Chapter 11

William and John’s tour of the property is interrupted by some people camping near the fence line. One man is a park ranger, the other a student investigating past Aboriginal activity and the history of the hoop mountains in the area. He is looking for sacred sites and questions John on his knowledge of the customs and stories of the area. John acts like he doesn’t know anything and denies a waterhole being on his property. However, soon after the two men leave, John and William go to the waterhole. William is confused by his uncle’s lies.

Chapter 11 Quotes

The young man smiled ironically. ‘Might be more than that, once these new laws come in. With enough historical evidence, who knows, the land council might put in a claim over the park. It’s Crown land, after all.’ (Student to John, William and the ranger) Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 12 contains further exposition of the McIvor family’s past. Daniel dies the second year John is in the mountains logging. His mother and sister move in with cousins, another example of how women were at the mercy of circumstance, or men. Few attend Daniel’s funeral and John thinks if he had died years earlier he would have had a large funeral and a place in the White cemetery on Kuran Station. Now, the Whites don’t even send condolences.
John is logging in the hill country and makes a close friend in Dudley Green. John learns that the Aboriginal people were in the hills long before they got there, harvesting the bunya pines for nuts which ripened every three years. He sees the markings in the trees that he will later deny in front of William to the ranger and the student.

Chapter 12 Quotes

His father had failed completely, and his last years had only displayed the shame of it in public. Better that he was dead. As for John’s mother and sister, when he said goodbye after the funeral, he had no expectation of ever seeing them again. Chapter 12

All across the mountains there was no other clear sign that people had been there before white men – no dwellings or middens or cave drawings. There were only these notches hewn in the tree trunks, slowly disappearing.
It wasn’t that John cared about the Aborigines themselves. They were gone and wouldn’t be coming back. Chapter 12

As a boy, riding the plains with his father, he had seen all that sweeping expanse of grass and though almost exclusively in terms of sheep and weights of wool. He had come to mountains in the same frame of mind – he was a timber-cutter, and the hoops were a source of trees, nothing else. But the more time John spent in the hills, the more he seemed to perceive the land around him as something powerful in its own right – to hear a voice in it, meant specifically for human ears. Chapter 12

Chapter 13

John and William explore the rockpool on John’s property. John assures William that his father said there was always water there, a fact that he is counting on. John continues to show how rivers and land link through the Darling and Murray River and how water from their property can travel thousands of kilometres in a giant ecosystem, his understanding giving him credibility like an elder of the land.

The conversation gets personal and John outlines how William’s father was a poor farmer for choosing the land and obviously William is upset. In discussing the bad choice of farm, but in declaring that some people just want land so bad that they make bad choices, he hypocritically implicates himself. He explains how they are related in that William is his nephew but that his mother, John’s sister, died and William’s mother and John are not blood relatives.

Chapter 13 Quotes

William gazed over the water hole. A secret. Chapter 13

‘That’s the sort of thing you have to know about a piece of land, Will, if you’re going to own it. You have to know where it fits in. You don’t just buy a few square miles and put up a fence and say, This is it. Every stretch of earth has its story. You have to listen, and understand how it connects with other stories. Stories that involve the whole country in the end.’ (John McIvor) Chapter 13

‘The thing is, people like your parents, sometimes they hunger for a piece of land, because they’ve never had anything of their own before, and they think a few hundred acres will make all the difference. But nine times out of ten it’s a disaster.’ (John to William) Chapter 13

This is where I belong. It’s where I was raised. I was taught all about it by my father, and he spent most of his life here too. But you now …’ He paused to regard William again. ‘You don’t know anything because your father didn’t know anything in his turn. (John to William) Chapter 13

Chapter 14

William’s mood darkens as he has been poisoned against his own father and wonders why he didn’t teach him anything when John has shown him so much in one day. He has a discussion with his mother about the day he spent with his uncle but she doesn’t care. However, she perks up when he mentions the notion of an inheritance, reminding William to play the role. William sees the greed in her and feels the responsibility fall heavily on his shoulders.

