THE INDIGENOUS STRUGGLE OF ABORIGINES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA IN THE I9TH CENTURY AS REFLECTED IN ALICE NANNUP’S LIFE IN WHEN THE PELICAN LAUGHED

  

THE INDIGENOUS STRUGGLE OF ABORIGINES IN

WESTERN AUSTRALIA IN THE I9TH CENTURY AS

REFLECTED IN ALICE NANNUP’S LIFE IN WHEN THE

  

PELICAN LAUGHED

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

  

By:

FX. RISANG BASKARA

  

Student Number: 054214058

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

  

THE INDIGENOUS STRUGGLE OF ABORIGINES IN

WESTERN AUSTRALIA IN THE I9TH CENTURY AS

REFLECTED IN ALICE NANNUP’S LIFE IN WHEN THE

  

PELICAN LAUGHED

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

  

By:

FX. RISANG BASKARA

  

Student Number: 054214058

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

  

A Sarjana Sastra Undergradute Thesis

THE INDIGENOUS STRUGGLE OF ABORIGINES IN

WESTERN AUSTRALIA IN THE I9TH CENTURY AS

  

REFLECTED IN ALICE NANNUP’S LIFE IN WHEN THE

PELICAN LAUGHED

  

By

FX. Risang Baskara

  

Student Number: 054214058

Approved by:

Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum.

  30 January 2010 Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum

30 January 2010

  A Sarjana Sastra Undergradute Thesis THE INDIGENOUS STRUGGLE OF ABORIGINES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA IN THE I9TH CENTURY AS REFLECTED IN ALICE NANNUP’S LIFE IN WHEN THE

  PELICAN LAUGHED By

  FX. Risang Baskara Student Number: 054214058 Defended before the Board of Examiners on 30 January 2010 and declared as acceptable

  Board of Examiners

Name Signature

Chairman : Dr.Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd.,M.A. __________________ Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. __________________ Member : Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum. __________________ Member : Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum. __________________ Member : Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum. __________________ Yogyakarta, 30 January 2010

  Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University Dean

  Take, Lord, and Receive Take, Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will.

  All that I am and all that I possess, you have given me.

  I surrender it all to you to be disposed of according to your will.

  Give me only your love and your grace with these I will be rich enough and will desire nothing more.

  

St. Ignatius of Loyola, from the end of the Spiritual Exercises

  

This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to

My beloved mother

  

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My deepest gratitude goes to Lord, Jesus Christ who always guides and

leads my way. Give thanks and praise the Lord! For His help and guidance, I can

finish my study.

  I would like to express my big thanks to my family; to my mother Hermin

Widayati, my father Ignatius Handoko, and my little brother Gilang Adi Prasasti

who always pray, support and encourage me. I also would like to express my

thanks to Stefani Sera Marcellina, for her love and patience, so that I finally can

finish my undergraduate thesis.

  I am really indebted to Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum. I thank her for the

guidance, the novel, the books, also the time she has given to me. I really

appreciate her for the corrections and suggestions that made me more enthusiastic

in finishing this undergraduate thesis. I would also dedicate my gratitude to

Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum. Her time, corrections and suggestions are very

precious for me.

  I would like to dedicate my acknowledgements to my friends in English

Letters Sanata Dharma University: Greg, Ika, Nana, Della, Cindy, Ria, Chandra,

Dita, Naris, Citra, Nanda; to my Magis08 friends and FCJ Sister: Mas Bertus,

Lucky, Yandu, Tommy, Mbak Eny, Martha, Thomas, Mita, Winny, Tiara, Pras,

Sr. Irene, Sr. Inez, Sr. Beta, Sr. Rachel; my friends in LISDU: Mbak Eva, Chris,

Jody, Mas Richard, Mbak Novi, Tante Diana, Mbak Dian, Mbak Uchan, Mas

  TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………… i APPROVAL …………………………………………………………… ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ………………………………………………. iii

  MOTTO PAGE ………………………………………………………. iv DEDICATION PAGE ………………………………………………... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………….. vii

ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………….. viii

  ABSTRAK ……………………………………………………………. ix

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ………………………………….. 1 A. Background of the Study ………………………… 1 B. Problem Formulation ……………………………. 4 C. Objectives of the Study ………………………….. 4 D. Definition of Terms ………………………………. 4 CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW ………………………… 6 A. Review on Related Studies …………………….…. 6 B. Review on Related Theories …………………….. 7

  1. Theory of Character and Characterization…….. 7

  2. Theory of Postcolonialism and Indigenous Struggle ……………………………………..

  9

  3. Western Australia in 19 th

  Century ……………. 14

C. Theoretical Framework …………………………… 17

  

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ………………………………….. 18

A. Object of the Study …………………………….. 18 B. Approach of the Study ……………………………. 19 C. Method of the Study …………………………….. 20

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS ………………………………………..… 21

A. Characterization of Major Character in When the Pelican Laughed …………………….… 21 B. The Indigenous Struggle Reflected by the Major Character in When the Pelican Laughed ...… 36

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ……………………………………... 52

BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………….

  56

  

ABSTRACT

FX. Risang Baskara (2010). The Indigenous Struggle of Aborigines in Western

Australia in the 19th Century As Reflected in Alice Nannup’s Life in When

The Pelican Laughed. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of

Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  This study focuses on When the Pelican Laughed, a novel written by Alice

Nannup, Lauren Marsh and Stephen Kinnane. The novel raises the issue about the

life of Alice Nannup as an Aborigine in Australia during colonialism. The novel

tells about the life of major character, Alice Nannup, and her indigenous struggle

to resist the colonizer. The writer chooses the indigenous struggle of Aborigines

in western Australia in the 19th century as reflected in Alice Nannup’s life in

When the Pelican Laughed because the writer is interested to understand the

postcolonialism and the major character’s indigenous struggles to fight the

colonizer.

  The objectives of the study are: first, to explain the characterization of major

character in When the Pelican Laughed; second, to find out the indigenous

struggle reflected by the characterization of the major character.

  The method that was applied in the study is the library research since all the

data needed were gained from references available in the library. The writer

applied postcolonialism approach in conducting the analysis. This approach

enables the writer to find out the indigenous struggles in the novel.

  As the first result of the study, the writer finds that Alice Nannup has her

own characteristics. She is described as a critical, tough, determined, brave and

insistent. The next result from the analysis is that each characteristic in each part

of the story reveals different aspects of indigenous struggle, such as the struggle to

gain the identity, justice, equality, and also struggle to protect the culture.

  

ABSTRAK

FX. Risang Baskara (2010). The Indigenous Struggle of Aborigines in Western

Australia in the 19th Century As Reflected in Alice Nannup’s Life in When

The Pelican Laughed. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra,

Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Penelitian ini difokuskan sebuah novel berjudul When the Pelican Laughed,

yang ditulis oleh Alice Nannup, Lauren Marsh dan Stephen Kinnane. Novel ini

mengangkat masalah tentang kehidupan orang pribumi di Australia selama masa

kolonialisme. Novel ini menceritakan kehidupan karakter utamanya, Alice

Nannup, and perjuangannya untuk melawan penjajah. Penulis memilih perjuangan

pribumi dari suku Aborigin di Australia Barat pada abad ke-19 yang tercermin di

kehidupan Alice Nannup dalam When the Pelican Laughed karena penulis tertarik

untuk memahami pascakolonialisme dan perjuangan pribumi dari tokoh utama

melawan penjajah.

  Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah: pertama, untuk menjelaskan penokohan

tokoh utama dalam novel; kedua, untuk menemukan perjuangan pribumi yang

tercermin pada karakterisasi tokoh utama.

  Metode yang digunakan untuk penelitian ini adalah metode penelitian

pustaka, karena semua data yang dibutuhkan diperoleh dari referensi-referensi

yang tersedia di perpustakaan. Penulis juga menerapkan pendekatan

pascakolonialisme dalam menyusun analisis. Pendekatan ini memungkinkan

penulis untuk penemukan perjuangan pribumi yang ada di dalam novel.

