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The Secret River Chapter Summaries. Strangers.
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Strangers • The novel opens on William Thornhill´s first night in the penal colony of New South Wales in 1806. William sits outside the mud hut assigned to him and his family - his wife Sal and two small children, Willie and Dickie. The hut has a flimsy door made out of bark that offers little protection from the elements or from human trespassers. While his wife and children lay sleeping inside the hut, William stares out into the darkness, feeling the vast forest surrounding him. He cannot sleep, plagued with worry about the life ahead of them. • On the nine-month voyage to New South Wales, William clings to his former life, reliving the familiar bends in the Thames that he rowed each day. As he listens to the foreign sounds of the forest, William realises that the world he left behind in London is gone forever. • Sitting in jail in London with a death sentence hanging over his head, all William could think about was escaping the noose. But now, trapped on the edge of a merciless continent by ten thousand miles of water, he wonders if perhaps death was preferable to this prison without walls. He feels acutely the pain of exile, of being severed from everything he ever knew and loved. • Suddenly, the darkness shifts, and a man appears in front of him. The man's skin is as black as the night, covered with ornamental scars, and he holds a spear. Afraid for his family asleep in the hut, William yells at the man to go away. After the first rush of fear, William finds himself filled with anger at the man's refusal to leave. He raises his arm as if to hit the man and yells at him again to go away. • The man stands firm, unaffected by William's anger. Then, the man begins to speak, and William hears his own phrase repeated back to him - Be off! The man waves angrily at the ocean and says again, Be off! Stunned, William says nothing, but he does not give way. For better or for worse, he is alive. All he has left is the mud hut and his family sleeping inside. William decides that he will not surrender his last chance at life to a naked man, even one with a spear. After a tense silence, the man disappears into the night, and William is left with the memory of that jagged spear and a sense of vulnerability in the face of an entire continent filled with men armed with spears.
London In Part One of the novel, Grenville takes the reader back in time to William's life in London before his deportation to New South Wales. The section opens with a description of William's impoverished childhood in the slums of Southwark. Aged 5, William is sent out to work. The whole family engages in petty thievery to put a loaf of bread on the table. William idolizes both Sal and her comfortable and loving home and they find their own place to live. William's mother and father die soon after each other from illnesses fostered by dampness and poverty. William becomes the breadwinner for his siblings. When working on the docks, William steals sugar and the supervisor drags William out onto the quay, strips off his shirt and trousers, and whips him in front of the other workers. Sal´s father, Mr Middleton, rescues the family by taking on William as an apprentice.
London They get married on the day William receives his freedom, and Mr. Middleton gives William one of his rowboats as a wedding present. When Sal bears him a son, William believes that he has managed to escape the starvation and poverty of his childhood. He feels a sense of pride and accomplishment that he is able to feed and house his family. However, things take a turn for the worse and quickly Sal´s mother and father die. William and Sal are left destitute – all their belongings are taken from them to pay for the rent. Sal has a good spirit and continues to find them ever cheaper rooms and even learns to steal. William gets a job on the river with Mr Lucas. One night, William arranges with his brother Rob to steal a few pieces of valuable Brazilian timber from one of Mr. Lucas' shipments. William is sent to Newgate, where after a cursory trial, he is sentenced to death by hanging. Due to overcrowded prisons, William is sentenced to deportation to New South Wales for duration of his natural life. Sal is given permission to accompany her husband as his master.
Sydney The chapter opens shortly after William´s arrival in New South Wales in 1806. William is bound over to Sal. The couple approach the fact that Sal is now William's master with a sense of humour and quickly get on with improving their lot in the settlement at Sydney. The family are issued a hut, a couple of blankets, and a week's worth of food. The settlement is a very primitive environment. William finds work as a waterman with Mr. King, transporting the casks of alcohol that pass through the colony. He returns to his habits of siphoning off rum to make extra money. As a result, they can move into a bigger hut and Sal turns one of the rooms into a bar. William and Sal quickly realises that free of the social structures of England, men can work their way up in the world and become masters in their own right. They dream of returning to London and owning their own house. William dreams of becoming a respectable man like Mr Middleton.
Sydney Sal struggles to assimilate to her new lifestyle. Aborigines inhabit the forest just beyond the clearing and this increases Sal´s anxieties. William goes to work for Blackwood and on his first trip up the Hawkesbury, William is amazed at the rugged, natural beauty of the areas. He begins to dream about owning his own piece of land. He also realises the difficulties in living so closely to the aborigines due to their different customs. William also meets Smasher Sullivan, a settler on the Hawkesbury who responds to the presence of the Aborigines with violence. Blackwood instructs William that you have to give a little when taking a little, referencing the treatment of aborigines. William doesn´t fully understand but tries to incorporate it in his dealings with the aborigines.