Mrs Griffith tells William about his mother, calling her ‘trash’ and saying she was a bit ‘touched’. She grabs his arm when he tries to flee and tells him how she thinks they will not be inheriting the farm when John sees what sort of people they are. She says he will make a mistake and John will see. This places incredible extra pressure on William and he realises, like many others, his own greed for the station and vows to obtain it.

Chapter 14 Quotes

It was only when, hesitantly, he reported the final conversation with his uncle that attention lit in her eyes … ‘He’s an old man. And he needs someone to leave all this to.’ She search hopefully in him, smiling as she finally said it out loud. ‘It might be us. It might by you.’ (William’s mother) Chapter 14

Was this the only reason she had brought them to the house – to tender William to his uncle? And was that a bad thing anyway? Surely she only wanted what was best for them both. But he remembered the way his uncle had spoken of her. People like that sometimes hunger for a piece of land. It had made her sound hateful. And watching his mother now, seeing the eagerness in her, William felt an ugly sense of confirmation.
‘You mean, if Uncle John likes me, we can stay?’
She nodded … (William’s thoughts) Chapter 14

William looked away, unseeing. He felt the future sway coldly in front of him, and a terrible weight of responsibility settle. Chapter 14

William suddenly felt a need to shout or laugh or run. It didn’t matter what the housekeeper said. It didn’t matter about his mother. It didn’t matter that everything depended on him alone. For in that moment, he made up his mind. He did want the station. And whatever it took, he would show his uncle he was worthy. Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Returning the reader to the McIvor life story, McGahan outlines a time when John meets Harriet Fisher. Harriet is the daughter of Oliver Fisher, the owner of a sawmill. He has raised his daughter for finer gentlemen and the idea that John or Dudley would be suitable is not even considered. Harriet, John and Dudley form a friendship when meeting Harriet on the road and they are all caught in a storm.

John hopes that he will one day marry Harriet. Fate steps in when John is struck by a tree and injured. This means he will miss the war.

Chapter 15 Quotes

However, he had never introduced any of his workers to his daughter. In honour of his wife, who had died some years before, he had raised Harriet for finer company than timber-getters. Chapter 15

It would change things between the two of them forever. He’d seen it amongst older men who had lived through the Great War – the unbridgeable gulf between those who went and those who stayed. Chapter 15

They were caught up in a bigger history now, vulnerable to its currents. We’ll all come back here, Harriet insisted as they sat there, the night cool and dark about them. She clutched their hands, looking back and forth. When it’s all over, we’ll meet up right here, and everything will be the same. Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Returning to the main narrative time period, John returns from a trip and immediately spends time in his office. William joins him and they work on a newsletter. John explains the eureka flag and fighting for worker’s rights. The newsletter belongs to the Australian Independence League. The AIL is an organisation that John founded, finances and leads. They have many members and are organising a rally on the Kuran estate.

Chapter 16 quotes

‘Go back to the 1840s, when white men first came here. This was a wilderness, far beyond the colonial frontier. There was no civilisation, no law and order – that was all a thousand miles behind, back in Sydney. So those first men were completely alone, a law unto themselves. Something like that is unimaginable these days. It would scare most people to death.’ Chapter 16

Chapter 17

William enjoys being a part of the work his uncle is doing; he feels useful. He even has a rare victory over Mrs Griffith who brings his lunch alongside his uncle’s. She is upset but William feels he is safe with the Uncle. Native title becomes a focus of conversation and Uncle John says native title is a disaster and that it means that groups can take his property. He names minorities, elites and activists, but really means Indigenous claims through Mabo. John gets riled up and frustrated with William and says he won’t just get the property without earning it. The uncle leaves in a rage and William gets the keys from the office.