  Sebagai hasil pertama dari penelitian ini, penulis menemukan bahwa Alice

Nannup memiliki sifat-sifatnya sendiri. Dia digambarkan sebagai orang yang

kritis, kuat, pantang menyerah, berani dan bersemangat. Hasil penelitian yang

kedua yaitu setiap karakteristik yang ada di setiap bagian novel mencerminkan

aspek-aspek yang berbeda dari perjuangan pribumi, seperti perjuangan untuk

mendapatkan identitas, keadilan, kesetaraan dan perjuangan untuk melindungi

kebudayaan suku Aborigin.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study

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  By the middle of the 19 century, violence against the Aborigines, the introduction of European diseases, and spiritual demoralization challenged the whole structure of Aboriginal traditional society, leading to its social and economic marginalization (www.daa.nsw.gov.au/publications/StolenGenerations .pdf). In the same site, it also explains that over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Aboriginal story has involved the forced separation of Aboriginal children from their parents, and forced service on Missions. It also includes imprisonment on government reserves, and denial of the right to practice the Aboriginal culture, learn its history, speak the language, and build an empowered identity. These actions done by the colonizer led to a process of social demoralization and cultural disintegration.

  At the same time, the population of original indigenous aborigines is estimated to have decreased from an estimated 15,000 to just 850 (http://www.daa.nsw.gov.au/publications/StolenGenerations.pdf). As a result, people of mixed origin came to be regarded as ‘half-castes’ and intermarriage was actively decreased. This did not obstruct the aborigine women with British men, but since people of mixed descent were also prohibited from living or associating with aboriginal natives, it did encourage marriage between persons within the group.

  Furthermore, for persons of mixed descent, who primarily lived in the southwest of the state, the Aborigines Act 1905 had a profound impact. It enabled the removal of anyone deemed “Aboriginal native” to a Reserve and any child under 16 deemed “Aboriginal native” to a State institution. According to the website, http://www.daa.nsw.gov.au/publications/StolenGenerations.pdf, this confusing extension of the definition of ‘Aboriginal native’ meant although the children of ‘half-castes’ were excluded from the provisions of the Act, in practice ‘quarter-castes’ and ‘octoroons’ were subject to it anyway, regardless of their lifestyle. In other words, also in the same site, the Act effectively abolished the prior legal status and citizen rights of all person of indigenous descent and underpinned policy directives that established what is now referred to as the ‘stolen generations’. This is the issue included in the topic that we will discuss in this paper.

  The literary work which is used to discuss the topic is When the Pelican

Laughed written by Alice Nannup with Lauren Marsh and Stephen Kinnane.

  Although written under the form of autobiography, the life story of Alice Nannup extends the generic boundaries. Autobiography is one of the literary genres that present someone’s personal experience. According to S.H. Steinberg in Cassell’s

  

Encyclopedia of World Literature volume 1: Histories and General Articles, an

  autobiography is a literary work that “expresses the profound need for asserting meaning in individual existence” (Steinberg, 1973:74). In autobiography, experiences and events that the author has seen and experienced, play a big role in creates a unique work. This is one of the reasons why the narrator in autobiography is always in the first person (‘I’). In addition, According to Robert

  C. Pooley in Exploring Life Through Literature, an autobiographer will interpret facts subjectively who then gives “an emotional or biased version of the truth” (Pooley, 1951:263). In other words, it can be said that an autobiographer will see facts from his or her own point of view and then combine them with his emotional and personal opinion. Therefore, an autobiography focuses more on the narrator’s personal development or the first person (‘I’). The result is a counter memory, one that highlights the human suffering and tragedy that has marked the establishment of Western Australia as one state. In When the Pelican Laughed, Alice Nannup documents the repressive effects of the 1905 Aborigines Act on the lives of thousands of people. She describes how the recommendation of legalized child abduction affected the everyday lives in experiences of numerous women, men and children in this state. The major character of the story, Alice Nannup, explains in poignant details the consequences of internment in the More River Settlement, including life-long loss of contact with family, identity and independence. The main issue of this novel is how the colonizer oppressed the minor race, which is Aborigines especially those are in Western Australia.

