That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (pub date 2/28/12)

“My people and I are not so good traders as we thought.  We thought making friends was the best thing, and never knew that when we took your flour and sugar and tea and blankets that we’d lose everything of ours.  We learned your words and songs and stories, and never knew you didn’t want to hear ours.”

The British colonization of Australia is a fascinating subject, and one that I’ve found isn’t explored too often in American literature.  Just because it isn’t a part of American history doesn’t make it any less relavant to us.  The British colonists’ relations with the Aboriginal tribes of Australia seem to closely resemble those of American colonists and Native Americans.  It’s a relationship of fear and ignorance, and Australian author Kim Scott explores this history in his novel That Deadman Dance.

Set in the early part of the 19th century, the book tells the story of Bobby Wabalanginy, a young member of the Noongar tribe, and his experiences with the newly arrived British colonists at King George Town.  Some of the British are warm and generous; Dr. Cross is kind to the natives and has a special kinship with a tribe elder called Wunyerun.  After their deaths they are buried beside each other (as Dr. Cross requested), but while Dr. Cross is given a proper grave stone, Wunyerun’s grave lies unmarked.  This sets the tone for the future relations between the British and the Noongar people.   

What follows is a story of mistreatment and racism toward the indiginous tribes.  The theft of food from the colonists’ storeroom is severely punished, yet the colonists feel entitled to kill as many whales and kangaroos as they deem fit.  Years later a much older Bobby would become a local entertainer, putting on performances for the white tourists.  He is now seemingly a shadow of his former self.

I’m not exactly sure what to make of this novel.  I was excited to read it and I enjoyed the overall story, but often I found it difficult to read.  The book often switches perspectives among multiple characters and switches to different points in the timeline, and this was done in such a way that it left me unsure at times of who was speaking or who was the subject of the chapter.  However I will say that this may be due more to the layout of the unproofed Kindle version I read rather than the author’s writing style.  Af of now I only have the advance e-book copy to go by, so it may be worth a re-read when the book is published in its final format.

I also found that some subplots were introduced only to be quickly forgotten.  There was a hint of a romance between Bobby and a colonist’s daughter but then it was never brought up again.  There was a lot of description about whale hunting, but I would have liked to see that description applied more to the characters.

Still, this is an important story that deserved to be told.  The book was already released in Australia, where it won the prestigious Miles Franklin award in 2011.  If you’re interested in Australian history or world history in general, That Deadman Dance is worth reading.