The Turning Notes.

WATER AND LAND- LAND IS VERY

IMPORTANT MOTIF: INCLUDE IN
RESPONSE.
Connections to other stories in the cycle: through characters, themes,
recurring motifs, imagery, metaphors etc.
Characters- m= mentioned f= featured
The Langs
Vic: Big World (m), Abbreviation (f), Aquifer (f), Damaged Goods (f), On Her
Knees (f), Long clear View (f), Reunion (f), Commission (f), Immunity (f), Defender
(f).
Gail (Vics wife): Aquifer (m), Damaged Goods (f), Reunion (f), Defender (f).
Gails sister: Damaged Goods (m)
Carols mum: Abbreviation (f), Reunion (m),
Bob and Carol (parents): Abbreviation (f), Damaged Goods (m their deaths), On
Her Knees (m/f), Long Clear View (f), Reunion (m/f), Commission (f), Defender
(m). Bob-> Fog (f), Immunity (m).
Baby sister (Kerry): Abbreviation (f), Damaged Goods (m death), Long Clear View
(f), Commission (m), Immunity (m).
Cloris/ Ernie/ Cousins (daughters): Abbreviation (f), Reunion (m), Commission
(m).
Melanie
Abbreviation (f), Damaged Goods (m).
Maclin: Fog (f), BMs Moll (m).
Charlie: Aquifer (m), BMs Moll (m) ?
Slack Jackie: Damaged Goods (m), BMs Moll (f).
Gordon (Borner) McPharlin: Long, Clear View (m), BMs Moll (f).
The Leapers:
Max: The Turning (f), Sand (f), Family (f).
Frank: The Turning (m), Sand (f), Family (f).
Raelene and daughters: The Turning (f), Family (m)
Leaper parents: Sand (f/m), Family (m).
Overdosed girl: Long, Clear View (m), BMs Moll (m).
MOTIFS
Water: Abbreviation, Aquifer, Cockleshell, Family, Reunion, BMs Moll,
THEMES
Coming of Age: Big World, Abbre, Aquifer, On Her Knees, Cockleshell, Sand, LCV,
BMs Moll, Immunity, Defender.
Death: Big World, Aquifer, Damaged Goods, Cockleshell, SM, BMs Moll,
Immunity, Defender.
Love: Big World, Abbre, DG, OHK, Cockleshell, SM, the Turning, BMs Moll,
Immunity, Defender.

Lust: Big World, Abbre, Cockle, SM, the Turning, BMs Moll,
Abuse: OHK, Cockleshell, Small Mercies, The Turning, Sand, Family, Reunion,
Defender.
Family: Cockleshell, DG, Small Mercies, OHK, Sand, Family, Reunion, LCV,
Commission, Immunity, Defender.
Religion: The Turning, Aquifer, Cockleshell, DG, Reunion, Defender.

Big World
Characters:
-Vic Lang (coppers kid p2) -Cheryl Button (got into Medicine in Uni p2)
-Biggie Boston (best friend to Character, originally
Themes:
from city Lenny and George p5)
-Potential
-Characters mum (in love with married deputy
-Missed opportunities
principal, English teacher)
-Youth (arrogance)
-Tony Macoli (bully p7-8) - Briony Nevis (characters
-Playing a role
crush)
-Love
-Meg (Biggies partner)
-Loyalty
-Friendship
Dot points:
-Intelligence
-failed exams
-Leaving the nest
- quit meatworks job
-Connection to home
-left for Perth
-Second chances
-picked up Meg
-Life is what you make it
- Biggie and Meg ditch Character
-coming of age
-Character returns to Angelus to redo exams, has a family
- Biggie dies a year later
-Tony is a rich merchant
Titles significance:
Dreams of the big world beyond. P6
Its a big world, and we are, as individuals, only a very small part of it.
You can either let its vastness crush you, as you indulge in the fantasy that you
are bigger than you are, or you can face the realisation that the world does not
revolve around you and your reckless decisions.