  The topic of this study is how the indigenous struggle of Aborigines in Western Australia can be revealed through the life of the main character in the story. Here, the writer would like to analyze the major character that struggle for her own race before and during the colonialism. Therefore, the quality of the major character to bring the postcolonialism ideas is also interesting problem to answer.

B. Problem Formulation

1. How does the text present Alice Nannup, the major character, in When the

  Pelican Laughed?

  2. How does the characteristics of the major character, Alice Nannup, reflect the indigenous struggle of aborigines in Western Australia?

  C. Objectives of the Study

  The objective of this paper is to obtain the characteristics of the main character of this novel, Alice Nannup. Then by having those characteristics, the writer tries to find out how Alice Nannup’s life in the story. In the last part, the writer tries to identify Alice Nannup’s characteristic, the major character in the novel, as the

  th

  reflection of indigenous struggle of Aborigines in Western Australia in 19 century.

  D. Definition of Terms

  In order to avoid misunderstanding on certain terms the writer would like to define some terms mentioned in the title of the undergraduate thesis and in the problem formulation. Abrams in his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms, defines the character as follows.

  Character is the person in dramatic or narrative work endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say in the dialogue and what they do from the action. (1981: 21) In other words, a character can be analyzed by the action, the way she/he talk in the dialogue, the thought, and the opinion of others characters. Then, it is also important to include the definition of characterization which is defined by Guth ad Rico as follows.

  The way in which the author portrays a character for the reader. Characterization can occur through author exposition about a character as well as through the character’s actions, speech and though. (1997: 1827) In other words, characterization is the way the author exposed the characters through what the characters do, think, and talk about in the novel.

  Another term that needs to be clarified is indigenous struggle. According to Roger Makaa and Chris Andersen in their book entitled Indigenous Experience:

  

Global Perspective, the indigenous struggle can be summarized as the struggle to

  have national societies decolonized so that indigenous people are able to come in from the periphery of national life, where they most often considered social pariahs and tax burden, in order to become fully functional and productive citizens without having to assimilate (1996: 57).

CHAPTER II THEORITICAL REVIEW A. Review on Related Studies There are some reviews in the foreword of When the Pelican Laughed about

  the author. When the Pelican Laughed tells a story of Alice Nannup. Alice Nannup was born in Pilbara station 1911, of an Aboriginal mother and European father. Alice Nannup was taken at the age of twelve and sent south then trained in domestic service. After her marriage in 1932, Alice raised ten children. Known as ‘Nan’, she lived in Geraldton surrounded by her friends and extensive families until she passed away in November 1995. After a full and eventful life, including many battles with the colonizer and raising ten children, she returned home sixty- four years later ‘to make peace with my country’. Although it is a personal account of Alice’s life story, When the Pelican Laughed compellingly illuminates many aspects of the experience of Aboriginal people taken from their family community (Nannup, 1992: 2).

  There is an undergraduate thesis that also discussing postcolonialism, entitled

  

Postcolonial Characters in Maris and Borg’s Women of the Sun written by Yogi

  Yanuaro, but this thesis deal with how postcolonialism ideas can be revealed through the major characters in each story of Women of the Sun. By the middle of

  th

  the 19 century, violence against the Aborigines, the introduction of European diseases, and spiritual demoralization challenged the whole structure of Aboriginal traditional society, leading to its social and economic marginalization

  (http://www.daa.nsw.gov.au/publications/StolenGenerations.pdf). Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Aboriginal story has involved the forced separation of Aboriginal children from their parents, forced service on Christian Missions (or Government Missions), imprisonment on government reserves, and denial of the right to practice the Aboriginal culture, learn its history, speak the language, and build an empowered identity. This led to a process of social demoralization and cultural disintegration. This is the way the author sees the major character in each story in Women of the Sun and their struggle against colonialism in the time when she lives. Each major character has her own characteristic to convey the idea of colonialism.

