Abstract
This chapter draws on ecocriticism and critical plant studies to argue that Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins’ My Place ([1987] 2008) can—and should—be read as a plant-centred narrative. Australia’s unique landscape, with its towering ghost gums, sun-baked bushland and vast red sand, plays an intrinsic part in Australian picturebook storytelling. In My Place, this landscape is transformed—both figuratively and literally—as a bustling Sydney suburb in 1988 slowly transforms into an Aboriginal creek camp in 1788. Ultimately, only one natural element endures the centuries of change and industrial progress: a centuries-old fig tree. While it is the social and political nature of My Place that is most often critically examined, this chapter focuses on the environmental elements of the book, while examining the ethical issues of non-Indigenous authors telling First Nations stories. It argues that the fig tree acts as both a keeper of memories and a “survivor tree.” Not only does it create a shared bond between the book’s narrators across time, but it also ties all of their stories—and thus all of the history and memories held within them—together.
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Notes
- 1.
This chapter specifically references the 20th anniversary edition of My Place, published in 2008. This edition is the most widely available and includes revised text and an illustrated timeline of historical events from 1788–2008.
- 2.
First Nations languages are based in oral tradition and ritual. The writing (and spelling) of First Nations words was introduced with European invasion and is thus inconsistent (Style Manual 2022). I therefore acknowledge that while all due diligence has been made to ensure this chapter is as accurate and up to date as possible, there may be discrepancies in the spelling and interpretation of First Nations words used. It is equally important to acknowledge that I, as a non-Indigenous writer, am also writing this chapter from a place of privilege—and from the perspective of an “outsider” (Heiss 2002, 197).
- 3.
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Mokrzycki, S. (2023). Forever and Ever: The Fig Tree and Its Journey Through Time in Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins’ My Place. In: Duckworth, M., Herb, A. (eds) Storying Plants in Australian Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39888-9_5
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