 First edition | |
| Author | Gary Crew |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | William Heinemann Australia |
Publication date | 1990 |
| Pages | 185 pp |
| ISBN | 1863301135 |
Strange Objects is a 1990 novel by Australian author Gary Crew. [1]
| First edition | |
| Author | Gary Crew |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | William Heinemann Australia |
Publication date | 1990 |
| Pages | 185 pp |
| ISBN | 1863301135 |
Strange Objects is a 1990 novel by Australian author Gary Crew. [1]
Strange Objects is set in and around Geraldton in Western Australia and is based on the shipwreck of the Dutch vessel the Batavia. Using the framing device of a collection of papers made by a missing boy, Steven Messenger, it is a mystery story that explores the construction of history. When Steven discovers relics from the wreck of the Batavia while on a school camp, (a diary and a mummified hand with a gold ring on it, the two inside an iron pot), he investigates the media frenzy surrounding them, and in particular the stories of two murderers, Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom, from the doomed ship who are banished to what they think is a deserted island for committing crimes of mutiny. The book parallels characters from the past and present in an exploration of human nature, and the presentation of self through the written word. It features an unusual construction, similar to Bram Stoker's Dracula in that the book is an epistolary novel; a compilation of letters, diary entries and photocopies. Hence, there is no one authoritative narrative voice, but a series of narrative voices collected in Messenger's scrapbook. Steven Messenger has several psychotic episodes and eventually kills Charlie Sunrise and a lizard in Strange Objects.
The book was partly a response to Australia's Bicentenary, which occurred in 1988. This event caused a revival of interest in Australian history, particularly in the "discovery" of the land. The bicentenary celebrated the landing of the "First Fleet" in 1788, and the beginning of permanent European settlement in Australia. James Cook charted the east coast of Australia in 1770, however there were a number of sightings and landings prior to this.
In Strange Objects, Gary Crew takes the premise that survivors from the Batavia, made it to the mainland, and lived with the Aboriginal people of the area. This actually happened, with European settlers noticing that the aboriginals had fair hair and more complex bush huts, which resembled their houses.[ citation needed ]
The Batavia, the ship they were on, sunk in 1629 with 300 people on board (and the Tyrall earlier in 1622). Two hundred and fifty made it ashore, on a tiny desolate sand bank known as Beacon Island. The commander Francisco Pelsaert took a long boat with 48 person and sailed to Java to get help, leaving the rest to wait.
The man who took charge was Jeronimus Cornelisz. Heretic and psychopath, he instantly rallied up a council and took charge. To maximize his control over the survivors, he left groups of soldiers on nearby islands to look for water and told them to leave their guns. When the soldiers found a water reservoirs on hospitable island (West Wallabi Island) they signalled to the rest with smoke. However, when no reply came, they became instantly suspicious.
Jeronimus and his men had killed over 120 people, with another 40 escaping to West Wallabi Island.[ citation needed ]
By the time help came, the soldiers had repelled attacks with improvised weapons, whereas the mutineers had far superior weapons. The commander and the rescue team came, and executed most of the mutineers. Two of the mutineers were set adrift with little food and water. They came ashore on the West Australian coastline.
Strange Objects in part examines the place of Aboriginal people, in both historical and in contemporary contexts. The contemporary context is a poor one. The Aboriginal people live in a reserve which is tattered and ruined. They largely shun contact with white society, who refer to them by the derogatory term "Abos". We also see them in 1629. Here they are masters of the land, and more adapted to survival here than the Dutch sailors. We are also shown glimpses of the 19th century, where the Aboriginal people are largely regarded as uncivilised or savage. What unfolds throughout the novel is the complexity of the Aboriginal past including its history told in rock art and passed down in oral stories.
It was also shortlisted for the Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Fiction Award (Crime writers of America).
Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Built in Amsterdam in 1628 as the company's new flagship, she sailed that year on her maiden voyage for Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies. On 4 June 1629, Batavia was wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of small islands off the western coast of Australia.
