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'Daniel Rooke, soldier and astronomer, was always an outsider. As a young lieutenant of marines he arrives in New South Wales on the First Fleet in 1788 and sees his chance. He sets up his observatory away from the main camp, and begins the scientific work that he hopes will make him famous.
'Aboriginal people soon start to visit his isolated promontory, and a child named Tagaran begins to teach him her language. With meticulous care he records their conversations. An extraordinary friendship forms, and Rooke has almost forgotten he is a soldier when a man is fatally wounded in the infant colony. The lieutenant faces a decision that will define not only who he is but the course of his entire life.
'In this profoundly moving novel Kate Grenville returns to the landscape of her much-loved bestseller The Secret River. Inspired by the notebooks of William Dawes, The Lieutenant is a compelling story about friendship and self-discovery by a writer at the peak of her powers.' (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
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Dedication: Dedicated to Patyegarang and the Cadigal people and William Dawes. Their story inspired this fiction.
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Information on William Dawes' notebooks and the language of the Cadigal people can be seen here: http://www.williamdawes.org/index.html
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Sequel to The Secret River (2005).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Braille.
- Large print.
Works about this Work
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Eight Great Australian Fictional Scientists Worth Reading about
2019
single work
— Appears in: The Conversation , 12 February 2019;'Australian scientists have led many crucial scientific breakthroughs – from the manufacturing and processing of penicillin, to the first in-vitro fertilisation pregnancy. Yet there is still a need for science to be more widely appreciated in our broader culture.' (Introduction)
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Telling Stories of Colonial Encounters: Kate Grenville’s The Secret River, The Lieutenant and Sarah Thornhill
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Postcolonial Text , vol. 11 no. 2 2016; 'The essay examines the fundamental role of storytelling in the different colonial encounters portrayed by Kate Grenville in her historical-based trilogy: The Secret River (2005), The Lieutenant (2008) and Sarah Thornhill (2011). Starting from Grenville’s assertion that the clash between settlers and Aborigines originated mainly from the “tragic inability to communicate across a gulf of culture,” the essay observes how in the three novels communication and, conversely, incommunicability and miscommunication, both between Europeans (or, later, white Australians) and Indigenous Australians and among Europeans themselves, play a fundamental role in establishing, or failing to establish, relationships and in creating, or in trying to solve, conflicts. The importance of storytelling is investigated in its function of (re)definition of identity and as a necessary step in the process of reconciliation.' -
Seeing the Cosmos : Ross Gibson’s ‘Simultaneous Living Map’
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 15 no. 3 2015; 'In its reading of the journals of William Dawes, Ross Gibson’s 26 Views of the Starburst World offers a dynamic vision of the world. His entry into the landscape of Sydney Cove is characterised by and constructed according to the multiple ‘views’ of his title, each of which interrelate in various, shifting ways to coalesce into a narrative. The version of place which emerges is both strange and beautiful, challenging constructs of nation which depend on notions of locality and ‘rootedness’. Gibson’s text thus prompts questions of critical practice before place. What can be achieved in taking up a fragmented writing style? This paper investigates the manner in which Gibson reconstructs concepts of place and space in order to challenge contemporary understandings of the Australian nation. It questions whether or not a similar vision of place can be applied in other contexts, and examines the manner in which place comes to be doubled over in the act of reading.' (Publication abstract) - y The Lieutenant, Kate Grenville Essendon North : Radiant Heart Publishing , 2015 8919183 2015 single work criticism
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Cultural Memory and Literature : Re-imagining Australia's Past
Leiden
:
Brill
,
2015
11024641
2015
multi chapter work
criticism
'Cultural memory involves a community shared memories, the selection of which is based on current political and social needs. A past that is significant to a national group is re-imagined by generating new meanings that replace earlier certainties and fixed symbols or myths. This creates literary syncretisms with moments of undecidability. The analysis in this book draws on Renate Lachmann theory of intertextuality to show how novels that blur boundaries without standing in for history are prone to intervene in cultural memory. A brief overview of Aboriginal politics between the 1920s and the 1990s in relation to several novels provides historical and political background to the links between, and problems associated with, cultural memory, testimony, trauma, and Stolen Generations narratives, which are discussed in relation to Sally Morgan My Place and Doris Pilkington Rabbit-Proof Fence. There follows an analysis of novels that respond to the history of contact between Aboriginal and settler Australians, including Kate Grenville historical novels The Secret River, The Lieutenant, and Sarah Thornhill as examples of a traditional approach. David Malouf Remembering Babylon charts how language and naming defined our early national narrative that excluded Aboriginal people. Intertextuality is explored via the relation between Thea Astley The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow, Chloe Hooper The Tall Man, and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Kim Scott Benang: from the heart and That Deadman Dance and Alexis Wright Carpentaria reflect a number of Lachmann concepts, syncretism, dialogism, polyphony, Menippean satire, and the carnivalesque.' (Publication summary)
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Negotiating with the Past
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 27 September 2008; (p. 23)
— Review of The Lieutenant 2008 single work novel -
On an Uneasy Voyage of Self-Discovery
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 27-28 September 2008; (p. 32-33)
— Review of The Lieutenant 2008 single work novel -
Mirror Image Is Softer
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 28 September 2008; (p. 11)
— Review of The Lieutenant 2008 single work novel -
Consuming Taste for Our Early History
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 20 - 21 September 2008; (p. 20-21)
— Review of The Lieutenant 2008 single work novel -
Still Not Settled
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , October vol. 3 no. 9 2008; (p. 3-4)
— Review of The Lieutenant 2008 single work novel -
Just the Spot for their Plots
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 13 September 2008; (p. 4-5) -
A Historical Balancing Act
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 20 September 2008; (p. 24-25) The Sydney Morning Herald , 20-21 September 2008; (p. 30-31) -
Past Imperfect
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20-21 September 2008; (p. 4-5) -
British Author Attacks Grenville as Naval Novel Ignites History War
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 24 September 2008; (p. 3) -
Finding the World Within
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 27 September 2008; (p. 8)
Awards
- 2009 shortlisted Queensland Premier's Literary Awards — Best Fiction Book
- 2009 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian Literary Fiction Book of the Year
- 2009 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — People's Choice Award
- 2009 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
- 2008 shortlisted Western Australian Premier's Book Awards — Fiction
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- 1788