Sydney William nurtures his dream of claiming a piece of land along Hawkesbury in silence and shares it with Sal – she does not agree with it and William eventually drops the idea. Four years after his arrival, William receives a full pardon and is now a free man. Soon after, Blackwood decides to sell his boat and retire to his land on the Hawkesbury. Sal suggests that they borrow £115 from Mr. King and buy Blackwood's boat. However, Sal believes this is their ticket back to London whereas William believes it will get them the land on the river. William does well and is able to make all the repayments to Mr King. At New Year in 1813, William approaches Sal again about settling on their own piece of land. Although Sal resists, she can hear the desire in William's voice so agrees to go there for five years, insisting William promises they then return to London.
A Clearing in the Forest In September 1813, William, Sal, and their children (Willie, Dickie, Bub, and baby Mary) arrive at Thornhill's Point to establish their claim to 100 acres of land. Sal really struggles with the move – feeling like she is very far away whereas William is very excited. William experiences an acute sense of disappointment when he sees that the flat land by the river has been tilled by someone else. William realises he is being watched by the aborigines and he tries to communicate with them. William adopts the tone of the English gentry when he addresses the two men, attempting to demonstrate his superiority in the language of his own social superiors. Sal sees them and assumes that the Aborigines can be bought off with food.
A Clearing in the Forest There is an altercation between the Thornhills and the aborigines and William wakes up the next day to find their tent encircled by a ring of spears. Although this unsettles them, they keep trying to make a life there. Sal does not venture outside the yard and starts marking a tree to countdown the five years. Williams goes exploring and sees a range of concerning images drawn in the land. He realises that the land he has claimed is not empty and it is inhabited by a people who view it as their own. Smasher keeps visiting the Thornhills and Sal´s welcome reception of them shows Thornhill how lonely she must be. The neighbours all visit and talk about the violence associated with the indigenous people. Mrs Herring says she has found a way to live with them – sharing food etc. William is assigned two new convicts to help him and they are people he knew from London – Ned and Dan. He realizes, from seeing them, how he can never go back to London because people won´t trust him/look at him the same anymore. In the winter, Sal gets ill and makes Will promise to bury her facing home (London), should she die.
A Hundred Acres Sal is better and business is going well, providing a regular income. One day in December 1813, William arrives home on the Hope to be met by Willie, who tells him breathlessly that the blacks have come. Sal wants to give them a food package to send them away but William refuses. William tries to talk to them – shocked by the women´s nakedness – and threatens them when they shout. He makes some sort of agreement with them – he doesn´t know what – and they seem to stay. He gives them names to make them less threatening. Sal creates a ´friendship´ of sorts with the female aborigines. William oversees Blackwood with an aborigine woman and child and realizes they are his family – Blackwood swears him to silence. Dick starts playing with the aborigine children – Sal is shocked by this. Dick learns how to start a fire with wood. Dick refuses to not play with them and William hits him. Trying to make it up to him, William attempts to light a fire but fails.
A Hundred Acres The aborigines burn land, grow plants and then attract kangaroos which they eat. William fails to hunt one and tries to trade with the aborigines for some meat. He fails to prepare the kangaroo leg and the family end up with hairy soup! William goes to Smasher´s house and there is a violent altercation with an aborigine. Smasher insults William for being friendly with them and then says he knows about Blackwood.
Drawing A Line The atmosphere at Thornhill's Point begins to change and there is a feeling of fear. The aborigines gather for a ceremony at Thornhill´s Point and when the ritual chanting and rattling of spears begins, a very real fear takes hold of the Thornhills and their servants. Willie, Ned and Dan want to go and shoot – Dick pleads not to and William is unsure. William shows bravado and goes outside – he is amazed by their ceremony. When he goes inside, Sal has got all their belongings out in hope they could exchange them for their lives – highlighting the family´s fear. William decides to buy more guns and teaches Ned, Dan, and Willie to shoot and to also buy some of Smasher Sullivan's vicious dogs for protection. William is shocked to find an Aboriginal woman chained up in the hut who has been physically and sexually abused by Smasher and Saggity. William leaves in disgust and trepidation without buying the dogs. He knows that nothing good can come of Smasher and Saggity'sbehaviour.
Drawing A Line Thornhill learns that the indigenous people have been stealing people´s corn. Smasher, Saggity, and the other men are enraged and pushing for violence. Their words are laced with racial hatred which Mrs Herring does not tolerate. After a number of attacks, the British government decides to put an end to them by sending a regiment led by Captain McCallum to deal with the 'native problem.‘ The captain is arrogant and completely naive about the land and the ways of both the Aborigines and the convicts. The mission is a failure. Smasher and Saggity condone more violence and Blackwood and Smasher fight. Sal wants to return to London but William will not give up on his dream and reminds Sal of her five year promise.