The Houtman Abrolhos is a chain of 122 islands, and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, about eighty kilometres (50 mi) west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral reef in the Indian Ocean, and one of the highest latitude reef systems in the world. It is one of the world's most important seabird breeding sites, and is the centre of Western Australia's largest single-species fishery, the western rock lobster fishery. It has a small seasonal population of fishermen, and a limited number of tourists are permitted for day trips, but most of the land area is off limits as conservation habitat. It is well known as the site of numerous shipwrecks, the most famous being the Dutch ships Batavia, which was wrecked in 1629, and Zeewijk, wrecked in 1727.
Marooning is the intentional act of abandoning someone in an uninhabited area, such as a desert island, or more generally to be marooned is to be in a place from which one cannot escape. The word is attested in 1699, and is derived from the term maroon, a word for a fugitive slave, which could be a corruption of Spanish cimarrón, meaning a household animal who has "run wild".
The human history of Western Australia commenced between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago with the arrival of Aboriginal Australians on the northwest coast. The first inhabitants expanded across the east and south of the continent.
Francisco Pelsaert was a Dutch merchant who worked for the Dutch East India Company best known for his role as the commander of the Batavia. The ship ran aground in the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coastal regions of Western Australia in June 1629, which led to a massacre of survivors orchestrated by Jeronimus Cornelisz.
Jeronimus Cornelisz was a Dutch apothecary and Dutch East India Company merchant who sailed aboard the merchant ship Batavia which foundered near the Australian mainland. Cornelisz then led one of the bloodiest mutinies in history.
The Zaandam, or Sardam, Saerdam and Saardam, was a 17th-century yacht of the Dutch East India Company. It was a small merchant vessel designed primarily for the inter-island trade in the East Indies.
A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade captors or the world in general. A person may also be left ashore as punishment (marooned).
Two Years' Vacation is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1888. The story tells of the fortunes of a group of schoolboys stranded on a deserted island in the South Pacific, and of their struggles to overcome adversity. In his preface to the book, Verne explains that his goals were to create a Robinson Crusoe-like environment for children, and to show the world what the intelligence and bravery of a child were capable of when put to the test.
Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny is a book released in 2001 by Welsh author Mike Dash about the Dutch East India Company ship Batavia, shipwrecked in 1629 on a small atoll of the Houtman Abrolhos, off the western shore of Australia.
An Antarctic Mystery is a two-volume novel by Jules Verne. Written in 1897, it is a response to Edgar Allan Poe's 1838 novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. It follows the adventures of the narrator and his journey from the Kerguelen Islands aboard Halbrane.
Wiebbe Hayes was a Dutch soldier known for his leading role in the suppression of Jeronimus Cornelisz's massacre of shipwreck survivors in 1629, after the merchant ship Batavia was wrecked in the Houtman Abrolhos, a chain of coral islands off the west coast of Australia.
Hutt River is a river in the Mid West region of Western Australia.
East Wallabi Island is an island in the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, located in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of mainland Australia.
West Wallabi Island is an island in the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of mainland Australia.
Rupert Gerritsen was an Australian historian and a noted authority on Indigenous Australian prehistory. Coupled with his work on early Australian cartography, he played an influential part in re-charting Australian history prior to its settlement by the British in 1788, and noted evidence of agriculture and settlements on the continent before the arrival of settlers.
Max Cramer OAM was an Australian scuba diver who became famous as the co-discoverer of the wreck of the Batavia on 4 June 1963. He was involved in a number of maritime archaeology projects pertaining to historic shipwrecks in Western Australia.
Wouter Loos was a soldier on board the Dutch East India Company ship Batavia, which sank on Morning Reef in the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off the coast of Western Australia in 1629. Loos had a critical role in the subsequent Batavia Mutiny, becoming the leader of the mutiny after the original leader, Jeronimus Cornelisz (Corneliszoon), was captured.
The Wiebbe Hayes Stone Fort on West Wallabi Island is the oldest surviving European building in Australia and was built in 1629 by survivors of the Batavia shipwreck and massacre. West Wallabi Island is 63 km (39 mi) from the coast of Western Australia.
Beacon Island, also known as Batavia's graveyard, is an island on the eastern side of the Wallabi Group at the northern end of the Houtman Abrolhos, in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Western Australia.