Abbreviation
Characters:
The Langs: Vic (late 12 yrs old, just moved from city to Angelus) Nanna, Uncle
Ernie (Nans fav son) Ernies daughters. Aunt Cleo (real name Cloris). Vics
baby sister. Vics mum and dad (the cop) Melanie ( 16 yrs old, lost left ring
finger when shes 6.)
Dot points:
The Langs are late to White Point (fishing spot) on New Years Eve of 1972. They
spend two nights there, into the new year.
-Vic meets Melanie, they kiss.
-Bait line gets stuck in Vics leg
Themes:
-Melanie and harvest family leave without trace, despite
- Love
no change in weather (to affect their crops and make
-Lust
them leave).
-Understanding
Titles significance:
I call it my abbreviation p27
-Labels and abbreviations are not all a person is.
-Such labels can be used to give the person strength in
themselves, eg: Melanie.
-Vivid memories are the most painful, we never get to
explore our greatest feelings eg: love, pain. They are
made abbreviations.

-Loneliness
-One and the same
-Abbreviations AKA labels,
trademark, shortcut
personality.
-Definition
-Coming of age

Aquifer
Characters:
Character (married, recounts childhood memory), Bruno the Yugo (12 yrs old),
The Mannerings: George (dad), Alan (son, bullies Character), and Charlie (is
this the same Charlie from BMS Moll?) (he saw him lose toes on mower
p42). The 7/8 Box kids.
Cape Coloureds p44
The Joneses (indigenous) p44 Gave my little brother a hiding once. I never
knew why.
Wally Burniston (drunk), Beryl Burniston (locks husband out when drunk.
Possibly cheating on him).
Dot points:
-Wakes up at present, has a wife.
-Drives to Angelus to see the recovered bones in the
swamp by his childhood house.
(-Alan Mannering peed around him
-Goes into lake in upturned car hood and drowns.)
-They moved out when he was 13, new owner married
then divorced Beryl.
-Man next door murdered his wife. (English digger?)
-Bruno went to Serbia to burn Albanians
-Box kid became celebrity priest
-Character goes back to old neighbourhood, aboriginal
woman being evicted. P52

Themes:
-Death
-Unconscious guilt
-Bullying
-Religion
-Ghosts
-Water
-Lies
-Bystander
-Distant adult
- The dead returning to the
earth

Titles significance:
- Time moves through us and not us through it the
past is on us, and not behind us. P53
Time may move on, people may or may not move on but things are never
over.
Aquifer - a body of permeable rock which can contain or transmit groundwater.
-Aquifer is the water source that the town
relied on when the heat increased.
-Character thought of Alan dissolving into the
water and being distributed all over the
town, in its crops etc.
-Aquifer water became a source consisting of
life and death, I have, boy and man, felt the
dead in my very water. P50
What may lie beneath the surface, did Alan
willingly die?

Damaged Goods
Characters:
Vics wife Gail (10 years younger than him, grew up in Suburbs), Vic (labour
lawyer), Strawberry Alison, her girlfriend, Carol and Bob Lang (Vics
parents), Vics baby sister, Slack Jackie p61 (reference), Wifes sister
(reference to doll- gambling),
Dot points:
Vics obsession with Strawberry Alison (13-14 years old).
Themes:
(-Wifes sister winning doll in raffle but dad locked it away
Appearances/ beauty
since it was a prize of gambling.)
-Religion
-Baby sister dies of meningitis when hes 15. He blocks her
-Death
out, only remembers when wife asks. P59
-Obsession
-Bob leaves force couple months after.
-Untouchables
-Vic told Alison he loved her, she graduates and leaves
-Flaws
Angelus.
-Sexual orientation
-Last year of school: Vic gets smashed at Brandovino and
- Coming of age
Blackberry Nip p63
-Love
-Hes at Massacre Point, Alison is there, shes a lesbian.
-Loss
-On coastal highway Alison and gf hit tree and die.
-Carol dies of cancer, Bob only a few days later falls down
mineshaft after taking to drinking.
Titles significance:
Shes damaged goods
Strawberry Alison was labelled as damaged goods, despite being very popular
and loved by most including Vic.
-If anything this title is significant because Vics wife is the damaged goods by
being perfectly normal, appearance wise anyway. She wonders what kind of
abnormality she possesses for Vic to be attracted to her.
-Vic seeks out these girls (Melanie and Alison) since he wants to feel like he is
finding in them something to love that no one else sees. Yet with Alison this
wasnt really the case.

