Malloonkai by Donald Stuart

Malloonkai

by Donald Stuart

Georgian House, 1976, [First Edition], ISBN 0855855010, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, a little foxing to fore edges, dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, a little discolouration (see photographs)

“Malloonkai, the story of Ilbarana’s son, tells of the growing confusion of identity, property and life-style among the aboriginal people as the white man begins to use them and their land in his alien way.  We see the young men tempted by the easy the young men tempted by the easy road to distinction presented by knowledge of the white skills – riding, roping, branding – and we see the elders threatened by the fact that they are too old to be useful to the white man.  Still, though, there is the way of the People, the ceremonies, the secret life.  Malloonkai lives both, working on the station but still from time to time pursuing spiritual growth after the custom of his fore-fathers.
We also see the master/domestic animal relationship between those early white settlers and their aboriginal workers.  The latter are confused by the white man’s devotion to Work, his Law, his relationships with his women and their own.  Confusion occasionally turns to conflict and then, if station justice fails it is a matter for Mandamaranga, the policeman and Djillaman, the gun.  So it is for Malloonkai, and for the young Tjakarana, the next generation, as the novel ends again in death.”