The Secret River William sails by an aborigine camp and it is all silent. There are dead bodies all over the ground and a young boy almost dead. Shocked, William realisesthat Saggity has gone ahead with his plan to poison the Aborigines with 'the green powder. The next day, the aborigines start picking the Thornhills´ corn and will not stop – a fight breaks out. The next day, the aborigines have set fire to all the remaining corn and Dal starts to understand that the Aborigines have always lived on the land and that they will always return. She resolves to leave with the children, whether William joins her or not. William sees smoke at Saggity´s and goes there – when he arrives, Saggity has been murdered. Smasher demands a violent retribution for Saggity'smurder and they decide to go to Blackwood´s where there are lots of aborigines. They need William´s boat to get there – he is hesitant but knows it is the only way to keep Sal.
The Secret River They arrive at the settlement and violence ensues. William has his gun but does not shoot – everything seems to be going on around him. Whisker Harry appears at the edge of the forest and launches his spear - it pierces Smasher's chest. Whisker Harry just stares at the dying Smasher, refusing to take cover in the trees. William lifts his gun and shoots Whisker Harry in the stomach. Soon the fight is over - the land is littered with the bodies of Aborigines and settlers. Dan walks over to a baby whose crying is disturbing the growing silence and clubs it to death.
Mr Thornhill´s Villa • The original settlers have been replaced by new ones, except Mrs Herring, who retreats into semi-isolation after the massacre. With the 'native problem' solved, the settlers flourish along the river. The farms and township grow ever bigger and richer. William repays Mr King the original loan and borrows more to build a new boat called the Sarah. The two boats continually ply their trade on the river. Thornhill's Point becomes a by-word for success, and William is now a respected member of the new gentry. • William builds a large stone house and names it. Sal decides to call the house Cobham Hall, after the grand house where her mother worked in service before she married Mr Middleton. William orders a pair of stone lions for the gate posts, in imitation of the lions at the entrance to Christ Church in London. He is disappointed when they arrive. Instead of raring up with teeth bared, the lions rest on their haunches, as if in front of a fire. William places them at the top of the gateposts, announcing to the world that he is king of Thornhill's Point. • Over the years, Sal settles in to life at Thornhill's Point. She stops marking the days on the tree, and the idea of returning home drifts further and further away. She still speaks nostalgically of London and the world she left behind. New South Wales is home for her children, and Sal would never leave them to return. Sal turns her attention to recreating her sense of 'home' at Cobham Hall. Just as she made a yard around the little hut to separate nature from civilization, Sal has a large stone wall built around the entire garden. She wants 'real' trees and has an alley of poplars planted from the river all the way up to the house. However, both her traditional English garden and the alley of poplars wither in the hot climate. Sal bears William one more child, a girl called Dolly. Freed from all the household chores by a legion of servants, Sal grows stout and satisfied.
Mr Thornhill´s Villa • William adopts a new past to better fit his new life. Instead of his poverty-stricken life in the filthy streets of London, William spreads the story that he was born in the clean air of Kent and got caught smuggling French brandy on his own boat into England. He was spared the noose because he often worked for the Crown, smuggling English spies into France. William turns Sal into the daughter of a wealthy ship owner and spins a tale of a romantic elopement. William and Sal never discuss what happened up at Blackwood's place. She never asks, and he never tells. Deep down, Sal knows what it took to ensure their success and security. • Blackwood lives defeated and miserable in his hut up the river. The lash of Smasher's whip left him practically blind. William brings Blackwood goods from time to time but Blackwood does not speak to William and ignores William's nervous chatter. Dick now lives with Blackwood, running the still and delivering rum up and down the river. Shortly after the massacre, Dick left home and came to stay with Blackwood. Although still only a boy, he refused to come home when William found him with Blackwood. Many of the new settlers along the Hawkesbury do not know that Dick is William's son and refer to him as Dick Blackwood. • The battle at Blackwood's forced the Aborigines out of the area. Many of them retreated to a reserve set up by the Governor of New South Wales and became dependent on the government. The considered opinion was that they were a weak race and would soon die out. Long Jack occasionally returns to Thornhilll's Point and Sal and William get frustrated at his refusal to adopt more ´human behaviours´and his ongoing claims that the land is, "My place."William ends each day on the veranda with a drink and cigar, watching the sun set over his land. He watches the light change over the cliffs. He often thinks he sees a human being standing on the edge of the cliff. He peers at the shape through a telescope, trying to see if it really is a man. Although he knows that the Aborigines have left the area, still he looks, hoping to see the tall figure of a man looking back at him.