Chapter 17 Quotes

On the second day the weather grew cool again, so the fire was lit, and it felt good to be shut away in the big dark office, with bright flames burning. To William’s delight, Mrs Griffith even brought in his lunch on a tray, next to his uncle’s. The housekeeper shot him a foul look, but for once he wasn’t afraid of her. He felt warm, secure and useful. Chapter 17

‘But what is Native Title?’ he asked at one stage. It seemed to be the central issue, but nowhere in the newsletter was it fully explained.
‘A disaster,’ the old man replied, head buried in the ledger. But when he saw that William was waiting in puzzled silence, he put down his pen. ‘The truth is, at this stage, no one has a clue what Native Title is. That’s the problem.’ Chapter 17

‘So yes, I’ll fight him and his Native Title. No one is taking one square inch of my land away. I’ve kept this station alive despite everything the world has thrown at me. And I did it alone.’
‘And you! You spent a few weeks here and you think all you have to do is wait for me to die!’ Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 18 details John’s backstory from when he is rejected from the war effort. Dudley in meantime is overseas in the war and is captured by the Japanese. The injury to John separates the friends and leaves John with Harriet; a chance to be with her despite the gentlemen’s agreement he has with Dudley. They hear Dudley will be returning home and John questions in his mind if Harriet will choose Dudley.

John visits Harriet and they go swimming in the swimming hole, central to the Kuran property. John takes the chance to have relations with Harriet and seal the situation before Dudley returns. John feels the landscape fill him and in some ways knows that securing Harriet will bring the wealth to secure Kuran again. His dream has always been to own the station, like his father envisioned.

Chapter 18 quotes

… he would get the station back. Indeed, as he turned upon the spot, drinking in every sight and sound of the landscape, he knew that this was the instant in which he took possession. Not legally, not financially, but essentially. The strength of the revelation filled him with a fierce pride, a vitality that flowed into him from the hills themselves, as if all of their age and power was his. Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Back to William’s time period, where he takes two days to use the keys he took from the office to explore the prohibited parts of the house. He discovers the rooms and finds a secret area that John uses, including a chest and assorted items that William feels are his uncle’s. These include a hat which he thinks is an army issue but it will later be revealed to be the police hat and pistol from Daniel McIvor; a clue that reveals that Daniel was mounted police and killed several Indigenous people in his day.

Mrs Griffiths bursts in and slaps the gun out of William’s hand. He is stunned and thinks he has blown the opportunity to gain the inheritance.

Chapter 19 Quotes

A brief image came to William of his uncle bowed before the objects, as if the room was a hidden chapel. It made no sense, and yet he felt that this was where the real John McIvor was to be found, not in the room of light across the hall. His unease grew stronger, and he turned away. Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Mrs Griffith shoves William out the door and threatens that she will tell Uncle John. William is in fear; has he blown the whole deal? She slaps him and tells him there will be more when the uncle comes home, telling him about a dead man buried under the house. After John’s temper during William’s last conversation regarding native title, William is sure he is in big trouble and cannot face telling his mother.

Uncle John comes home and William goes out to meet him after the housekeeper has made her report. He feels like ‘a boy walking to his execution’. The uncle makes conversation about crops then moves to the Griffith report. William finds care in the place of anger, and concern for his safety that he had accessed a gun that could have been loaded and entered an unsafe part of the house where the floor could have fallen in.

John tells him of the objects that belonged to Alfred Kirchmeyer, who had explored the area and been killed by Indigenous locals who knew he would be bad news. The lesson from Kirchmeyer is that someone needs to know what you have done to be remembered. William sees this is why his uncle can forgive him, he will need William to remember and talk about him. William gets to keep the army hat but John informs him it is a police hat that belonged to Daniel.

Chapter 20 Quotes

‘But Mrs Griffith doesn’t think anyone has any business in this house, except her. Not even me.’ He clapped William lightly on the shoulder. ‘No harm done this time. But don’t go up there again, not unless I’m with you.’
William hardly dared believe it. ‘You’re not mad?’
‘You helped me with the newsletter, so let’s call it square’. (John and William) Chapter 20

One other thing – the skull was smashed in. Kirchmeyer hadn’t just wandered off and died, he’d been killed. It was the blacks, of course. They weren’t stupid, they knew the white man was bad news. (John tells William some local history) Chapter 20

‘It’s a lesson.’ The old man regarded William seriously. ‘Discovery isn’t enough. Doing something great isn’t enough. Someone has to know about it, for it to mean anything. Whatever you do in this world, you have to leave someone behind who remembers.’ Chapter 20

When William went to bed that night, he hung the cap on the bedpost. He would wear it all the time now, wherever he went. It was a sign of his uncle’s favour, it was good luck. Chapter 20