It would be fair to say that Australia's role in Great Expectations is fairly minimal. It simply functions as a plot device; a place to deposit Magwitch when he is no longer required and a place for him to return from when needed again to further the plot. With the rise in postcolonial studies, however, Australia and Magwitch's experiences there have become the focal points for new readings of the novel. Thus it is through a postcolonial reading of Great Expectations that the issue of Magwitch's return can be addressed. As I have already pointed out, Dickens uses Australia to get rid of Magwitch in the first place and then to have him return. This return I have always found to be problematic: why does Magwitch come back under the threat of death? The answer 'to see Pip' is not satisfactory. …
