The Secret River Chapter Summary

A Review of the Secret River The Secret River is a sweeping story of the founding of Australia and the moral choices that created a nation. The novel is about William Thornhill, a poor Waterman from London, who is deported together with his family to New South Wale in 1806. The novel gives a vivid description of William’s first night in the convict settlement in Sydney. The state of conflict between the Aborigines and the settlers, which is the center of novel, is introduced when an Aboriginal man approaches William’s mud hut and yells at him ‘be off’. William shouts back the same words to the man. There is no cooperation between the Aborigines and the settlers; neither people want anything to do with the other. Each of them wishes that the …show more content…
His life in the slums of London along the Thames River deteriorated tremendously to the level of stealing to survive. His parents die when he is thirteen, marking the point at which his life becomes more miserable. He gets friendly with Sarah (Sal) Middleton; one of his sister’s friends. Sal might not have been the prettiest girls around, but she was a source of comfort to William whenever she was around. Mr. Middleton takes William on as an apprentice after his parents’ demise, and he subsequently becomes a waterman. He becomes a Freeman of the Thames River after seven years of apprenticeship. Out of his great love for the river and not being afraid of hard work, life becomes better for him. He knows that the only way to settling with Sal and starting a family of their own is to work hard and to have a trade behind …show more content…
Despite all the sufferings, William still has hopes that one day he will build a house, own a piece of land, and provide for his family. Settling would not be easy as the natives struggle with him for land ownership and opportunities that come through. He settles on the banks of Hawkes Burry River. Hawkesbury is located at the extreme edge of the settlement at that time, and normal rules do not apply there. It is a place out of a dream, a fierce landscape of chasm, and a vastly unpredictable sky and glowering cliffs. Everywhere seems to be the same and everywhere is different. Thornhill has a feeling that one day he will move back to London. He gets the land, the prime riverfront acreage, and it looks very certain to make him rich. The major problem with the land is that it is already owned, a territory of the Darug for the last forty years. It is a very vast land with no demarcations, and they have not left fences, roads, or houses. They live and use that land just as surely as William is planning to