The Struggle In William Thornhill's Place

Originally this colony was just another place for the Thornhill’s to struggle and make just enough to survive. William Thornhill had “been pulling an oar” his entire life and “it made little difference whether the water on which he did it was called the Thames of Sydney Cover” (Grenville 82). That swiftly changes for William Thornhill upon seeing what would eventually become Thornhill’s Place. As soon as he sets eyes on this particular piece of land a burning desire to own and possess consumes him; he becomes “intoxicated by the thought of owning land” (Pinto 194). This portion of land presented a new opportunity and a new beginning for him:
He let himself imagine it: standing on the crest of that slope, looking down over his own place Thornhill’s Point. It was a piercing hunger in his guts: to own it. To say mine, in a way he had never been able to say mine of anything at all. He had not known until this minute that it was something he wanted so much. (Grenville 106)
William Thornhill wants to be able to lay claim to something. He may view this as his chance to redefine himself, to remove himself from the role of laborer and place himself in the role of property owner. Thornhill viewed Australia as “a place of promise . . . the blank page on which a man might write a new life” (Grenville 130). Thornhill …show more content…
He says there “ain’t nothing in this world just for the taking . . . A man got to pay a fair price for taking . . . Matter of give a little, take a little” when he first notices Thornhill’s desire to take up land (Grenville 104). Blackwood lives in harmony with aboriginals because he abides by the idea of reciprocity. The other settlers do not understand this because to them the land is unclaimed. The aboriginals do not have a concept for owning land and they do not understand why the settlers claim individual rights to certain pieces of land. In an interview Grenville