Edited by Indra
A. Historical Background
The livestock industry provided a dominant part of Western Australian’s export income from around 1900 until 1960s. Labour for the industry was largely supplied by local Aboriginal population often for subsistence allowances, after they were dispossessed of their land, and hence their traditional mode of living became impossible: “They were forced to accept such employment as their hunting and gathering lifestyle was undermined. [They] found themselves in a tough world … the Aborigines laboured from sunrise to sunset” (Broome 125). The natives were thus transformed from a tribal community to a disadvantaged dependent group. The Aboriginals proved to be skilled stockmen and stockwomen although this was seldom recognized in terms of their payment and conditions. As Henry Reynolds says, “the Aboriginal men who work on the stations are frequently as competent as any white men and yet they receive usually only their feed and clothing, the food being of the roughest description and the clothing of the cheapest kind” (Reynolds 134). Moreover, their dependence was extended to a demand for “absolute loyalty” that is different little from slavery (10). This condition was underpinned “by a racist mythology which claimed that Aborigines were inferior and poor workers who needed to be firmly controlled” (Broome 127).
The expansion of the cattle industry demanded more workers on the station and so indigenous women were also employed as stock workers. However, the reality was that the women did not only work in the station but they were also forced to provide sexual services to the white men. As Broome notes, “the women drovers work all day in the saddle and all night in the swag” (127). Additionally, they were also obligated to provide domestic service at the homestead:
Black women performed a wider range of duties than white Australian domestics … [they] scrubbed, cleaned the house and verandahs, did the laundry bleaching, starching and ironing cooking meals and helped the cook, sewed, washed dishes, polished the silverware and cutlery, and cared for the manager’s children (McGrath 50)
B. Discussion
It was this relationship, part of economic exploitation, part of well-meaning pastoralism that Prichard was able to observe during her three months stay in Turee Station in 1926. Prichard was outspoken during her lifetime regarding the rights of the Aboriginal people. She denounced the ill treatment of the natives by the Europeans as “inequities and injustice” (Bird 185). This unjust situation is reflected in some of her works, which portray the clash of economic interests what Limbers call “working groups versus the colonizers” (10). Through her visit to a cattle station in 1926, she was able to see and feel the condition of the Aborigines who lived under white control Even when they were usually treated kindly and provided with their daily needs, Prichard saw that white domination was unchallenged. To some extent, this experience fostered her “political persuasion to take up the cause of Aboriginal right” in her fiction (Bird 186). This is especially shown in her novel Coonardoo, all of which try to understand the position of the Aborigines who laboured on the cattle station and at the homestead.
The novel also raises the taboo subjects of miscegenation and sexual exploitation. “The motive of [Coonardoo] was to draw attention to the abuse of Aboriginal women by white men” (Prichard in Donnan 11). These relationships were sometimes based on a rough kindness on the part of the white male, but they were never formalized and legalized as a marriage. Coonardoo’s treatment of both Hugh Watt and Sam Geary remains us of the weight of contemporary public feeling about sexual relations between black and white. Prichard’s boldness in tackling the subject resulted in a stridently negative reception of the book in some quarters:
The early hostile response to Coonardoo exposes the legacies of colonialism, in particular the white society’s cultural paranoia about miscegenation. The text clearly indicates that Hugh Watt knows that Winni, Coonardoo’s child, is his own son though he makes no attempt to recognize this relationship publicly and there was no social space for him to do so. (Bird 191)
The connections between Black and White are essential in Coonardoo because they become the central and universal theme of the story. The importance of these relations is evident from the beginning of the novel through the actions of the characters. Mrs Bessie, the owner of the cattle station, prides herself on treating the Aborigines with kindness and generosity. Her friendliness and her understanding are determining factors for the peaceful life on Wytaliba: “… Mumae had never experienced trouble with Wytaliba folks. Generous, kindly their relationship had been…”(120).
As the master of Wytaliba, Mrs Bessie still retains her sense of colonial authority. Being the colonizer, she expects the Aborigines to respect and obey her: “…If they wanted the things she had to give, she made them do what she wanted, obey her, wash, and not take anything without asking” (102). Mrs Bessie “interferes with Aboriginal marriage customs” when she asks Warieda come to an agreement by which she pays compensation for the postponement: “I will give you a horse and new blankets…if you wait until Coonardoo is sixteen” (18). Although this relationship can be seen as generous and benevolent, it masks a structure of unbalanced power. The economic superiority of the whites allows them to control the blacks. As Donnan observes: “It seems that the white station-owners, because of their dominant economic position and their belief that their morality is superior, cannot resist interfering in tribal matters” (27).
Mrs Bessie does not extend the control of them as workers to their belief system. She would not “allow any Christinising of the Aborigines on Wytaliba” (5) believing that they “should remain Aborigines” (15). Thus, despite Coonardoo’s domestic tractability, she remains a tribal person: “Mrs Bessie realized that however she might teach and train Coonardoo in the ways of a white woman, teach her to cook and sew, be clean and tidy, she would always be an aborigine of the aborigines” (29). This attempt to conserve Coonardoo’s Aboriginality is doomed for there is a sense in which Coonardoo is already “lost her own culture” because “she is bound with the culture of the settlers” (Kossew 39-40). From the moment she becomes the servant at the homestead, white culture has irrevocably influenced her attitude.
