1. Land, Conflict & Characters
Symbolism
Motifs
Juxtaposition

2. The Secret River
READ: (p. 100) “They call this Broken Bay, Blackwood said. River comes in yonder. Best hidden river in the world, Blackwood said with satisfaction.”
“… Thornhill strained to find that secret river.”
“As the boat glided along on the tide, the cliffs rose sheer on both sides, mouse-grey except where the wind had exposed buttery rock, as if the landscape itself was a dark-skinned creature with golden flesh beneath.”
At this point in the narrative, what does the ‘secret river’ refer to? The actual river that runs off Broken Bay? Or something else?
What about the landscape between which the river runs? What does Grenville allude to through her description of the cliffs?

3. Possible Answer:
The secret river in this section refers both to the physical river (the Hawkesbury) and draws an inference to the original Aboriginal inhabitants of the land by alluding to the secret past of Australia. It is the greatest symbol in the book which helps to develop the central themes.
This is achieved through the metaphor of the cliffs being the ‘dark-skinned creature with golden flesh beneath.’ It’s as though Grenville wants to position readers to journey into the very wounds of the Aboriginal people who were horrendously treated by white settlers.

4. READ: (p. 101) “It seemed the emptiest place in the world, too wild for any man to have made it his home.”
But there was evidence Aboriginal people lived there: the oyster shells . A midden.
“Blackwood gave Thornhill a short judging look. One thing you best know, only time we see them is when they want us to.”
Smasher is introduced (p. 103): “Last time that bugger thieves from me, Smasher called and gave a harsh high pitched snigger.”
Blackwood (p. 104): “A man got to pay a fair price for the taking…” “Matter of give a little, take a little.”
READ: (p. 106) Will - “A chaos opened up inside him, a confusion of wanting. No one had ever spoken to him of how a man might fall in love with a piece of ground.” But he kept the thoughts in the “privacy of his own mind.” (p. 107) Blackwood warns Will not to take the land that was “the shape of his own thumb, nail and knuckle and all.” (p.106)… saying he’ll be “dead as a flea” if he did (106).

5. Questions: What conflict is being set up in this section?
What are the ideological/philosophical positions of Blackwood and Smasher?
What happens in ‘Part 6: The Secret River’ which is the culmination or climax of this conflict?
What part does Thornhill play? Why?
Who is the central character of the novel? How do you know? Why has Grenville chosen that character to be the focus of the book?

6. Answers:
Will is overwhelmed by desire for the land – the thing that for him represents security, warmth, freedom from poverty and the hunger and inferiority that goes with it. He makes a conscious decision to keep quiet about his intentions to own the very part of land Blackwood has warned him to stay away from.
Thomas Blackwood is the voice of reason – he represents truth by acknowledging that the Aboriginals inhabit the land, are actively using it for their own survival and will defend their right to do so.
Smasher uses the excuse of protecting his property and land to rationalize his own violent and murderous actions. He represents the depravity that can result if you give in to your selfishness and rage.
The massacre that occurs in ‘Part Six: The Secret River’ was planned and led by white settlers to rid the land of the blacks who were fighting back for their land.
Thornhill decides to take part because he feels he’s been left with the choice between his love for the land and his love for Sal. He decides he must rid the land of blacks to keep both the land and Sal.
Thornhill is the central character of the book because of the third person limited narration (with elements of omniscience) and the fact that Thornhill is the character whose life we follow in order to see the terrible consequences of his decision to participate in the massacre – it could be argued he gave into his greed. What do you think?

7. Questions:
Do you think these three major characters could be considered symbols in the book?
What about Sal’s part? Where does she fit in this system?
What is Grenville’s overall message according to how the actions of the characters play out?

8. Focus on Will’s Development: London Recap
Will was born into poverty. He loves Sal whose family house on Swan Lane “had always seemed a fortress against want. Surely no harm could come to a man who owned such a thing as a piece of ground with a dwelling on it.” (p. 44) In a nutshell: Will is desperate for security, safety, wealth and material possessions to guard him against the hunger and desperation of poverty. Also, he feels intense inferiority due to being a commoner in England’s strict class system.

9. Quotes:
(p. 9) “The Thornhills all stole turnips…”
(p.10) The steeples of churches are described as watching Will whose life had begun “under the steeple, the House of God.” “The building made his eyes water. On the gateposts there were snarling stone lions…”
“Your name is common as dirt, William Thornhill, she said, and the anger rose up in him.” (p.11)
“He was always hungry.”
(p. 12) “And always cold. There was a kind of desperation to it, a fury to be warm.” Will’s sister Lizzie says he was greedy as a child.
“He grew up a fighter.” (p. 15)
“The rage warmed him and filled him up. It was a kind of friend.” (p. 15)
(p. 28) Will feels inferior to the gentry who view “the boatman nothing more than part of the landscape.”
(p. 29) “The gentry seemed another species…”
(p. 31) A lady flirts with Will in the boat: “She extended her leg out in front of her, and indeed the poison-green silk gleamed with river-water, …”
Will was illiterate. Sal taught him how to read and write (p. 33). When Will is caught for stealing, “Sal took charge” (p. 60) and “her love and strength gave him heart, were a kind of wealth, he saw that others did not have.” (p. 62) Will’s powerlessness due to being illiterate and threatened with death is juxtaposed with Sal’s strength of character and resilience: “He loved her for her wit in seeing it so clear…” Sal is the more powerful and stronger character.
While they’re poor in wealth, they have each other’s love… something Will saw others didn’t have.

10. Try to answer the following questions:
Does Will overcome his feeling of inferiority due to being a poverty stricken commoner? What examples from the final section ‘Thornhill’s Place’ can you think of to support your ideas?
Does Will still have Sal’s love at the end of the book? What symbol is used to describe the relationship between Will and Sal’s relationship in the final section? (Hint: p. 324)
What about the stone lions outside Christ Church in London which Will had thrown mud at as a child? Is there a connection to them in the final section? What are they symbolic of?

11. Will vs Sal: Character Development
READ: (p. 130) “Seeing the place through her eyes, Thornhill realized how far he had travelled. He was a different man now to the one who had been silenced… by the bulk of the land. It was a place of promise to him now…”
Motif: (p. 132) “But Thornhill’s Point was so close he could see the breeze flipping the leaves of the mangroves… and a bird there on a branch.”
“He had to fight the feeling the place was mocking him.”
“He could have been the only man on earth: William Thornhill, Adam in Paradise, breathing deep of the air of his own new-coined world” (p )
“The black bird watched him from its branch. … It seemed to watch the stone coming and lifted off the branch at the last moment, swooping low overhead and away down towards the river.” (p. 134)

12. TASK: Find references to birds on the following pages: 136, 285, 286.
What is the purpose of this motif?
Throughout the book there are many references to how elements of the setting of both London and Sydney are watching the Thornhills and Will. Collect some example quotes of this from the text.
Why is this motif important to the book’s conclusion? (Hint: p. 334, the last page)