Keywords Acculturation , Alcoholism , Catastrophe , Children , Colonialism , Developing Countries , Family Relationships , Homicide , Impaired Physician , Marital Discord , Medical Mistakes , Memory , Mental Illness , Power Relations , Sexual Abuse , Sexuality , Society Summary Doebin is an island reserve for Aborigines off the coast of north Queensland. In 1930 the superintendent goes insane after his wife dies. He sets fire to his house, kills his children, and wounds others in a bloody rampage that ends in his being shot by an Aboriginal man. Interestingly, this superintendent was a benevolent dictator who actually appeared to care for the Aborigines, whom he considered childlike and treated in a strict paternalistic manner. The book tells this story from the perspectives of several different characters and reveals how the events of 1930 influenced their lives and bound them together in mysterious ways.
Time moves on, things change.
World War II comes and goes. On Doebin Island, however, Aboriginal people continue to be treated like prisoners. The central event of this novel takes place in 1930, when Aborigines were still confined to reserves and treated like prisoners in their own country. For example, they are forced to work for low or nonexistent wages, obey a curfew, and need the boss's permission to get married. Remarkably, the Aborigines only became full citizens of Australia in 1969, when legislation first permitted them to vote and be counted in the census.