Connections that Created a Sense of Belonging to Transcend Time: An Examination of Female Indigenous Australian Literature

Abstract

Before Australia was colonized by the British in 1770, over 700,000 Indigenous people had been living on the land since time immemorial. Due to their longevity on the land, the Indigenous people formed deep relationships with their land, their tribe's traditions, and their families. Once the colonists arrived, they forced these Indigenous people off of their land, massacred them, and stole their children from them as a means of conquering the entire continent. The mistreatment of the Indigenous peoples suggests that their connections to their land, traditions, and family may wither, yet the literature over time suggests otherwise. This project explores the relationships of the Indigenous people with their land, tradition, and family within a variety of literature from the mid-1900s to the early 2000s.