Small Mercies
Characters: Angelus
Peter Dyson, dead wife Sophie, Ricky (4 yr old son), Don and Marjorie
Keenan (live by Surf beach in Art Deco place beneath Norfolk Island pines p76),
Fay Keenan (Dysons old gf, dealing with drugs), Sky (fays 7 yr old child who
lives with grandparents unofficially.), Jareds mum (reference p83),
Jackys Bridge p82
Dot points:
After his wifes suicide and his decline into alcoholism where his friends wives
help him Dyson and Ricky move from Fremantle to Angelus.
Themes:
-Live in late mothers house on top of harbour.
Death
-He runs into old friends (surrogate parents really), The
-Absentness
Keenans.
-Drugs
-He goes over for dinner at their house, he sees Fay child Sky.
-Depression
(- Dyson and Fay were high school sweethearts whose
-Innocence of youth
relationship fell apart. Years later they meet again and have
-Money
sex.)
-Suicide
-Fay has a speed addiction but wants to have her daughter
-Sex
back.
-Good influences
-Dyson takes Ricky and friend Jared to Jackys Bridge to fish
-Loneliness
then they lie under bridge to hear train as he and Fay used to
- The past and the
do.
present
-He drives Fay and Sky home.
-Responsibility
- Sunday night Fay comes over for mercy sex then begins to
-Blackmail
blackmail Dyson when he refuses, saying shell tell her
- Coming of age
parents about their abortion that Dysons mum paid for.
(Theyre highly religious).
-Dyson still refuses, playing her bluff.
Titles significance:
-The small mercies are the little things that Don and Marjorie take comfort in as
they see their daughter through her drug addiction and bad habits.
- Fay and Dyson had been together since they were 14 till 16. Sex kept them
together in the end. Small mercies as in what Fay asked (blackmailed) Dyson for:
mercy sex.
-Being able to enjoy little things in life, like Peter and his son, within the loss of
his wife.
- Can always see the positive things in life despite the overwhelming force of the
negative.
Connections:
Mapping of Angelus- the streets eg: art deco.

On Her Knees
Characters:
Character (Vic), Carol Lang, Bob ( left when Vic was 16), Woman who hired
and fired Carol (street beneath a block of Art Deco flats.)
Dot points:
Woman accused Carol of stealing $500 earrings and fires her (she cleans houses,
used to be doctors receptionist), yet asks her to stay on for a week while woman
finds replacement.
-The thief hasnt been reported to police, Vic is suspicious.
- Vic and Carol argue, him hating how people take advantage of her, demeanour
her.
-He goes to help her clean the womans house anyway.
- He snoops around despite Carol saying not to. Finds
Themes:
hash, red tulip chocolate wrappers p110.
Dignity
-Carol doesnt take the envelope of money sitting for
-Self pride/ worth
her, Vic finds the earrings behind the bed and after
- Guilt
putting them in cat litter, he decides to leave them for
- Innocence
woman by the envelope.
- Superiority
Titles significance:
- Material possession
- The mum, Carol, cleans on her knees. ( It cant be
- Education (she wouldnt let
character since its Vic?)
Vic get a job because uni was
Cleaning other peoples homes is degrading to Carol,
too important).
she is literally on her knees but financially and in her
-Principles
occupation, she is lower than others are. Despite being
-cleaning
incredibly professional and indifferent to this.
-Her employment rests on the need of others to have
someone clean their houses that they themselves couldnt be bothered to clean.
Connections:
Mapping, the woman lives near the Art Deco flats.

Cockleshell
Characters:
Agnes Larwood, her brothers, Margaret (older sister, dads fav, ran away at
16 with superworks guy to the city), Eric (alcoholic father), highly religious
mother,
-Brakey (unnamed), his mum,
- Slater (friend) Electrolux Man p118 Sex maniac. He could be the
brother. The brother could be a rapist in jail. (Agnes) sits back- he feels her
retract- as Slater slouches down the aisle. Slater is a sex maniac. He blew up his
mothers vacuum cleaner in the kind of experiment that a sane person would
never have thought of. Half the school calls him the Electrolux Man. He knows all
kinds
-Brad Benson, cops take the boy during school and he doesnt return. His dad
suicide. Off The Big Hole, he was a banker.
- Old Percy
Dot points:
- Year he was to turn 15. He believes Agnes has to fish every night to feed her
poor family.
- Eric used to be shop steward at meat works but they closed down. Brakeys
family houses them from father when hes drunk and
his dad goes over there to calm him down.
Themes:
- Larwoods are English.
- Maturity
- Walking along shore, sees Agnes. Shes already
- Loneliness
confronted him about following her yet she lets him
- Responsibility
fish alongside her.
- Distractions
- Burns himself on the lamp
- Injury
- Dreams of Mr. Bensons body washing ashore from
- Drinking
Big Hole to Cockleshell. Agnes and him discover body
- Religion, church
and turn him over to see hes Brakeys dad.
- Death
- Last winter he went to city to stay with dad and his
- Fire
gf for a week. It was a failed trial. P124.
- Disappearance
- Fishing with Agnes again. They remember when were
- Separation
both fishing and she caught a big mullet with her bare
- Abandonment
hands.
- Agnes gives fish to the Beasley sisters. P125. She
doesnt need to fish, its a hobby she hates. He hears
a sad saxophone. Agnes fishes to get away, her mum and her church prayed for
Dads drinking to stop, it did but now hes nothing. She wouldnt leave her
brothers.
- He goes to take her arm but she hits him away?
- Larwood house on fire. Dad wouldnt leave and Mum watches from just beyond
the flames as he is eaten by them. Brakey runs to help him but cant.
-Spinnaker Waters replaces Cockleshell.
- Welfare people came and took the Larwoods away after the day of the fire,
they were never seen again. Agnes is a surgeon.
- He could go to meet her but he doesnt. She STARTED THE FIRE.
-He moves to city in adulthood.
Titles significance:

