Who Is Australian Identity In Robert Drewe's The Drowner

Robert Drewe’s 1996 novel The Drowner is, among other things, a representation of Western Australian lifestyle, culture and identity in the late 19th century. At the time, Australia was still a young nation; an “underdog” among Western countries. However, numerous gold rushes brought wealth and prosperity to the nation, attracting millions of immigrants from mainly European countries. Australia’s national identity developed into one centred around the values of hard work, perseverance and mateship—values which are still central to our identity today. From the perspective of a 21st-century reader, The Drowner constructs its own representation of the Australian identity at this time in ways which both reinforce and challenge the dominant assumptions

Y. O’Connor, responsible for the development of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme, a landmark feat of engineering that brought O’Connor and Western Australia global recognition. Robert Drewe’s characterisation of O’Connor strongly reinforces the dominant assumptions regarding what it means to be Australian, despite his own non-Australian heritage. O’Connor is shown to act in a way which is typical of the stereotypical Australian “bogan.” He uses informal Australian vernacular, such as when he exclaims to the protagonist, William Dance, that his pet parrot is a “bloody budgerigar,” and uses idioms such as “buttering up” a person. O’Connor’s way of speaking reinforces the dominant assumption that Australians speak with aggressive vernacular and slang terms. O’Connor is also shown to take pride in his accomplishments, calling other water supply schemes “clever-dick schemes” and displaying his desire to create a scheme which will bring him global recognition. Through this characterisation, the “underdog” aspect of our Australian identity is revealed. One might consider this an ironic representation, given O’Connor’s engineering prowess, which reveals perhaps another aspect of Australian national identity: the emphasis on a person’s charismatic qualities rather than their intellectual capacity. O’Connor is arguably the most stereotypically accurate depiction of an ‘Australian person’ in The Drowner; even his distinctly non-Australian heritage could be considered an Australian quality. Almost all of the other characters in the novel could be considered non-Australians, despite their shared country of residence. In particular, the characters of Felix Locke and Axel Boehm represent foreigners who have settled in Australia through Drewe’s characterisation. Both of these characters are noted by others as being different or weird in various ways. Felix experiences