International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics

Volume 119 No. 15 2018, 1979-1987

ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version)
url: http://www.acadpubl.eu/hub/
Special Issue
http://www.acadpubl.eu/hub/

Representation of Women in Sally Morgan’s My Place

Nandana G S
M.Phil Research Scholar
Department of English and Languages
Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
India

Varsha K
Assistant Professor
Department of English and Languages
Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
India

Abstract
Sally Morgan‘s autobiographical text, My Place, being first of its kind received
wide popularity and high prominence in Australia, especially among Australian
aboriginals. The text belongs to the genre of writing back literature, as, it critiques and
challenges the already established notion of white man‘s Australia. Through this text, Sally
Morgan attempts to destabilize the already established Eurocentric notions and to present
authentic picture about the aboriginal sufferings and white man‘s exploitation.My place
narrates Sally Morgan‘s family history in the wider context of authentic Australian history.
In the novel My Place, Sally Morgan renders the story of doubly oppressed Australian
aboriginals. The discourse of gender is seriously discussed in the novel. This paper
attempts to critique the patriarchal values enshrined in the novel My Place.
Keywords:Australian aboriginals, double marginalization, patriarchy, feminist ideology

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Introduction
My Place is an autobiographical novel written by Sally Morgan in the year 1987.
Sally Morgan was born on 18 January 1951 in Manning, a suburb of Perth, the capital of
Western Australia. She was the eldest of five children and lived with her father, mother,
grandmother and her siblings.Her family lived in ultimate poverty when her father was
alive. However, after his death, Sally Morgan‘s mother, Glady managed to earn a decent
living by doing various menial jobs. In her school days Sally Morgan realized that she was
different from that of her classmates and questioned Glady about their nationality. Glady
cleverly convinced her, of them being Indians. And till the age of fifteen Sally Morgan was
never aware of her aboriginal lineage. However, after the realization of her aboriginal
lineage she took pride in her identity and attempted to trace her family history
Being first of its kind My Place received immense popularity. Adam Shoemaker
opines that ―My Place will in fact be a first taste of indigenous writing for many who
would otherwise not be exposed to it all - and who will be encouraged to read further as a
result‖ (Shoemaker ,1998). The text exhibited itself as an ultimate aboriginal representative
text. The autobiographical novel, My Place could be roughly divided into four sections.
The first section deals with Sally Morgan‘s childhood experiences, hospital days with her
father and her school days. The later part of the first section is the most important part of
My Place, as it is in this section Sally Morgan is conceived about her aboriginal lineage.
This revelation about her personal life gave a new dimension to her life. The second, third
and fourth sections of the novel bestowed Sally‘s visit to the past, through Arthur‘s,
Gladdy‘s and Daisy‘s lives respectively. The life history of Arthur, Daisy and Gladdy act
as a bridge between the past and the present. It is through these stories, both Sally Morgan
and readers get to know about the past and lives of aboriginals. The authentic aboriginal
voice of sufferings, forced removal and racial discrimination is presented through these
stories.
The main discourse discussed in the novel is gender and aboriginality. The novel
progresses through the evocation of Sally Morgan‘s family history, in the wider context of
Australian history. Initially, the only source of Australian history was white man‘s
recordings. The history recorded by white man were perverted, as Australian aboriginals
did not receive any fair representation in their version of history. The biased history
recorded by white man was far removed from the reality. Aboriginals being voiceless
minority could not voice against these atrocities. In that sense, Sally Morgan‘s My Place
suffice as an authentic aboriginal history. The novel celebrates the discourse of
aboriginality to the fullest. Barbara Jefferies posits on the novel My Place as, ―the sort of
Australian history which hasn‘t been written before, and which we desperately need‖ (The
Weekend Australian). In hybrid Australia, the history of Australia could not be affirmed on
a singular view. Both aboriginals and white man should be taken into consideration for an
equitable history. In the novel, Arthur opines that, ―both aborigines and whites or
indigenous and settlers belonged to each other. The history of each group mirrors the other
and functions as the other in the production of multicultural Australia.‖

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Role of Patriarchy on Australian Aboriginal Women