Name of the town, since it was the town that limited and suffocated Agnes and
was Brakeys only home. In adulthood they were freed from Cockleshell, as they
moved to city.
Connections:
- Big World: escape.
- Abusive childhood (Agnes)-> The Turning etc.

The Turning
Characters: White POINT.
Raelene, her daughters, Max (her husband), Sherry (was a legal secretary), Dan
(new job at Depot, used to be local manager of live export, husband), Frank (Maxs
football playing little brother).
- old man Harrison (mower), Nurse(sister of Maxs boss). Bob James
(Maxs boss)
Themes:
Dot points:
- Abuse
-Raelene: chipped tooth and throbbing lip, the girls wont look at her.
- Sex
She meets Sherry at the washers and they show their tattoos to each
- Religion
other. Raes tattoo handle with care.
- Drugs
-( Max would call Frank a fairy, a retard, a waste of skin. {But the
- Alcohol
White points loved him} p138).
- Trapped
-(Max and Raelene met at a 21st, they had sex. He was twenty and rich
- Fear
from fishing, they went to Bali for their honeymoon.)
- Redemption
- Slinging craypots p139, stuffed up his back. Pub people called him
-Evil
Aggro Max.
- Stupidity
- Sherry tells Rae youll be right in response to Maxs temper.
- Love
-Rae helps Sherry move into her new house for three days, when she
- Friendship
and the girls returned to caravan it was a mess, mirror kicked out,
- Respect
blood everywhere.
- Isolation,
- Max hit Rae for laughing at him for being bloody stupid, in front of the
loneliness
kids.
- he left for the Cesspit (clump of vans).
- He returns and wants sex, she surrenders and wakes up at 5am, reawakened by
mower at 10.
- Sherry came by at 12, said nothing of the masking make up and helped clean up van.
- Max came back in afternoon and ate steak and eggs in silence.
- Rae goes over to Sherrys house on every darts night (Tuesday).
- She went over at 11 and interrupted them having sex, she wanted what they had. Cried
over Maxs sleeping body.
- Rainy days: tried to smoke joint, too wet so she ate it, then puked it up. She was hooked
on Sherry and Dan.
- Blew off darts-> went to their house, they had been reading bibles.
- Starts to cry. Expects them to rape her, they obviously dont.
- She storms out after thinking Dan doesnt want her there. Returned home and held
each child, thinking of the courage that she lacked to kill herself. P146
- Sherry comes over, Rae hides in van with kids, she puts on slutty dress.
- Next day she and Sherry silently play with kids, she doesnt come around after that.
-She bought a bible and went around to their house by blowing off darts again. Dans a
recovering alcoholic, no alcohol in house.
- she spent a lot of time with them, debating hell and homosexuals.
Vision as she walked home: a million camp fires and lost people looking into them.
Dream: a memory from her childhood. Her dad singing sweetly, encouraging others to
join in out on the shore as crabs cooked. P150.