The bond between Coonardoo and Mrs Bessie is a symbol of unity between the two races. Their connection is described as a mother and child relation. Mrs Bessie treats Coonardoo as part of the family to the extent of educating her with her son, Hugh: “A year older, Coonardoo had looked after and played with Hugh when she was little soon dominated by and obedient to him. Glad of a playmate for he boy, Mrs Bessie taught Coonardoo to read, write and count, as she taught Hugh” (9). Coonardo is an intelligent girl whom Mrs Bessie could not bear to lose and she trusts Coonardoo to look after Hugh when she dies. This appropriation of Coonardoo as companion for Hugh conflicts, however, with the Aborigines’ sense of belonging and community in which they are training Coonardoo: “She was theirs by blood and bone, and they were weaving her to earth and to themselves, through all her senses, appetites and instincts” (29).
While Mrs Bessie respects the Aborigines, Sam Geary, the owner of nearby Nuniewarra station, exploits Aboriginal women to satisfy his sexual desires: “He certainly represents some of the worst qualities of the arrogant white land-owner bent on economic and sexual exploitation of the indigenous people” (Donnan 44). Furthermore, Donna points out that in order to satisfy his sexual and social needs, he takes Aboriginal women to live with him (45). He is not averse to using his economic position and power to achieve his goals as where he offers old Joey Koonarra, Coonardoo’s father, “a rifle, blankets and tobacco for the girl…”(31).
Geary’s exploitative intentions are not successful because Coonardoo belongs to Warieda. Geary, however, is not the kind of person who gives up easily. As Donnan finds, “he will not stop until he gets what he wants” (45). He is confident that one day he will be able to take Coonardoo. Hugh’s absence from Wytaliba is seen by Geary as an opportunity to fulfill his desire towards Coonardo:
Heavy and drunken, in the doorway, his eyes glazed, Geary stood, swaying, an old man with his hair on end, his face red, swollen and ugly. Coonardoo could have moved fast and away from him in the darkness. But she did not move. As weak and fascinated as a bird before a snake, she swayed there for Geary whom she had loathed and feared beyond any human being. Yet male to her female, she could not resist him. Her need of him was as great as the dry earth’s for rain. (216)
In spite of Geary’s exploitation of native women, he does not neglect the gins who have lived with him. To some extent he shows his responsibility in relation to his action by treating them well and providing for their needs:
… Geary had one house for Tamar and another for Sheba. Tamar was old and looked after the youngsters, though some of the boys went out with the stockmen now and girls had been given to passing teamsters, or drovers. (118)
Sheba is Geary’s favourite woman, he even calls her by the name “The Queen of Sheba” (118). He treats her kindly, gives her a silk dress, wrist-watch and gold necklace, and supplies her with what she needs. Sheba is also appointed as the manager of Nuniewarra, where she is in charge of the store-room. She is the person trusted to do the work behind the homestead. As Bob explains to Mollie: “Sheba looked after Geary, cooked for him and washed his clothing … He could not get along without her” (118). Geary’s attitude towards the gins arouses Mollie’s surprised: “Goodness! … But I never thought they treated gins like that” (118). Even though Geary treats the native women generously, his “uncontrollable predatory sexuality’ in taking Coonardoo triggers the destruction of the Aborigines’ tribal life on Wytaliba (Donnan 27).
The selfishness of the whites is also demonstrated by Mollie through her manner in running the homestead. Despite the fact that she is an ex-servant, she immediately established herself as the mistress of Wytaliba and insists the Aborigines call her ‘ma’am’: “She intended to be mistress in her own house. She did not mean Mrs Bessie’s way of doing things to rule Wytaliba for ever. She would go warily” (111). She also develops a sense of ownership whereby she considers the Aborigines as her servants. She forces them to work hard and obey her orders just as Mrs Amstrong had worker mercilessly:
And fancy having so many servants! Elated at the thought of her dignity, Mollie bustled the gins about as Mrs Amstrong had bustled her about so often. On the whole she was rather glad Mrs Amstrong had bustled her; insisted on her doing things properly. She would show Hugh how a house should be run, and the gins too, Mollie promised herself. This slow, lazy, go-as-you-please way of doing things would not suit her. (107).
