Constructions of Colonialism: Perspectives on Eliza Fraser's Shipwreck
I.J. MCNIVEN, L. RUSSELL &
K. SCHAFFER (editors), 1998. Constructions of Colonialism: Perspectives
on Eliza Fraser's Shipwreck.
Leicester University
Press, London.
One of the most famous shipwreck sagas of the 19th century took place on the tropical coast of northeast Australia. In 1836 the Stirling Castle was wrecked off the Queensland coast and many of the crew together with the Captain's wife, Eliza Fraser, were marooned on Fraser Island and held 'captive' by Aboriginal people. Early sensationalised and popular reports of this event represent Mrs Fraser as an innocent White victim of colonialism and her Aboriginal hosts as barbarous savages. These 'first contact' narratives impacted upon England and the policies of empire at an early stage of Australia's colonial history.
Over the past 160 years, the story of Eliza Fraser has become the subject of popular myth, fiction, opera, poetry, drama, art, film and scholarly research in the Australian and international arena. Constructions of Colonialism critically examines the Eliza Fraser episode by bringing together an interdisciplinary team of academics, authors, artists and members of the Fraser Island Aboriginal community. The first part examines the place of the Eliza Fraser incident in archaeological and historical research from Western and Aboriginal perspectives, and provides a postcolonial analysis of textual and visual representations of Aboriginal people. The second part examines 20th century representations of the event, in paintings, novels, documentaries and films, which portray the event from post-, neo- and anticolonial perspectives. As a result of this diverse, interdisciplinary approach, this book is much more that a case study of an interesting and historically significant event; it provides an exploration of the constructions of empire, colonialism, identity, femininity, savagery, Otherness, captivity and survival.