Theme Of That Deadman Dance By Kim Scott

[Title]

‘That Deadman Dance’ by Indigenous Australian novelist Kim Scott is an exploration into the cultural divide between aboriginal and white men in post-colonial Western Australia. In the novel, Scott imagines a semi-fictionalised history of the Noongar people and non-indigenous people (both British settlers and American whalers) in a landscape closely inspired by his hometown, Albany, and the surrounding area on the south-east coast of Western Australia.

The main character, young Noongar boy (and later man) Bobby Walabanginy is the driving force of the novel, and his perspective allows us to assess themes subjectively through his worldview, but also more broadly through our own. The key themes are belonging and connection, and how these

He has a number of roles, including communicator (“Bobby knew he was a storyteller, dancer, singer” (394)) between the two cultures. He is apparently a comfortable inhabitant of both the black and white worlds, and intelligent and eager to learn from the colonisers. Thus, he find himself bonding comfortably with the British Settlers, and at home with American whalers. He crosses the disparate cultures with relative ease, meaning that his bonds with the white men seem to grow consistently, while his indigenous connections are significantly less

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WHITE FIGURES

The shift over time in the relationship between the settlers and the Noongar people is mirrored by Bobby’s relationship with his two (white) father figures. First, the altruistic Dr Cross who teaches Bobby his letters as a child. Then the merchant Mr Chaine, and indirectly his family.

Originally, Dr Cross (who’s name hints at the cross-cultural themes of the novel) is one of the few white men to openly embrace Noongar culture. He builds a strong friendship with Wunyeran, a tribal elder. Wunyeran is one of the first to die from the coughing sickness brought by the white men (implied to be tuberculosis), and when Cross also dies, he is buried according to his wishes beside his friend. Cross’ close connection to Wunyeranm, Bobby and the clan as a whole is representative of a relatively peaceful period post settlement, the ‘friendly frontier’ [ref]. In particular their joint burial offers hope of some reconciliation: ‘A lot of bad things been done here—we won’t speak of them now, my friends—but that was a good beginning.’ (p