- 1st week of June Frank quit football. Max throw a guy through a window, and pushed Rae
into the fridge, Sherry said she should leave him as they and the girls drove to Perth for
the day. p151. (First time Sherry has judged her.)
- Max goes back from pub drunk and agitated, he thinks shes been ditching darts night
to go have an affair. Instead of telling him otherwise she says that the other man is
better, he hits her so hard against the van that she goes to nursing post. Harrison carried
her and took the girls to safety, Rae got stitched up and the remaining parts of her hair
shaven off. The girls were afraid of her, mummys had a haircuteverythings fine now
p158. Not shying away from Maxs abuse to the public.
was amazed at how fuckin pointless people were without their voices. P158
- she went over to the cesspit and found max high with other guys watching rough porn,
she left for home and received call from Bob James, Max is fired.
- Max raped Rae. Instead of dying, the dramatic ending meant she experienced her
religious turning.
Titles significance:
The born- again business- Whats it like? You know, the change. When you turned, or
whatever you call it. P153- Rae experienced this with her new found strength and
fierceness when it came to confronting and fighting Max. Maxs abuse also turned from
domestic assault to murder. The turning: finding religion, you turn when finding
religion.
Connections:She liked to think of him (Snowglobe Jesus) in his little dome and her in
her little aluminium box, both of them trapped. P155
-White Point. Where Vic went fishing in Abbreviation.

Sand
Characters:
Max (10 years old, making adults laugh), Frank, Their
Themes:
mother (called Frank Rabbit),
- Love
Dot points:
- Missing
- Walking along white beach at sunset FISHING, their
- Innocence
mother left 2 weeks ago?
- Menace
- The boys were spending time this summer with their
- Submission,
dad?
apologising
- In an attempt to ignite a blue flame Frank burnt
- Running away,
Maxs bum causing him to chase after him. Frank was
rebelling
faster.
- Fear
(- Frank had pooped his pants during school once and
- Trapped
hid in the toilets waiting for his mum, who never came.
- Irresponsible
Max heckled him to stop crying and clean himself up.)
- Max seemed to quickly forgive Frank once he caught him and told him to start
digging.
- Max buried Frank inside and left him to claw his way out. He returned to the
adults and Max, apologising.
Titles significance:
The sand of which trapped Frank and almost killed him. It having blocking all
sound. The use of neutral/ natural sand as a weapon. Maxs turn into the
malicious character he is.
Connections:
- Frank and Max (The Turning, Family).
- Small Mercies: Rickys favourite footballer is Frank.

Family
Characters:
- Frank Leaper Max
-Raelene and daughters (reference)
- Their parents (reference). The shark :D
- Sportswriter (sigma car,
following Frank)
Dot points:
- Chuang Tzu poem
- Frank is driving drunk at 4 in the morning to White Point. He has walked from
football career.
- He pulls over to pines planation and sleeps in the car after almost hitting
kangaroos.
-Hes heading to family-> Max.
- Goes to beach to surf, remembers growing up in caravan park. P173
- Sees Max surfing. (Buzz cut hair and bikey beard. Scars on eyebrows and dint in
head. After he killed Raelene?)
- Frank is nave. He was 20 when he realised his dad didnt have any feelings
towards him.
(-He didnt go to dads funeral, wanted to show Max that he didnt care.)
(-Failure scared Frank in football. He pictured Max with him, negative influence
over him.)
- When he stopped enjoying the game and playing to
Themes:
prove himself to commentators/ fans football lost the
- Naivety/ childhood
magic. P183.
innocence
- Max has already been taken off the boat.
- Family
- Shark attacks Max, wounds him severely. Frank paddles
- Neglect
him to safety after a long moment of hesitation. Held
- Love
onto his brother for longer than he should have Max
- Abandonment
had already died.
- Magic
Titles significance:
- Jealousy
Despite the lack of support his family showed him, Frank
- Growth/ Coming of age
still valued his. He sort them out after his fall in football,
- Isolation
Max being the only one around. His father was dead and
- Purity
wouldnt have cared anyway and his mother had left him
- Bullying
and Max with the father. Max is said to hate Frank as
- Rescue
much as he hates his mum.
- Coming of age

- Frank saves his brother, the same brother who tried to kill him in Sand, but he
does so because Max is all he has left. The only family he has left.
Connections:
- Long, Clear view: family centred.
- Max, Frank etc. from Sand, the Turning.
- Failure as in Big World.