After the birth of her children, Mollie makes Coonardoo devote all her time to their care. She also depends on Coonardoo to do all the work around the homestead. Donna suggests that Mollie’s attitude portrays “the worst traditions of white capitalist exploitation” towards the indigenous (30). This inhumane action is captured in Coonardoo:
Through all the nervy restlessness and fury of Mollie’s discontent Coonardoo was her slave. Silently, with slow grace and dignity, she waited on and worked for Hugh’s wife, very often not getting the rest at the midday with other gins, it was so difficult for her to go without. An expression of suffering and fortitude deepened on her face. (134)
Coonardo must obey Mollie’s orders because she is bound by her promise to look after Hugh, so will do anything to please Hugh and his wife. Seeing the workloads that Mollie giver her, arouses Hugh’s concern and anger because he never saw his mother put so much pressure on the gins. Hugh’s interference in the way she treats Coonardoo causes Mollie’s jealousy and she is able to sense that something had gone on between Coonardoo and Hugh in the past. Later she discovers that Winni is Hugh’s son. Knowing the fact, Mollie tried to force Hugh to send Coonardoo and Winni away because she will not bear to see them remain in Wytaliba. Hugh is confronted with a very difficult situation:
To send Coonardoo and her child away was impossible, of course, preposterous. They could not be sent away. They belonged to Wytaliba; were part of the place as the air and the trees were…. He had promised himself to keep faith with the Aborigines on Wytaliba, as they kept faith with him….(151-2. 153)
Mollie also urges Hugh to expel Warieda along with Coornardoo and Winni but he refuses because without Warieda he will not be able to run the place. Banishing Warieda is inconceivable:
… Warieda, the pride of the station, the best horseman and breaker in the Nor’ - West, what would the place be without him? And to send him away – Warieda who had resisted every tempting offer made him to work for bigger, wealthier stations? Warieda, who boy and man had served Hugh with a loyalty and friendship beyond understanding; in all the time after his mother’s death, the long years of mustering, droving, and breaking, through the droughts. It was unthinkable…. (152)
Mollie fails to persuade Hugh to exile Warieda, Coonardoo and Winni from Wytaliba. So to make Hugh pay for his “betrayal” she decided to leave and take the children with her. In leaving in this fashion she aborts any chance of establishing the sort of understanding and fruitful relationship with the Aborigines that Hugh’s mother had developed over the years.
Hugh cannot be separated from the existence of the natives on Wytaliba. His connection with them has been formed since he was a child. Their loyalty helps him to manage the station, especially after Mrs Bessie’s death, even though at the end he fails to keep Wytaliba. Warieda, in particular, has shown his devotion towards Hugh in handling the station: “…bound by loyalty and mateship – Hugh and Warieda help each other wholeheartedly in their time of crisis….” (Donnan 10). Warieda belongs to Wytaliba – therefore he has the right to live and work on the place as long as he wishes (153).
Love is also an important element in Coonardoo. Coonardo’s undying love for Hugh is clearly revealed from the beginning of the novel: “If ever mute devouring love lay in immortal eyes it lay in Coonardoo’s” (9). However, for Hugh, it is after his mother’s death that he starts to realize his desire for Coonardoo: “In all this empty world, Coonardoo was the only living thing he could speak to, Hugh knew; the only creature who understood what he was feeling, and was feeling for him” (74). This mutual understanding and spiritual affinity is shown most clearly the night their passion is first consummated by the camp fire:
Deep inexplicable currents of his being flowed toward her…. Awakened, she came to kneel beside him, her eyes the fathomless shinning of a well in the shadows. Hugh took her in his arms, and gave himself to the spirit which drew him, from a great distance it seemed, to the common source which was his life and Coonardoo’s. (77)
Although Hugh is now able to acknowledge his feelings towards Coonardoo, he cannot claim her because she is married to Warieda. However, after Warieda’s death, he does take Coonardoo as his woman because he does not want Warieda’s brother to take her as his wife according to tribal custom. Warieda’s brother works for Sam Geary, and Hugh suspects Coonardoo would soon become Geary’s mistress. His taking Coonardoo at last is thus not so much an acknowledgment of their shared elemental love, but rather a spoiling operation caused by his jealousy and disapproval of Geary. Ironically, however, even though Coonardoo lives in the house with Hugh, he refuses to accept her as his “sexual partner” (Donnan 29). This denial, in fact, leads to Geary’s successful attempt at taking her: “Coonardoo, unaware of the puritanical morality that motivates Hugh, is unable to understand his rejection of her and permits Geary’s sexual overtures” (Donnan 29). As for Hugh, his avoidance of Coonardoo causes sexual frustration that ends up with the destruction of his own life and the community on Wytaliba.
C. Conclusion
Prichard’s experience of living in the outback has given her different views about life. In the outback, she saw the unfair treatment of the whites towards the natives. Her novel Coonardoo, explores the exploitation of Aboriginal culture which she noticed during her stays on the station. Her intention of presenting the exploitation is to show whites’ domination in controlling the natives. Being superior race, with power, whites make their economic exploitation of the Indigenous by working them on the property and without getting paid.
On the other hand, Coonardoo also portrays the cruelty of the white settlers who exploit native women in order to satisfy their sexual desires. To some extent, this exploitation causes destruction of Aboriginal morality and their tribal lives, as evident in Coonardoo. As Donnan emphasizes that “the destruction are determined by three factors: first, the whites’ possession of the land; second, the emotional and sexual exploitation of the Aboriginal females; and third, interference by whites in Aboriginal social and spiritual life” (30).
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