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Searching for the secret river5/11/2023 ![]() ![]() It describes the river Grenville’s ancestors lived on, an inlet hidden by bush. The title of the novel captures this double focus. It asks provocative questions about the silences in one family, but also in our nation’s history. ![]() But The Secret River always gestured to a wider story. She wanted to fill in the blanks of inherited stories about her ancestor, a pardoned convict who may have killed Aboriginal people during Australia’s settlement. Grenville’s book began as research into her family history. Where historian Inga Clendinnen criticised Grenville for framing fiction as history, actress and director Rachael Maza has recently challenged playwright Andrew Bovell’s representation of Aboriginal experience. Should it be historians or novelists, Indigenous or non-Indigenous storytellers? ![]() The play reopens these contentious questions about who can tell the story of our shared history. Grenville’s novel sparked controversy when it was published. Neil Armfield’s new stage adaptation of Kate Grenville’s 2005 novel The Secret River invites us to think about the complex relationships between personal and national histories, and the past and the present. ![]()
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