Long, clear view

Characters:
Vic Lang, Carol, Bob, little sister, Smirking Constable, two trusties
(Aborigine and the other one), Vics dog, kid in sheep skin-( Boner
McPharlin).
Dot points:
- In second tense you.
- Vic admiring his gun, sister crying.
- falls in love with Strawberry Alison, (hes 13-14)
- plays basketball against black people and they get him to walk them home,
scared of the dark.
Twelve year gap between you and the baby, wondering what it was that took
the oldies so long. P.193
- Dads day off: camp at salmon camp- baby takes first steps, Vics the only one
to see it. Parents walking on beach.
- School burnt down, everyone suspects kid with sheep skin-> recently expelled,
makes bombs, fills condoms with bulls blood, jacked up teachers cars.
- Hes released without charge.
- Vics prom interrupted by rotten egg bomb and dead girl in bathroom
(overdose). Next morning someone else is dead: boy found hanging in wardrobe.
Bob is forever changed.
- sheepskin boy in Holden van.
- Two kids drown, rollover on coast road, girl has stomach pumped, man is
bashed on wharf, overdoses.
Themes:
- He sees dark car with 4 people inside, recognises it.
- Family
- Tourists find boy with both legs broken, its the bomber from school.
- Love
- Coppers picnic, Bob doesnt fit in.
-Protection
- Dad always wait in car before coming to house.
- Anxiety
- Hes transferred, only at home 2 weeks at a time. keep away from the wharf.
- Death
- Power
- Loss
-Dysfunctional

- Day later Constable brings trusty, gonna cut their wood, he brings another
(aborigine).
- Vic doesnt like the trusties being there, he said hell do it.
-Lang dog dies.
-Mum is called away, Vic is left with his sister. Holds the gun ready at the door.
Titles significance:
Vic has become aware of the hidden secrets and details of the town, Angelus. He
heard this information from his dad, going on about the murders in the town;
giving Vic a long, clear view.

Reunion
Characters-Gail, Carol and Vic Lang.
- Referenced: Ernie and Cleo, Bob, Mrs Lang, The cousins, Gails parents, Carols
mum.
Dot PointsSet on CHRISTMAS DAY
- The family stopped talking to Carol after Bob left, blaming Carol for his
abandonment.
- Vic, Carol and Gail go over to Ernies house. No ones home.
- Carol falls into the pool and Gail jumps in for fun.
Themes:
-Vic discovers that its the wrong house.
- Eagerness
- Hes concerned hell lose his job.
- Alcoholism
- They skip the party and go home, they open champagne.
- Religion
Carol doesnt drink but has some now.
- Family
- Gail: in childhood, her family would go to church 3 times on a
- Anger
Sunday but only once at Christmas. Say Happy Christmas
- Fun
not Merry since it condoned drinking.
- Fear
-Carols mum was an alcoholic too. She get her from the pub
Motifs.
when she was 12. C wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. Her
- Water- New Life.
mum would break windows with her high heels, C never wore
high heels but she drank. (She dies last year).
- Gails parents didnt send her to kindergarten, throw her
bday parties, read to her or come to her sport days. Vic gets angry on her behalf
yet shed forgiven them. The church took up most of their time.
- The cousins are all married with kids

- Carol says Vic is Bobs son, once Mrs Lang made him and Ernie drive to
Kalgoorlie when Cleo had left with the kids. Seven hour drive there for Bob and
her to sit in the car for another two while Ernie and Cleo had sex and took drugs/
alcohol?
-Family, said Vic. Its not a word, its a sentence.
Rubbish, said Carol. Its an adventure.
Titles significance:
- Reunion of Gail, Vic and Carol. Coming together in their moment of mix up.
Making headway.

Commission
Characters: The Langs- plus Kerry (the baby sister). Vic hasnt seen Bob for 27
years.
Dot points: After Carol is diagnosed with cancer Vic goes to find his dad in a
town and is directed to Honest Bob.
-Bob agrees to return to Carol, while Vic and him drive around the town he tells
Vic why he left.
- It was because of the corruption in the town: he didnt fit in with the police
officers because he wasnt corrupt.
- Why did Bob give up drinking? Hes been sober for 15 years. He gave up
alcohol for Carol, yet he abandoned her still. He gave it up for the day he
knew hed see her again. Vic is angry of this because hed been sober for 15
years but never reconnected. Last 15 years no contact.
Titles significance:
- Bob has been renewed, brought into commission again.
Themes:
- Make something new and able to re-establish relationships.
- Loss
- Love
- Sacrifice
- Abandonment
- Corruption