  This undergraduate thesis develops other studies mentioned above. This study

  th

  analyzes how the indigenous struggle of Aborigines in Western Australia 19 is reflected in Alice Nannup’ characteristic.

B. Review on Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

  The theory that will be used to analyze the problem in this thesis is the theory of character and characterization since these theories will help the writer to find out the characteristics of the main character. Moreover, character is one of the intrinsic elements in the literary works. In fiction the characters are made by author’s imagination. In his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms, M.H. Abrams defines character as the definition below. as the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work who is interpreted by expressed in what they say (through dialogue), and what they do (through actions) (1981: 20). From the definition above, the writer may conclude that the characters’ moral and natural qualities are seen through their speech and action.

  Therefore, based on Abrams’ theory, the characteristics of the major character, Alice Nannup, in When the Pelican Laughed, can be drawn by her action and what she has said in the novel. According to Stanton, the use the term “character” refers to two different usages. It designates the individual who appears in the story and the mixture of attitudes: desires, emotions, and moral principles that these individuals have (1965: 17).

  Major characters are usually the major figures in a story. They have many realistic traits and are relatively fully developed by the author. For this reason, they are often given the names hero or heroine. Because many major characters are anything but heroic, it is probably best to use the more descriptive term, protagonist. The protagonist is central to the action, moves against an antagonist and usually exhibits the human attributes we expect of rounded characters. They demonstrate their capacity to change or to grow (Roberts and Jacobs, 1987: 5).

  Baldick (1990: 78) defines the term of characterization as “one of the literature elements which represent a person of figure, especially in narrative and dramatic works”. Holman and Harmon say other definition that characterization is the creation of imaginary persons. (1986: 21).

  According to M.J. Murphy (1972: 161-273), there are ways in which author attempts to make his characters understandable and alive for the readers. characterization. Direct Characterization tells the audience what the personality of the character is. Example: "The patient boy and quiet girl were both mannered and did not disobey their mother." Explanation: The author is directly telling the audience the personality of these two children. The boy is "patient" and the girl is "quiet." Indirect Characterization shows things that reveal the personality of a character. There are five different methods of indirect characterization: a. Speech: What does the character say? How does the character speak?

  b. Thoughts: What is revealed through the character's private thoughts and feelings? c. Effect on others toward the character: What is revealed through the character's effect on other people? How do other characters feel or behave in reaction to the character?

  d. Actions: What does the character do? How does the character behave? Looks: What does the character look like? How does the character dress? e.

2. Theory of Postcolonialism and Indigenous Struggle

  As stated by Ashcroft, Griffith, and Tiffin in their book entitled Key Concept

  

in Postcolonial Studies, postcolonialism deals with the effects of colonization on

  culture and societies. From the late 1970s the term has been used by literary critics to discuss the various cultural effects of colonization (Ashcroft,, Griffiths, and Tiffin, 1998: 186).

  The book of Elleke Boehmer, Colonial and Postcolonial Literature, gives the definition of colonialism. Colonialism is related to the combination of colonial power, the settlement of territory, the exploitation or development of resources, and the attempt to rule the native people of an island. Colonial literature, which is usually assumed to be literature reflecting a colonial culture, concerns with colonial expansion and it is also based on the theories concerning the superiority of European culture and the rightness of Empire (Boehmer, 1995: 2-3).

  In order to understand colonialism and the relation between the colonizer and colonized, Edward Said through Orientalism explains that the Orient (colonized) is an integral part of European material civilization and culture. Thus a very large mass of writers, poets, novelists, philosophers, political theorists, economists, and imperial administrators, have accepted the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, minds, destiny, and so on (Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin, 1995: 87-88). Edward Said talks about Orientalism deploying a variety of strategies whose common factor is they guarantee a position of superiority for the Westerners over the Orient.

  The word postcolonial cannot be used in any single sense. It is a variety of perspective by people who were not all oppressed in the same way or to the same extent. For example the politics of decolonization in parts of Latin America or Australia or South Africa where white settlers formed their own independent nations is different from the dynamics of those societies where indigenous population overthrew their European masters (Loomba, 1998: 7-8).

