Tropical island transformations: an introduction to literature associated with Queensland's northern islands

Abstract

The paper delineates successive reinscriptions by Europeans that followed the original inscribing by Aborigines and Islanders of islands lying near the tropical Queensland coast. It traces recurrent themes in the literature that records these succesive over-writings, including Jean Devanny's unpublished travelogue, The Island and Kay Donovan's novel, Bush Oranges (Magnetic Island); E. J. Banfield's The Confessions of a Beachcomber and Dorothy Cottrell's The Singing Gold (Dunk Island); Rosaleen Love's Reefscape (Nymph Island); Thea Astley's The Genteel Poverty Bus Company (Whitsunday Islands); and tales of shipwreck and island adventure like Ion Idriess's Madman's Island, which usually present the islands as dystopias. Finally, the paper surveys novels that focus on the islands' ethnic mixtures,such as Terri Janke's Butterfly Song (Thursday Island), and Astley's The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow (Palm Island).