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This is one of those books I've meant to read for a long time, but never felt a strong urge until I saw the recent mini-series on TV. Sadly for me, it must have created an urge for just about everyone else to read the book as well so I had a couple of months waiting impatiently for a library copy.

I can't imagine how difficult life was for my early ancestors. Transported to new colony that very little was known about, and finding things all upside down. The seasons were different, the wildlife was unlike anything they could imagine, even the flora was different (as we see in Sal's yearning for green, deciduous trees). This was a rough start colony.

But another thing was different too. This was a land where anyone could make their fortune, regardless of how they arrived in the colony. It was an opportunity many grasped as they made new lives for themselves. There is a strong pride in Australia for our European roots and for our convict heritage.

Kate Grenville's book is concerned with this. Through convict Will Thornhill, his family, and other settlers, we see the differing attitudes of Euopeans to the Aboriginal people. From Thomas Blackwood who utters;
Ain't nothing in this world just for the taking... A man got to pay a fair price for taking... Matter of give a little, take a little. It's the only way.

To Smasher Sulliver whose view was;
Sterminate them... No one going to come straight out and say it but ain't it the only way?

Will's family provides a microcosm for how the Aboriginals were viewed. From Will, who is driven to succeed and then to protect what he sees as rightfully his, no matter the cost to the Aboriginals. To Sal, who is fearful, but attempts some interactions with those she comes across. To Dick, a child. Children will play with any child because they have not yet been taught that skin colour matters.

So the story moves toward the shocking, distressing, and inevitable ending. When I saw the mini-series I had to turn the TV off, so distressing were these scenes. The last 50 pages of this book are the same. Very difficult to read, and they a sense of shame for what our ancestors did.

Winners write the history. That's why January 26 is still celebrated and called Australia Day. Grenville gives the other side a voice in this book. She isn't didactic; in fact she shows very well the conditions European arrivals were confronted with and how the conditions supported the tensions between Aboriginals and Europeans.

The takeaway from this book is to consider the other side of our history. The side we don't like to talk about. The side we need to talk about. Our national shame.

I am sorry. We are sorry.