Will Martin single work   novella   historical fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2011... 2011 Will Martin
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'My oar stabs the side of the Reliance. We push off and pull away from the ship. Venus is out, but the sky still has some light. Mr Bass and I boat the oars and hoist sail. The Lieutenant takes the helm. Tom Thumb's sail snaps at the breeze and air-filled we bounce across the water...' (Publication abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Note: Slight variation of text.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Transnational Literature vol. 4 no. 1 November 2011 Z1824157 2011 periodical issue 2011
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Griffith Review Tall Tales Short - The Novella Project III no. 50 October 2015 9042937 2015 periodical issue 2015 pg. 115-182

Works about this Work

Writing White, Writing Black, and Events at Canoe Rivulet Catherine McKinnon , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , October vol. 16 no. 2 2012;
'How a community imagines the past contributes to the shaping of its present culture; influences that community's vision for the future. Yet much about the past can be difficult to access, as it can be lost or hidden. Therefore, when retelling first contact stories, especially when the documentary information is limited to a colonial perspective, how might a writer approach fictionalizing historical Indigenous figures? 'Will Martin' (2011), a tale written as part of my practice-led PhD, is a fictional retelling of the eighteenth century sailing trip, taken along the New South Wales coast, by explorers Matthew Flinders, George Bass, and Bass's servant, William Martin. This paper traces my attempts to discover how to approach fictionalizing the historical Indigenous figures that Flinders met. Examining how some non-Indigenous writers have appropriated Indigenous culture and investigating what some writers have said about non-Indigenous writers creating Indigenous characters, provided me with some guidelines. Interviews with Indigenous elders, and other members of the Illawarra community, helped me imagine the gaps in knowledge. In the fictional retelling, using unreliable narration to suggest there may be multiple stories around a single historical event, some of which we may never get to hear, became a useful narrative strategy.' (Author's abstract)
Writing White, Writing Black, and Events at Canoe Rivulet Catherine McKinnon , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , October vol. 16 no. 2 2012;
'How a community imagines the past contributes to the shaping of its present culture; influences that community's vision for the future. Yet much about the past can be difficult to access, as it can be lost or hidden. Therefore, when retelling first contact stories, especially when the documentary information is limited to a colonial perspective, how might a writer approach fictionalizing historical Indigenous figures? 'Will Martin' (2011), a tale written as part of my practice-led PhD, is a fictional retelling of the eighteenth century sailing trip, taken along the New South Wales coast, by explorers Matthew Flinders, George Bass, and Bass's servant, William Martin. This paper traces my attempts to discover how to approach fictionalizing the historical Indigenous figures that Flinders met. Examining how some non-Indigenous writers have appropriated Indigenous culture and investigating what some writers have said about non-Indigenous writers creating Indigenous characters, provided me with some guidelines. Interviews with Indigenous elders, and other members of the Illawarra community, helped me imagine the gaps in knowledge. In the fictional retelling, using unreliable narration to suggest there may be multiple stories around a single historical event, some of which we may never get to hear, became a useful narrative strategy.' (Author's abstract)
Last amended 19 Feb 2016 10:02:16
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  • Botany Bay, Botany area, Sydney Southern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,
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