The process of colonization and forced removal of aboriginals from their roots and
family effected aboriginals intensely. Both men and women were removed from their kin.
Racial discrimination began with the advent of colonization. The policy of divide and rule
was very essential for Europeans to establish new colonies.Walia opines that ―colonization
is accompanied by exploitation, annexation and conquest. Its hegemonic power rests on
creating the binary opposition of self/other, white/black, good/evil, superior/inferior and so
on. Thus a part of world was not able to enjoy supremacy because it convinced the world
about ‗white man‘s burden‘ and his ‗civilizing machine‘ ‖(Walia,2001). Non-aboriginal
men and women played predominant role in destabilizing aboriginal life. The native-elites
attempted to overrule the aboriginal community and to assert their supremacy over the
aboriginal community.The plight of aboriginal women wasmiserable when compared to
aboriginal men. Aboriginal women were subjected to ‗double marginalization‘. Non-
aboriginal women under the influence of patriarchy rendered a remarkable role in
oppressing aboriginal women. Traces of this could be evidently seen in the novel My Place.
The patriarchal misogynistic society of Australia has assigned gender roles or gender
stereotypes. Non-aboriginal women, who were accustomed to these stereotypes seconded it
and brought in racial discrimination with in this stereotype and this in turn contributed to
the double or multiple marginalization of aboriginal women.
Aboriginal women received less support from non-aboriginal women. Moreover,
they played an important role in heightening the traumatic effects on aboriginal women.
Non-aboriginal women had a major role in the denial of aboriginal women‘s basic political,
civil and legal rights. The feminist movements in Australia is widely criticized for
excluding aboriginal women. Australian feminist movements couldn‘t help aboriginal
women to elevate their status. It rather focused on non-aboriginal women and their
problems. This situation in Australia could be equated to the criticism of Toril Moi, who
levelled against Elain Showalter, in her work Sexual/Textual Politics. Moi claims that,
Showalter‘s view is limited and essentialist and also criticized Showalter for universalizing
the concept of women hood in the female-phase. Moi argues that, ―women are being
contextualized and their identity is socially and linguistically constructed‖. Devon Abbott
Mihesuah‘s opinion in her book ‗Indigenizing the Academy Transforming Scholarship and
Empowering Communities’ could constitute to a better analysis of the exclusion of
aboriginal women.
Feminist groups may also attempt to ―accommodate‖ Aboriginal women within the realm
of Australian women by asking us to attend events as guest speakers, to read poetry, to set
up displays of artwork, or to speak about Aboriginal spirituality. Such practices focus on
cultural expression and the perceived exotic elements of Aboriginal culture—as some
Aboriginal women call it, the ―pretty business.‖ The invitations and our presence as
Aboriginal women can operate as a form of tokenism and entertainment for nonindigenous
women, where we are ―window dressing.‖ (Mihesuah, 2004)

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Women and Patriarchy

White men‘s writings were widely criticized as it regaled the pursuit of patriarchal
society. Females and aboriginals were not given their due respect. In the novel there are
numerous excerpts in which Morgan‘s family criticize white history. In a conversation with
Arthur, Sally Morgan opines that
‗Well, there‘s almost nothing written from a personal point of view about Aboriginal
people. All our history is about white man. No one knew what it was like for us. A lot of
our history has been lost, people have been too frightened to say anything. There‘s a lot of
our history which we can‘t even get at, Arthur. There are all sorts of files about Aboriginals
that go way back, and the government won‘t release them. (Morgan, 163-164)
The above instance from My Place could unravel white man‘s hypocrisy towards the
aboriginals.They even manipulated history to favor themselves. However, this is not the
authentic history. As Franz Fanon rightly opines ―The settler makes history and is
conscious of making it. And because he constantly refers to the history of his mother
country, he clearly indicates that he himself is the extension of that mother-country. Thus,
the history which he writes is not the history of the country which he plunders but the
history of his own nation in regard to all that she skims off, all that she violates and
starves‖ (Fanon, 1990).Likewise, initialAustralian history carriedin it no authentic female
representation. Patriarchy manipulated the history and represented females according to
their allure, which later resulted in the subjugation of women. In Australian context,
women had to undergo sufferings and subjugation despite their identity.However, identity
arbitrates the depth of marginalization and sufferings. In Australian society women lived
under the influence of patriarchy. Even the privileged white women had to live under the
influence of patriarchy. Outrageous ascendancy of patriarchy resulted in the alteration of
white women‘s psyche in such a way that theygratified the pre-established notions of
patriarchy.The plight that aboriginal women underwent was traumatic when compared to
white women. White women had to endure marginalization just from white man, whereas
aboriginal women endured multiple level marginalization. They were marginalized and
exploited by white man and women and by aboriginal men too.

