Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film CRITICALEXPLORATIONSINSCIENCEFICTIONANDFANTASY (a series edited by Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III) 1Worlds Apart? Dualism and Transgression in Contemporary Female Dystopias(Dunja M. Mohr, 2005) 2Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language (ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2007) 3Culture, Identities and Technology in the Star WarsFilms: Essays on the Two Trilogies(ed. Carl Silvio, Tony M. Vinci, 2007) 4The Influence of Star Trekon Television, Film and Culture (ed. Lincoln Geraghty, 2008) 5Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction(Gary Westfahl, 2007) 6One Earth, One People: The Mythopoeic Fantasy Series of Ursula K. Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L’Engle and Orson Scott Card(Marek Oziewicz, 2008) 7The Evolution of Tolkien’s Mythology: A Study of the History of Middle-earth(Elizabeth A. Whittingham, 2008) 8H. Beam Piper: A Biography(John F. Carr, 2008) 9Dreams and Nightmares: Science and Technology in Myth and Fiction (Mordecai Roshwald, 2008) 10Lilithin a New Light: Essays on the George MacDonald Fantasy Novel (ed. Lucas H. Harriman, 2008) 11Feminist Narrative and the Supernatural: The Function of Fantastic Devices in Seven Recent Novels(Katherine J. Weese, 2008) 12The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: Collected Essays on SF Storytelling and the Gnostic Imagination(Frank McConnell, ed. Gary Westfahl, 2009) 13Kim Stanley Robinson Maps the Unimaginable: Critical Essays (ed. William J. Burling, 2009) 14The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children’s and Teens’ Science Fiction(Farah Mendlesohn, 2009) 15Science Fiction from Québec: A Postcolonial Study(Amy J. Ransom, 2009) 16Science Fiction and the Two Cultures: Essays on Bridging the Gap Between the Sciences and the Humanities(ed. Gary Westfahl, George Slusser, 2009) 17Stephen R. Donaldson and the Modern Epic Vision: A Critical Study of the “Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” Novels(Christine Barkley, 2009) 18Ursula K. Le Guin’s Journey to Post-Feminism (Amy M. Clarke, 2010) 19Portals of Power: Magical Agency and Transformation in Literary Fantasy (Lori M. Campbell, 2010) 20The Animal Fable in Science Fiction and Fantasy(Bruce Shaw, 2010) 21Illuminating Torchwood: Essays on Narrative, Character and Sexuality in the BBC Series(ed. Andrew Ireland, 2010) 22Comics as a Nexus of Cultures: Essays on the Interplay of Media, Disciplines and International Perspectives (ed. Mark Berninger, Jochen Ecke, Gideon Haberkorn, 2010) 23The Anatomy of Utopia: Narration, Estrangement and Ambiguity in More, Wells, Huxley and Clarke(Károly Pintér, 2010) 24The Anticipation Novelists of 1950s French Science Fiction (Bradford Lyau, 2010) 25The TwilightMystique: Critical Essays on the Novels and Films(ed. Amy M. Clarke, Marijane Osborn, 2010) 26The Mythic Fantasy of Robert Holdstock: Critical Essays on the Fiction(ed. Donald E. Morse, Kálmán Matolcsy, 2011) 27Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future: Essays on Foresight and Fallacy(ed. Gary Westfahl, Wong Kin Yuen, Amy Kit-sze Chan, 2011) 28Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film: A Critical Study (Roslyn Weaver, 2011) 29British Science Fiction Film and Television: Critical Essays (ed. Tobias Hochscherf, James Leggott, 2011) 30Cult Telefantasy Series: A Critical Analysis of The Prisoner, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Heroes, Doctor Whoand Star Trek (Sue Short, 2011) 31The Postnational Fantasy: Postcolonialism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction (ed. Masood Ashraf Raja, Jason W. Ellis, Swaralipi Nandi, 2011) This page intentionally left blank Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film A Critical Study R W OSLYN EAVER CRITICALEXPLORATIONSINSCIENCEFICTIONANDFANTASY, 28 Donald E. Palumbo andC.W. Sullivan III, series editors McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA Weaver, Roslyn, ¡979– Apocalypse in Australian fiction and film : a critical study / Roslyn Weaver. [Donald Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III, series editors] p. cm. — (Critical explorations in science fiction and fantasy ; 28) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7864-6051-9 softcover : 50# alkaline paper ¡. Australian fiction—20th century—History and criticism. 2. Australian fiction—21st century—History and criticism. 3. Motion pictures—Australia—History. I. Title. PR9612.5.W43 20¡¡ 823'.91409382—dc22 2010050274 British Library cataloguing data are available © 20¡¡Roslyn Weaver. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, i ncluding photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without p ermission in writing from the publisher. Cover images ©2011Shutterstock Manufactured in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com Table of Contents Acknowledgments ix Preface 1 Introduction 3 ONE • An Apocalyptic Map: New Worlds and the Colonization of Australia 23 TWO • The Shield of Distance: Apocalypse in Australian Literature After 1945 54 THREE • An Apocalyptic Landscape: The Mad Max Films 83 FOUR • Children of the Apocalypse: Australian Children’s Literature 108 FIVE • (Re)Writing the End of the World: Apocalypse, Race, and Indigenous Literature 135 SIX • The End of the Human: Apocalypse, Cyberpunk, and the Parrish Plessis Novels 159 Conclusion 186 Chapter Notes 191 Bibliography 201 Index 219 vii This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments Projects such as this are often largely solitary endeavors but I am very grateful to several people for their support and encouragement of my research along the way. These include Professor Gerry Turcotte for his advice, guidance, and time invested in this project from its genesis, Dr. Richard Harland for his time and feedback, Dr. Kimberley M cMahon- C oleman for shared research interests, and Professor Van Ikin for his com- ments on the original thesis. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the staff of the Faculty of Arts in the University of Wollongong, as well as the staff at the University of Western Sydney, where parts of this research were undertaken. I am grateful as well to the audiences at various confer- ences where I have presented my work in progress, and to journal reviewers and editors for their feedback on my earlier work in this field. All feedback I have received along the way has, I hope, been used to develop and refine the ideas and arguments in the research. I am above all indebted to my parents, David and Kay, for instilling in me a love of literature, and I thank all my family: my parents, and Car- olyn, Michael, and their families, for their unfailing support, encourage- ment and motivation throughout the course of this research. Thank you also to my aunt, Margaret Steinberger, not only for being a great encour- agement throughout my research in literature but also for her always bril- liant editorial advice, and for her time and energy in editing this book. Finally, I want to thank several groups for granting me permission to use images and previous work: the National Library of Australia and the National Archives of Australia, who gave permission to use the maps referred to in Chapter One; and Marianne de Pierres, who gave her time in ix