The Captive White Woman of Gipps Land: In Pursuit of the Legend - Softcover

Carr, Julie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 052284930X ISBN 13: 9780522849301

Publisher: Melbourne University Press, 1997

Synopsis

In the 1840s, in the fledgling settlement of Port Phillip, a rumor persisted that a white woman was being held captive by Aborigines in the Gipps Land bush. The reverberations of that rumor-and of the actions it precipitated-continue to this day. In the mid-1840s, as Port Phillip developed into a burgeoning provincial center, the White Woman rumor was deployed to serve numerous political and cultural ends. Sensationalist speculation in the colonial press about a white woman held in thrall by ‘ruthless savages’ fuelled anti Aboriginal attitudes and provided justification for the taking of Kurnai lands. More broadly, the White Woman functioned as an emblematic figure: a focus for the concerns of a transplanted culture coming to terms with an unfamiliar land and its original inhabitants.

About this title

About the Author:

Julie Carr gained her Ph.D. in English at La Trobe University. She has published a number of articles on The White Woman and other subjects in scholarly journals, and over 50 book reviews and articles for The Melburnian.

Review:

“Carr's is an illuminating account of the relatively brief period when the White Woman loomed large—providing a powerful justification for colonial violence on the frontier.” —The Times Literary Supplement

About this edition

• Publisher: Melbourne University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 052284930X
• ISBN 13: 9780522849301
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256