To empower and to elude themselves from exploitation women had to seek resort in
feminist movements. However, the feminist movements that emerged tangled the existed
complexities, as universalization of these movements were not entertained by the
aboriginal women. The problems that white women addressed never accommodated
aboriginal women‘s problems. Patriarchy was successful in creating such a complexity and
in dividing women based on these differences.Vron Ware in her book Beyond the Pale:
White Women, Racism and History opines that ―Empire provided both a physical and an
ideological space in which the different meanings of femininity could be explored or
contested. Corresponding ideasabout racial or cultural difference provided a context for
these conflicts to be played out in their full complexity‖ (Ware, 120).
Negotiation of Female Sexuality
In the novel, it is evident that no clear reference about Daisy‘s -Arthur‘s father and
Gladdy‘sfatheris given. Certain mentioning of their paternal half is given in the novel.
However, it generates confusion in readers. In the second section (Arthur Corunna‘s story)

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of the novel Arthur says:―My mother‘s name was Annie Padewani and my father was
Alfred Howden Drake-Brockman, the white station-owner‖(Morgan, 175). Here, Arthur
says about his patriarchal lineage confidently and proudly. However, the episode in chapter
twenty-four, where Judy speaks aboutAlfred Howden Drake-Brockman creates a puzzling
circumstance for its readers. According to Judy―.. Nan‘s father was a mystery man. He was
a chap they called Maltese Sam and he used to be cook on Corunna Downs‖ (Morgan 154).
‗Aunty Judy, I was talking to Arthur, Nan‘s brother, the other day and he said that his
father was the same as yours, Alfred Howden Drake-Brockman. Isn‘t it possible he could
have been Nan‘s as well.‘‗No, That‘s not what everyone said. I‘ve told you what I know;
who Nan‘s father is. I‘m certain Arthur‘s father wasn‘t Howden, I don‘t know who his
father was.(Morgan, 155)
When Sally Morgan reveled her discoveries to Arthur about his‘s and Daisy‘s father, his
immediate reaction was
‗She said WHAT?‘
Arthur was a bit hard of hearing sometimes, so I repeated my question.
‗Don‘t you listen to her‘, he said when I asked him again. ‗She never lived on the station,
how would she know?‘
‗Well, she got from her mother, Alice, who got he story from her husband, Howden, who
said Annie had confide in him.‘
Arthur threw back his head and laughed. Then he thumped his fist on the arm of his chair
and said, ‗Now you listen to me, Daisy‘s father is the same as mine. Daisy is my only full
sister. Albert, he is our half-brother, his father was Howden, too, but by a different
woman.‘
‗So you reckoned he fathered the both of you.‘
‗By jove he did! Are you gunna take the word of white people against your own flesh and
blood? I got no papers to prove what I‘m saying‘. Nobody cared how many blackfellas
were born in those days, nor how many died. I know because my mother, Annie, told me.
She said Daisy and I belonged to one another. Don‘t you go takin‘ the word of white
people against mine.‘ (Morgan, 157)
And this discussion about Daisy‘s and Arthur‘s paternal rootsshowcases the sufferings that
aboriginal women had to undergo. They were treated as menial creatures. However, white
man secretly exploits women to quench their libido. They never took any responsibility
over the born or dead child. Moreover, aboriginal women do not have the privilege to
disclose who her child'sfatherwas. And even if an aboriginal child claims a white man to be
his/her father he would never approve it.
On the station, I went under the name Daisy Brockman. It wasn‘t till I was older that I took
the name Corunna. Now, some people say my father wasn‘t Alfred Howden Drake-
Brockman, they say he was this man from Malta. What can I say? I never heard ‗bout this
man from Malta before. I think that‘s a big joke.

