Settler Colonialism in There There and The Secret River

 The Secret River is clearly connected to the concepts of settler colonialism due to the fact that Thornhill and his family were sent to Australia in the late 18th century as a form of punishment to live and work. This is settler colonialism as opposed to regular colonialism due to the time period and location. Regular colonialism is associated with colonists taking over land in Asia and Africa, draining their resources, and enslaving the native population for profit to ship back to their own land. With settler colonialism we see places like America and Australia where people went to live and start lives there. Although Sal disagrees with the plan, Thornhill recognizes the potential in the land and sets his mind to take some and start making money off of it. This is a clear example of settler colonialism as he plans to stay and take land for himself without any claim to it other than his existence on it. In Tommy Orange’s There There, we see a very different perspective of the same concept. On one hand with The Secret River, we hear about budding settler colonialism from the perspective of the colonists. However, settler colonialism is a structure not an event, so even though There There takes place well in the future, it is still about settler colonialism and the effect that it has had on the Native peoples. This is the other difference between the two: the perspective. There There is a much more powerful story coming from a Native perspective, and the story would completely negate its own intentions without this perspective. The entire point of the book was about the many different, and very real perspectives of Native people who have been urbanized living in the modern day. On the other hand, The Secret River offers an interesting perspective coming from Thornhill as he is the colonist, but is also oppressed by the systems in play that colonialism has created. This makes for a very interesting novel as different characters have different perspectives on the Native people in Australia and the class divide in London. However, I do feel as though the Native perspective is lacking. I also wonder if it would even be possible for Grenville to even write that perspective considering it is not one she has any relation to.