Fog
Characters: Bob Lang, Maclin, female journalist- Marie.
- When Bob is working in Angelus.
- He suspects other police officers. And is investigating missing hikers.
- He wants to make a good impression on journalist since he has no one to trust
but her.
- Bob, Maclin and Marie camp out at in the bush while looking for hiker.
- Bob thinks of the story Marie will write: how Bob was heroic. But he disagrees
since hes drinking on the job.
Titles significance:
- The fog of corruption over the town and weighing on Bobs head.
Themes:
- Heroism
- Alcoholism
- Death
- Perception of others
- Judgement
- Land

Boner McPharlins Moll

Characters: Angelus
- Boner (Gordon) McPharlin
Themes:
- First person character- 13 year old girl. Slack Jackie.
- Lust
- Her friend- Erin. Jackies bf: Charlie
- Rebellion
- Ethna - Lawrence McPharlin - Redheaded cop and
- Sex
others
- Isolation
- Nervous constable (Maclin)
- Her parents
- Reputation
Overdose girl
- Regret
Dot points:
- Friendship
- 1970. BM was expelled halfway between 1 year of
- Silent
high school.
- Corruption
- She likes him.
Fan of Bowie p.252
- Drugs
-Things he did explained p253.
- Death
-One Monday he was gone.
- Growth
- Fire at the school, hes questioned but not charged.
- Love
He went to meatworks where his dad works in the
- Coming of age
boning room. Thats where the name came from. Father
to son.
- What he does on Saturdays. P253- hang around carparks etc.
- 14 years old the two girls were more interested in the brothers of the boys that
fancied them. P.253
- 14 and a half years old and Erin was dating guys- she wasnt easy. No Italians
p254.
Maybe I can do a story of Jackie and Fay meeting at abortion clinic.
- Negative descriptions of BMs car p254.

- On Saturday morning when Jackie was 15 BM pulled up beside her and offered
her a ride.
- Drove by Norfolk Island Pines, and he returned her to where she had been by
the caf.
- To encourage Erins rage and jealousy further, since Jackie realised their
friendship was a sham, Jackie implied that she and BM had gone all the way.
- She is Boner McPharlins moll.
- She wanted the rumours to be true, BM picks her up Saturday and they drive
around for 150 miles. This became a regular thing, small talk. Esso Station. P259
- Her dads a merciless Council Building Inspector. Her mums addicted to Valium.
P260
- They went to whaling station and she puked, he smiled. P261
-She pierces his ears. P261 And she kisses him.
Jackie Martin meatworker p263 her reputation had gone from BMs to
everyones.
- After getting hit with the realism of what it is that she was parading as
(polariods), Jackie gets forced on school work. When the rides with BM stop being
fun she stops seeing him and continues with school.
- Holiday to Perth, parents old uni. Kids think that Jackie is pregnant and BM
dropped her because she wouldnt have the baby.
- 16 years old: she didnt go to prom- the girl overdoses and died in bathroom.
BMs legs broken, she goes to see him in hospital.
- His dad killed his mother, they fired BM cause they thought he stole but he
didnt. Only drove the forklift for a laugh. Sharks know. P273 I dont say a
word. Corrupt detectives broke his legs.
- Nervous- looking constable (Malic): saves injured climber. Wants to know two
out of town names from BM. He makes her afraid. P274.
- She goes to visit BM at house, hes making shark- sticker (spears).
- Fished on Thunder Beach. P276 Climbed around the headland of Massacre
Point.
- She met Charlie BM taught her to drive. She, Charlie and his two friends
stopped at BMs house to find a bloodstained car with shells. They left. P279.
- She wasn t interested in sex with Charlie, they broke up. She didnt see BM.
(She won a history prize, school perfect).
- BM made her a trinket: a shark. Hes having a party at MP. School motto: SEE
FAR, AIM HIGH. More like FAR OUT, GET HIGH. Theres a catholic school as well:
St Joes. BM killed a shark. Jackie left to uni two days later. She completed
honours and visited Angelus- saw Erin who had dropped out of Teachers college
gotten married and had kids. Jackie wasnt interested. Stirling Highway. She went
to fish with BM. P.283 DESCRIPTION OF HOUSE AND PEOPLE for future depiction
of town.
- Postgrad work, diplomatic units, un, lived in Mexico, tried to write book. Dad
died and she returned to live with her mum in a new apartment to discover shes
an addict. Mum died in clinic of pneumonia.
- She had affair with woman (Ethna), after break up they became business
partners. BM was discovered by an unnamed person (it can be Fay) naked
cowering in a spud crate behind the shed. Heavy sedation, dad had died in his
sleep 10 days ago. P285
-p286 BM description. She cried upon seeing him. Also description of house.
- BM had porno magazines with her face stuck on the women. CONNECTION