  The term ‘postcolonial’ addresses all aspects of the colonial process from the beginning of colonial contact until after-independence. The development of new elites within independent societies; the development of internal divisions based on racial, linguistics or religious discriminations; the continuing unequal treatment of indigenous people in settler/invader societies – all these testify to the fact that postcolonialism is a continuing process of resistance and reconstruction. Postcolonial theory involves discussion about experience of various kinds: migration, slavery, suppression, resistance, representation, difference, race, gender and place. Postcolonial studies are based in the ‘historical fact’ of European colonialism and its diverse effects (Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin, 1995: 2). It is appropriate to use this theory since When the Pelican Laughed is a story about the effects of British colonialism to Aborigine people. The experience of migration, slavery, suppression, resistance, representation, difference, race, gender and place that the major character faced.

  Ania Loomba in her book Colonialism/ Postcolonialism describes concepts that many writings on postcolonialism emphasized; concepts like ‘hybridity’, fragmentation, and diversity. They describe ‘the postcolonial condition’ or ‘the postcolonial subject’ or ‘the postcolonial woman’ (1998: 15). Moreover, ‘postcolonial’ refers to specific groups of (oppressed or dissenting) people (or individual within them) (1998:17); intellectuals and activists who fought against colonial rule, and their successor who now engaged with its continuing legacy, challenged and revised dominant definitions of race, culture, language, and class in the process of making their voice heard (1998: 20).

  According to Amilcar Cabral’s speeches in the book Colonial Discourse and

  

Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader, the study of the history of national liberation

  struggles shows that generally indigenous struggles are preceded by an increase in expression of cultural personality of the dominated people, as a means of negating the oppressor culture (William and Chrisman, 1994: 56). Cultural resistance may take on new forms (political, economic, armed) in order to contest foreign domination (William and Chrisman, 1994: 53). The value of culture as an element of resistance to foreign domination lies in the fact that culture is the vigorous manifestation on the ideological or idealist plane of the physical and historical reality of the society that is dominated or to be dominated (William and Chrisman, 1994: 54). Thus, it is understood that imperialist domination, by denying the historical development of the dominated people, necessarily also denies their cultural development. It is also understood why imperialist domination, like all other foreign domination, for its own security, requires cultural oppression and the attempt at direct or indirect liquidation of the essential elements of the culture of the dominated people (William and Chrisman, 1994: 55).

  According to Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman in the book Colonial

  

Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader, in relation to the indigenous

  struggle, the conceptualization of ‘race’, ethnicity and ethnic identity is a major concern both within and alongside post-colonial theory. It is perhaps significant that both whiteness, and ‘mixed-race’, or ‘mixed Saxonism’ and as ‘half- caste/hybrid’ respectively, were eugenic concepts which hold a strong theoretical and cultural currency within dominat Western intellectual production, throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (William and Chrisman, 1994: 17).

  In many respects, discussion of ethnicity is always also by implication of gender and sexuality. Women as the biological ‘carriers’ of the ‘race’ occupy a primary and complex role in representations of ethnicity (Williams and Chrisman, 1994: 17).

  Roger Makaa and Chris Andersen in their book entitled Indigenous

  

Experience: Global Perspective says that if the indigenous experience has been

  framed by colonization, indigenous people today devote much of their energy to the struggle to shake off the legacies of the social context. As quoted in the introduction of their book, Jose Martinez Cobo states that indigenous communities, people, and nations “are determined to preserve develop and transmit to future generations of their ancestral territories and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as people, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institution and legal system” (Makaa and Andersen, 1996: 56).

  Still in the same book, it is also explained that indigenous people are determined not simply to survive but also to proper and to see their culture and societies grow and flourish on their own terms (Makaa and Andersen, 1995: 56). This political and social ideal is in tension with the ever-present alternative of assimilation posed by the forces of colonization and globalization. The core of the indigenous struggle is not simply freedom from oppression and poverty, but the right to progress as people on their own terms. The indigenous struggle focuses on land, political rights, economic parity, and the recognition and the preservation of their cultural institutions. The indigenous struggle take many forms and the focal point of each varies according to its circumstances.

