Discuss the information that is provided about the Indigenous culture in the first few chapters. For example, their cultural way of living (lifestyle), impact of white settlers (colonisers) on their lifestyle.
The amount of information given in the first few chapters about the aboriginal lifestyle and way of living is quite large. As the author herself is aboriginal, she has probably put in quite a bit of information as it gives background to the story. The author, Doris Pilkington, also had to do research to add some realism to the text and by putting in the information about the aboriginal lifestyle and such, it paints a picture that the reader can imagine.
The prologue of the novel is mainly extra information about the journey made by the aboriginal girls and has some information about the aboriginal background. It tells how the aboriginals kept track of time and dates. "Numbers, dates, in fact mathematics of any kind, have little or no relevance in our traditional Aboriginal society. Nature was their social calendar, everything was measured by events and incidents affected by seasonal changes." Aboriginal season names are also given. "The winter or rainy season is yalta or galyu time."
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