Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman (review)

Winner: 2016 black&write! Indigenous Writers Fellowship

Winner: 2018 Norma K. Hemming Award

Shortlisted: 2018 Stella Prize

Claire G. Coleman says in her author's note that her debut novel Terra Nullius is influenced by many popular works of postcolonial literature such as My Place by Sally Morgan, Benang by Kim Scott, and Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara. The influence from these stories is plain. Coleman writes with similar attitudes, anger, and frustrations with the history of Australian colonialism. While the outset of the book begins in a world with which we may be more familiar, the story swiftly transforms into a science-fiction sort of future in which the tensions between colonizers and colonized are explored from a distinctive perspective. The story may borrow elements from stories that came before, but it is inventive enough to claim its own space.

One element from postcolonial literature that many readers may find familiar are the stubborn colonizer characters. The colonizers (frequently referred to as "Settlers" in the novel) believe in the righteousness of their actions; they doubt the intelligence of the Native people and believe them to be animals; they try to tame and transform the wilderness into the homeland they left behind. Such figures as Sister Bagra, Sergeant Rohan, and the head of the Department for the Protection of Natives (who is simply called "the Devil") often meditate over their reasons for being in an alien land. Their disgust with the Native populations is matched with the hatred for the landscape. They have a necessary but irksome duty. For example, at the outset of the novel the Devil is at a loss as to "why his people settled the place . . . . There was nothing, from what he had seen, but desert. Once they had settled there his arrival had become almost inevitable. As much as he hated the weather, they needed him, or someone like him, to manage, protect, and elevate the Natives" (23). The colonizers rely upon seeing the Natives as "lesser" to enslave them and justifying these power dynamics ensures the career of all of them. The Settlers define themselves by their role in society and, thus, lack the spark, personality, and drive depicted in the Native characters.

In contrast, the Native characters in the book are shown as struggling against the bureaucratic and destructive systemic forces that the colonizers celebrate. They are fighters and rebels. The book opens with Jacky, arguably the book's protagonist, running away from his life of slavery. His running and his hunger (both physically and psychologically) define his character. The other main Native character, Esperance, is a hero of a different type. She belongs to one of the last free camps for humans in the outback and selflessly uses her skills to help her community. The fact that they do not understand an existence apart from the Settlers—and continually define themselves against or in relation to the Settlers—shows how pervasive and intrusive the system designed by the Settlers is. The action sequences featuring Jacky or Esperance are dynamic and engaging. Furthermore, their interactions with the landscape illustrate how the Australia in the book does not fit into the Terra Nullius that the Settlers have placed upon it—the land is quite full of the life of these characters, their community, and hope.

Johnny Starr is the only major character that does not fit within the role of Settler or Native. A Settler that abandoned his post as a Trooper, he flees into the wilderness of the outback. For those that do not fit, or want to fit, into the definitions of Settler society, fleeing into the untamed wild lands may be their only option of freedom. The landscape becomes entangled in the lives of each character and becomes more than mere physical space. Through the eyes of the colonizers the outback and desert are dangerous places to be avoided. The Natives move into the desert as a place of hope. Thus, Australiaas-landscape...