  Roger Makaa and Chris Andersen also explain that indigenous resistance has many faces and facets, as well as number of common characteristics. One of the most common characteristics is the obligation of indigenous people to continually explain themselves to outsiders. Before the indigenous people can make any headway in their pursuit of justice and equality, indigenous people are obliged to explain who they are and why their rights as distinctive people should be acknowledge. In addition, indigenous people must explain the politicization of their collective identity as people (Makaa and Andersen, 1996: 57).

  Another characteristic of the indigenous struggle that faces indigenous people is the tension between the advancement as a pan-indigenous national group and advancement as separate regional, linguistic or ethnic group. The indigenous experience can be summarized as the struggle to have national societies decolonized so that indigenous people are able to come in from the periphery of national life, where they most often considered social pariahs and tax burden, in order to become fully functional and productive citizens without having to assimilate (Makaa and Andersen, 1996: 57).

  th Century

3. Western Australia in the 19

  

th

  The Western Australia situation in 19 century can be divided into two by the passage of the 1905 Aboriginal Act, which, it has been alleged, resulted in institutionalized racism and created what amounted to Aboriginal "concentration camps" in which the Aboriginal people were to be confined until the race became extinct. It began with the Fairburn Report which first drew attention to the "Aboriginal Problem". This institutionalized racism reached its peak in the 1930s.

  Children were removed from Aboriginal parents, who were considered

  "biologically capable of having children, but not socially capable of raising them". The major task confronting Aboriginal people throughout this period was how their cultures could survive.

  According to the site http://www.historyworld.net, for persons of mixed decent, who primarily lived in the southwest of the State, the Act had a profound impact. It enabled the removal of anyone deemed “Aboriginal native” to a Reserve and any child under 16 deemed “Aboriginal native” to a State institution.

  One of them was the Moore River Native Settlement. The Moore River Native Settlement was the name of the now defunct Aboriginal settlement located 135 kilometres (84 mi) north of Perth and 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) west of Mogumber in Western Australia, near the headwaters of the Moore River.

  The settlement was opened by the Government of Western Australia in 1918. It was originally intended to be a small, self-supporting farming settlement for 200 Aborigines, with schooling and health facilities available for the children and employment opportunities for the adults. The settlement was supposed to accommodate Aborigines mainly drawn the Murchison, Midlands and south-west regions of Western Australia.

  However, the ambition to turn the settlement into a farming community failed because the land was unsuitable for cultivation, and during the 1920s its purpose shifted towards fulfilling the broader functions of orphanage, creche, relief depot and home for old persons, unmarried mothers, the unwell and children. The inmate population became increasingly mixed as Aborigines came in from various parts of the state, with some coming from as far away as the Kimberleys and Pilbara. Many of the Aboriginal children were sent, generally against their will, as part of the Stolen Generations (Clark, 1980: 76).

  According to the site, http://www.historyworld.net, by the mid-1920s conditions in the institution had become very poor and overcrowded, with many health problems being reported amongst its inmates. From 1924, the settlement had an average population of 300 and its buildings were becoming dilapidated. By 1933 the Aboriginal population at the institution had risen to over 500, leading to greater deterioration in the conditions experienced by the inmates. Between 1918 and 1952, 346 deaths were recorded at Moore River Native Settlement, 42% of which were children aged 1–5.

  Socially, Moore River Native Settlement practiced strict segregation of the sexes and separated children from their parents under the dormitory system.

  Compound inmates were not allowed to leave without written permission. Absconding was a common problem as many tried to re-unite themselves with family members living outside the settlement. To counter this practice, a small number of Aboriginal men were employed as trackers to apprehend absconders (http://www.historyworld.net).

  In the same site also explains that in 1951 the government handed control of the settlement to the Mogumber Methodist Mission, which re-named it Mogumber Native Mission. A greater emphasis was placed by the new owners on Christian guidance and on the vocational training of youths than had existed when it was a government institution. The facility remained running until 1974, when it was taken over by the Aboriginal Land Trust. Currently the land is leased to the Wheatbelt Aboriginal Corporation, and is known as Budjarra.

