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Australian Gothic Fiction Analysis

Jared Hermogenes
Gothic literature in colonial Australia reflected the fears and worries that
the early settlers had first settling into the country. This is evident the use
of vivid imagery in describing Australia as an eerie and spooky place. This
is shown in stories written at the time, such as The Haunt of the Jinkarras
and the Lost White Woman, which discussed a sense of ambiguity towards
the Aboriginals and the anxiety of being in an unknown space.
Colonial Australians were clueless about the presence of Indigenous
Australians at the time of their arrival, which resulted with their fear of the
Aboriginals. In the Haunt of the Jinkarras, two explorers come across a
group of borderline Homo sapiens called Jinkarras. Described as being
with long arms, shaggy heads of hair, small twinkling eyes, and were very
low of stature. the Jinkarras instill fear on whoever sees or hears their
name. Use of derogatory language is also present in The Lost White
Woman, where Aboriginals are depicted as savages and unable to process
human emotions. The menacing demeanor and description of both is
attributed to the indigenous of Australia due to the lack of understanding
that was present in the nineteenth century.
The haunted landscape is central to the colonial Australian Gothic strange happenings and disappearances are witnessed in The Haunt of
the Jinkarras and The Lost White Woman- but the territory itself is also
experienced as sinister, even demonic. Colonial Australians employed
gothic imagery to describe surroundings. The Haunt of the Jinkarras used
the cave as a medium wherein aspects of claustrophobia and fear of the
unknown were explored. In The Lost White Woman, Australia is described
as they knew less about Gippsland than we do about Central Africa. It
once more conveys Australia as this wasteland. Both texts again show
Australia in the same way the Europeans believe it to be, unexplored and
dangerous.
Gothic Australian colonial fiction was also another medium wherein
foreigners could express their apparent fear for the unknown. The Lost
White Woman is another representation of the fears of the foreigners on
the indigenous, but the tides have turned. It is loosely based on the story of
a supposed lost white woman was a powerful legend in early Gippsland
history. Settlers believed that women's clothing found in aboriginal camps
was evidence of her existence.
Colonial Australians dealing with the unknown also acknowledged the
existence of something supernatural that settled prior to their arrival. The
Bunyip is an example where the story states that the creature 'deals out
promiscuously benefits and calamities from the same hand'.Although
Aborigines seem especially familiar with it - referring to it as 'Debil-Debil'
and avoiding the waterholes it is supposed to frequent - no settlers ever

seem to have seen the Bunyip with their own eyes. This all occurs in the
beginning of their settlement in the area, although this is hindered by a
bothersome sensation of a lingering presence. Colonial Australians
believed in terra nullius. Without European temporal landmarks, Australian
authors wallowed in the believed that Australia has been undisturbed
since creation. It overwhelmed colonial Australians and allowed them be
tense about their surroundings.
A wide range of Australian Gothic texts portray Australia in a manner that is
uniquely Gothic. Australia, when considered more closely contains many
Gothic elements especially in it's past. These themes are the very
antithesis of Europe with a dark and murky convict history- a place of
isolation, dejection of ostracism and de-possession. In a colonial context,
fear was generated by the immensity of the land, intensified by fear of the
aboriginals and escaped convicts. It is with these elements that authors of
Australian Gothic fiction used effectively to portray the land and its general
atmosphere, creating a sub-genre that is uniquely Australian.

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