'Moonlite offers a more complex account of colonialism than the simple colonizer / colonized dichotomy. The source of its humour lies in the multiple ironies of history, where the colonized colonize in turn. Despsite the tragedy of loss and displacement, the novel suggests that the process has a degree of inherent silliness as settler-societies, like Australia, mimic and admire the patterns of the colonzing society that has expolited them.'