C. Theoretical Framework

  In order to answer the first problem formulation, the theories of characterization are applied. The theories provide any understanding about how to discuss character and also how characters are presented in the novel.

  The author of When the Pelican Laughed, Alice Nannup with Lauren Marsh and Stephen Kinnane use the characters in the novel to reveal the idea of postcolonialism, especially about indigenous struggles. In order to understand how postcolonialism reflected through the characteristic of the major character, the theory of postcolonialism stated by Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin in Key Concepts in Post-Colonial Studies is applied. In what way postcolonialism is formed through the major characters’ action, thoughts, and speeches.

  In order to reveal the idea of indigenous struggle in the story, the writer must find out and understand the major characters’ actions that show the indigenous struggle idea in the story. The action of the story grows out of the personality and the situation that the characters face, what characters will do. Each major character has his or her own way to show the idea of indigenous struggle.

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study When the Pelican Laughed was first conceived as an auto-biographical novel, this novel was written by Alice Nannup with Stephen Kinnane and Lauren Marsh. When the Pelican Laughed was first published by Fremantle Arts Centre Press in

  1992. When the Pelican Laughed is divided into four parts. The first part is about the childhood stories of Alice Nannup. In the second part, it tells about Alice Nannup when she lived in her teenage time; here it also tells about Aborigine under the colonialism. The third part tells us about the marriage life of Nan and finally raised 10 children. The last part of this novel tells about the life of old Nan after a full and eventful life, including many battles with authority and raising ten children. She returned home after sixty four years later ‘to make peace with my country’.

  Alice Nannup or Nan decided to tell her story in When the Pelican Laughed primarily to pass her stories on to her family. She was, however, genuinely surprised and pleased at the wide interest in her story, and in the way her candour had affected so many readers. Many people wrote to her and Nan called these her ‘fam mails’. She kept the letters in an album which she personally cherished, and which provided her with an important window into what the wider community wanted to learn; about the lives of Aboriginal women like Nan.

  This book is written by Alice Nannup in conjunction with Lauren Marsh and Stephen Kinnane. Lauren is studying English and Comparative Literature and Stephen is studying for a degree in Communication studies, both at Murdoch University.

  When the Pelican Laughed is the result of researching material on Stephen

  Kinnane's grandmother, Jessie Argyle, who had met and formed a friendship with Alice in the 1920s. The women were, at this time, under the care of the Chief Protector of Aborigines. Stephen Kinnane and Lauren Marsh spent much time with Alice, eventually recording her life-story. They transcribed and edited this work in conjunction with Alice Nannup. Editing as a powerful mechanism of control is acknowledged by both Marsh and Kinnane. Editorial intrusion in the text is however sanctioned by Alice Nannup.

B. Approach of the Study

  The approach used in analyzing the work is postcolonialism. Postcolonialism is about representation and resistance (Aschroft, 1995:85). As stated by Aschroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin in their book entitled Key Concepts in Post-Colonial Studies, postcolonial deals with the effects of colonization on culture and societies. From the late 1970s the term has been used by literary critics to discuss the various cultural effects of colonization (1998: 186). This approach is used in order to find how the postcolonial is formed in political, cultural, racial, and gender struggle done by the major character in When the Pelican Laughed. This approach is the most appropriate one because this approach stresses on the struggle of colonized people against the colonizer. This approach is used in order to have full understanding of what the major character’s action, thinking, and saying to show postcolonialism.

C. Method of the Study

  This study is library research. The author used When the Pelican Laughed as the primary source and several books as secondary sources, such as Kennedy and Gioia’s An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama; Roberts and Jacobs’ An

  

Introduction to Reading and Writing; and in order to understand the

  postcolonialism, Loomba’s Colonialism/Postcolonialism; Ashcfrot, Griffiths, and Tiffin’s Key Concepts in Postcolonialism are needed.