Strange Objects
Encyclopedia
Strange Objects is a 1990 novel by Australian author Gary Crew
Gary Crew
-Life:Gary Crew was born in Brisbane, Queensland on 23 September 1947. An illness during childhood kept him home from school but enabled him to develop an interest in reading adventure stories....

.

Strange Objects is set in Western Australia, based on the shipwreck of the Dutch vessel the Batavia
Batavia (ship)
Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company . It was built in Amsterdam in 1628, and armed with 24 cast iron cannons and a number of bronze guns. Batavia was shipwrecked on her maiden voyage, and was made famous by the subsequent mutiny and massacre that took place among the survivors...

. Using the framing device
Framing device
The term framing device refers to the usage of the same single action, scene, event, setting, or any element of significance at both the beginning and end of an artistic, musical, or literary work. The repeated element thus creates a ‘frame’ within which the main body of work can develop.The...

 of a collection of papers made by a missing boy, Steven Messenger, it is a mystery story that explores the construction of history. When Steven discovers relics from the wreck of the Batavia, while on a school camp, (a diary and a mummified hand with a gold ring on it, the two inside an iron pot), he investigates the media frenzy surrounding them, and in particular the stories of two murderers, Wouter Loos and Jan Pelgrom, from the doomed ship who are sent away to what they think is a deserted island for committing crimes of mutiny. The book parallels characters from the past and present in an exploration of human nature, and the presentation of self through the written word. It features an unusual construction, similar to Bram Stoker's Dracula in that the book is an epistolary novel
Epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...

; a compilation of letters, diary entries and photocopies. Hence, there is no one authoritative narrative voice, but a series of narrative voices collected in Messenger's scrapbook.

Background

The book was partly a response to Australia's Bicentenary, which occurred in 1988. This event caused a revival of interest in Australian history, particularly in the "discovery" of the land. The bicentenary celebrated the landing of the "First Fleet
First Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

" in 1788, and the beginning of permanent Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an settlement in Australia. James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

 charted the east coast of Australia in 1770, however there were a number of sightings and landings prior to this.

In Strange Objects, Gary Crew takes the premise that survivors from the Batavia, made it to the mainland, and lived with the Aboriginal people of the area. This actually happened, with European settlers noticing that the aboriginals had fair hair and more complex bush huts, which resembled their houses. This was of great interest to scientists.

Historical Basis

The Batavia
Batavia (ship)
Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company . It was built in Amsterdam in 1628, and armed with 24 cast iron cannons and a number of bronze guns. Batavia was shipwrecked on her maiden voyage, and was made famous by the subsequent mutiny and massacre that took place among the survivors...

, the ship they were on, sunk in 1629 with 300 people on board (and the Tyrall earlier in 1622). Two hundred and fifty made it ashore, on a tiny desolate sand bank known as Beacon island. The commander Francisco Pelsaert
Francisco Pelsaert
Francisco Pelsaert was a Dutch merchant who worked for the Dutch East India Company, who became most famous as the commander of the ship Batavia, which ran aground in the Houtman Abrolhos off the coast of Western Australia in June...

 took a long boat with 48 person and sailed to Java to get help, leaving the rest to wait.

The man who took charge was Jeronimus Cornelisz
Jeronimus Cornelisz
Jeronimus Cornelisz was a Frisian apothecary and Dutch East India Company merchant...

. Heretic and psychopath, he instantly rallied up a council and took charge.
To maximize his control over the survivors, he left groups of soldiers on nearby islands to look for water and told them to leave their guns. When the soldiers found a water reservoirs on hospitable island (West Wallabi Island) they signalled to the rest with smoke. However, when no reply came, they became instantly suspicious.

Jeronimus and his men had killed over 120 people, with another 40 escaping to West Wallabi Island.

By the time help came, the soldiers had repelled attacks with improvized weapons, whereas the mutineers had far superior weapons. The commander and the rescue team came, and executed most of the mutineers. Two of the mutineers were set adrift with little food and water. They came ashore on the West Australian Coastline

Themes

Strange Objects in part examines the place of Aboriginal people, in both historical and in contemporary contexts. The contemporary context is a poor one. The Aboriginal people live in a reserve which is tattered and ruined. They largely shun contact with white society, who refer to them by the derogatory term "Abos". We also see them in 1629. Here they are masters of the land, and more adapt to survival here than are the Dutch sailors. We are also shown glimpses of the 19th century, where the Aboriginal people are largely regarded uncivilised or savage.What unfolds throughout the novel is the complexity of the Aboriginal past including its history told in rock art and passed down in oral stories.
Recognition and Awards

Strange Objects has had the following accolades:

Winner of the Australian Children's Book Council Book of the Year for Older Readers.

Winner of the 1991 Victorian Premier's Literary Award.

It was also shortlisted for the Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Fiction Award (Crime Writers of America).
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