- Eat thoug (thy) young he said. Moreton Bay fig. bird? She visited him at
private hospital every New Year. She became soul owner after buying Ethna out,
(import business).
- Sold Eagle Bay weekend home plus actual home for a Kharmann Ghia and
lugger? The people BM talked about were the corrupt officers maybe. P289 YES.
- Sharkll still go you when you think hes dead. P290
-Week after new year he died of massive heart attack.
-Cops got BM to drive their drugs around, she guessed. Shed lost herself as she
tried to outgrow her younger self and the town.
Titles significance:
-Moll is slang for a gangsters young and attractive girlfriend. Jackie says to be
BMs moll several times and as she grows although her attraction to him fades
she still remains loyal to being his friend. At the very end it was due to obligation
that Jackie kept visiting BM. They shared a connection that for Jackie, outgrow
sexual attraction, and into a relationship in a world where they didnt have
anyone else but each other.

Immunity

on their way back to Angelus. Lied that they were from

City Beach
Characters: After end of Vietnam war.
- 1st person character. 15 year old (year above them): Cadet Vic Lang. Bob
Kerry.
Dot points:
Character is talking to crush.
Themes:
-Hes sharing story of cadet shooting experience where he was
- Coming of age
close to getting shot in the leg being in the butts (in rifle range). He
- Ego
felt immune.
- Death
- Cop car was waiting when their carriage arrived, Kerry in hospital
- Family
with meningitis. She died.
- Love
Titles significance:
- Ignorance
Vic considered himself immune to death after experiencing a near
- Obliviousness
miss with a bullet. Yet as the chapter illustrates death is inevitable,
(of youth).
sooner to arrive for some than others.
-Mans tendency to think they are too powerful for death, above it.
- The human nature that we all must die eventually.

Defender
Characters:
- Vic (44 yrs old) Gail (34 yrs old) (shes a fundraiser: in the time that she was
in Angelus she could have fundraised). Daisy and Fenn (more her friends than
his): both vets/ farmers. 10 years younger, barely, than vic. Amos and Keira.
Vics parents.
Dot points:
- When Vic initially started playing basketball after playing football in the city he
thought he could tackle people as a guard. A defender, said Gail. Thats you
all over. P300

- Used to play Aboriginal kids from St. Joes. Con us into walking them back to
the hostel afterwards. I think they were afraid of the dark or maybe something
they had to walk past.
-Black teacher in Pilbara school, teaches PE.
-Gail wants Vic to go back to Angelus to deal with its shit, his parents are dead at
this point.
- Shingles, twice in 2 months: is he sick of remembering or vice versa? Gail asks.
-She started going to Anglican church again- seeing a female
priest.
Themes:
- She had an affair in Angelus: lasted a few weeks.
- Adultery
-Hes more worried bout her thinking hes a racist than the affair.
- Love
Other lawyers called him The Redeemer.
- Sickness
- Keira (4 year old) startles him, they talk alittle while they walk to
- Self- doubt
the others, Vic gets happier.
- Fear
- When Vic was 14 he chased down a runaway criminal who his
- The Past
limping father couldnt catch, he was jailed and the PE teacher he
- Family
then spoke to years later was the criminals older bro, thats why
- Personal growth
he was uncomfortable with not having coffee etc with him.
- Trust
- Vic is scared but relieved when comparing himself to Port
-Commitment
Aurthur shooter, he could have been that crazy but he didnt turn
- Death
out that way.
- Religion
- Fenn had come clean bout his affair, Daisy broke his model plane
- Guilt
collection. Ailson reference.
- Vic was a natural at shooting, hitting all the aiming things. He
was glad to know that he could resist the urge to shoot anything he saw. He
continued shooting happily once he knew.
Titles significance:
- All his life Vic has been the defender, fighting others battles and defending
them-> LCV for example. He wouldnt just defend his family from others, but
from himself. He held such fear that he could be as crazy as the Port Arthur
shooter, but with this shooting of the harmless targets he found that he had
control. He was finally at peace and happy, he can defend without being
paranoid of others and himself. At ease.