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Aah, you see, that‘s the trouble with us blackfellas, we don‘t know who we belong to, no
one‘ll own up.(Morgan, 325)
The case with Arthur and Daisy was similar to this. Both Arthur and Daisy considered
Alfred Howden Drake-Brockmanto be their father, however the white society never
approved it and they consider Maltese Sam to be Arthur‘s and Daisy‘s father.
A similar scenario could be seen in Daisy‘s case too. Even when Gladdy pestered
Daisy to reveal about her paternal lineage she never disclosed it to her. This plight that
aboriginal women underwent was the hardest. As KimberleCrenshow remarks ―the
experience of being a black woman cannot be understood in terms of being black or of
being women.‖ As she rightly pointed, the exploitations that aboriginal women underwent
due to double marginalization could never be apprehended by none other than themselves.
Gender Hierarchy in My Place
Patriarchy positioned women beneath men in spite of regional, cultural,
geographical and socio-lingual differences. Men considered women to be their possession,
who, will always remainsubservient to them. Even when the male member cared less for
his family he still regarded to be the ‗man of the house‘. Gladdy‘s and Bill‘s life could be
the perfect illustration of this. Bill never provided any material or emotional comfort to his
family, still he was treated with due respect. His family, who were considered as his
possession had to live according to his choice. Whereas, the assiduous Gladdy, who
sustains the family often received no respect due to her gender and race.
I was grateful dad didn‘t belt Mum. Although, one night, he did push her and she fell. I‘d
been allowed to stay up late that night, and was squatting on the kitchen floor and peering
around the door jamb to see what had happened. Mum just lay in a crumpled heap. I
wonder why she didn‘t get up. I peered up at Dad, he was so tall he seemed to go on
forever. He ran his hand back through his hair, looked down at me, and groaned.(Morgan,
21)
Bill never hesitated to assault his family for the fear of government or society as he was
privileged of being a white and a man.
In Australia, being an aboriginal was laborious and being an aboriginal woman assures
added trauma. White society disdained aboriginals and regarded them to be as menial
creatures that could provide benefits to white man through hard work. Aboriginals had to
indulge in laborious tasks to sustain their lives.The plight of aboriginal women was such
that,they had to surrender to white men‘s libido. White men‘s version of history and books
never projected these lives. It rather glorified ‗white man‘s burden‘ and their attempts to
‗civilize‘ the aboriginals. Even the feminist movements in Australia neglected women.
Moreover, the white women, under the influence of patriarchy played a major role in
subjugating aboriginal women. The relation that existed between white women and
aboriginals were that of master-slave relationship. Non-aboriginal women did nothing for
aboriginal women, rather, they tried to reassert the existing patriarchal notion.
June said to me, ‗You‘ve got a doll, too. Mummy‘s got it.‘ Then from behind her back ,
Alice pulled out a black topsy doll dressed like a servant. It had a red checked dress on and

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a white apron, just like Mum‘s. It had what they used to call a slave cap on its head. It was
really just a handkerchief knotted at each corner. My mother always wore one on washing
days, because the laundry got very damp with all the steam and it stopped some of it
trickling down her face.
I stared at this doll for a minute. I was completely stunned. That‘s me, I thought, I wanted
to be a princess, not a servant. I was so upset that when Alice placed the black doll in my
arms, I couldn‘t help flinging it onto the floor and screaming, ‗ I don‘t want a black doll, I
don‘t want a black doll‘. Alice just laughed and said to my mother, ‗Fancy, her not wanting
a black doll.(Morgan, 261-262)
This narration from Gladdy‘s childhood days suggests that, Alice had fallen prey in
internalizing the established patriarchal notion. Alice is privileged due to her racial identity.
With this added advantage Alice could have helped Daisy and Gladdy to uplift their lives
by breaking the established stereotypes. However, in the novel, Alice renders a clear
demarcation between white and aboriginal women.
Conclusion
In the novel, there are numerous instances of subjugation and marginalization,
sexual assaults and sufferings. The narration of aboriginal life in a white society evoke
sympathy in the minds of readers. Dealing with such theme, the novel could be
misunderstood to be melancholic. However, Sally Morgan employed her consciouseffort to
deliver it as the story of re-empowering aboriginal women. Both Daisy and Gladdy had a
miserable childhood due to their race and sex. Hence, later on, in an attempt to uplift
themselves from the traumatic life they conceal their aboriginal identity from Gladdy‘s
children and society. This cover under new identity helped them to provide the kids with a
better living condition. Through various cleaning jobs Gladdy managed to find a regular
income that could sustain her family.
Life of Sally and Jill is not very different from that of Glady an Daisy. Even, they
fought all the odds of their lives and secured a respectable position. However, unlike Daisy
and Gladdy they never confined their identity for the fear of social trauma and isolation.
Rather, they presented their identity to the worldand took pride in their identity. The
subaltern women in Sally Morgan‘s My Place are successful in re-empowering themselves.
Through their hard work and sufferings aboriginal women are securing better social
positioning. The lives of Daisy, Galddy, Sally and Jill is the best example to it.Voice, to the
voiceless subalterns in the novel has finally resulted in women empowerment.

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