Cirrus@Austlit

'This work uses the creative nonfiction form of a dramatic script to explore the story of Eliza Fraser and a woman’s relationship to place. Using questions of relevance to the contemporary explorer juxtaposed with the documented history of Eliza Fraser’s experiences after a shipwreck in 1836, documentary evidence and place-based research were transformed to create a one women show. The script was developed following research and blogging in the role of Eliza Fraser across a four-month period. In shaping the arc of the script, consideration was given to the concept of a tragic hero and the female version of the ‘hero’s journey’ (Campbell 1990; Murdock 1990) including domestic imprisonment, journey through the underworld, symbolic death, discovery of the mother figure, female tradition, magical flight and rescue. Eliza’s alienation from the place and its people raises questions about what it means to belong, both then and now. ' (Author's abstract)