazy as they do not do any ‘work’. This is of course biased in favour of the white settlers as they have differing opinions of what constitutes work.

On page 207-210 William visits Blackwood, who seems uncomfortable to have William there. There are several revelations in this section. It is revealed that Blackwood has had a child with an aboriginal woman, and that Blackwood has learnt some of the aboriginal language and is able to converse with the woman. Grenville seems to use Blackwood to show that there are two sides in this situation, there are those that want to eradicate the aboriginals, and there are those, like Blackwood, who want to work and live with them.

On page 211 we start to see the change in relationship between Dick and the rest of the Thornhill family. Dick is quite comfortable playing with the native children, and running around naked. William goes to fetch Dick and sees him watching an aboriginal man make fire. This is an important section as we see a change in William, as he goes to slap the aboriginal man on the shoulder he stops himself, as opposed to the earlier ‘slapping’ incident. There are two important quotes in this section the first is on page 214 ‘But we’ll get you all in the end. The words came out of his mouth before he had thought. There’s such a bleeding lot of us’ This seems almost prophetic.

On page 215 ‘The thought made him gentle. There won’t be no stopping us, he said. Pretty soon there won’t be nowhere left for you black buggers’
On page 215 we start to see the start of the conflict between William and Dick, as Dick start to argue with him about the aboriginals and the fact that they don’t need a flint to start a fire. William becomes so enraged with Dick that he beats him with his belt. He does later regret this, but this is the start of the break in the relationship between them.

On page 227 – We see a trade between William and the aboriginals when he trades some flour for a piece of Kangaroo. William only gets the foot of the Kangaroo which does not have much meat on it, and we get the idea that William feels he has been done down in the trade. However William does not make an issue of it, as he does not have the language to explain. It is almost as if there has been a power shift between the Aboriginals and the white settlers, the only thing William can do is scorn the aboriginals for the way that they are cooking the meat. It turns out the meat William is given is so chewy and tough the way they cook it, that it is almost inedible which makes William all the more angry.

On page 229 – We start to see the difference between the way the aboriginals survive and the way the Thornhills survive. It appears that the aboriginals have enough time to provide food and play with the family. Whereas the Thornhill’s have to work all day in order to provide food and survive so that they don’t really have time to spend relaxing with family.

On page 230 William visits Smasher. He reveals to William that he is now catching the fresh oysters and burning them to make lime for cement, this is of course depriving the aboriginals of one of their food sources and could bring them into conflict. On page 233 an Aboriginal man confronts Smasher and seems to be communicating the fact that Smasher is taking all of their food. Smasher ends up whipping the man, but the man catches hold of the whip. The aboriginal man eventually lets go and leaves in his canoe before Smasher can get his gun.