The Yield: A Novel

Australia has been home to humans since the migration of people to the continent at least 65,000 years ago. The Indigenous peoples of Australia made up a large number of different groups, with a rich network of cultural practices, beliefs, and kinship structures that make up the oldest continuous cultural group in the world. Australia was “discovered” by European cultures by the Dutchman Willem Janszoon in 1606; in the late 18th century, James Cook claimed the east coast of the continent for Britain, and the British government established a penal colony there. From the beginning of the 19th century, increasing numbers of European free settlers arrived in Australia, and British colonization expanded considerably until the whole continent was under colonial governance. The Indigenous inhabitants of Australia were displaced and killed through violence, starvation, and infectious disease. As elsewhere, conflict in New South Wales flared as the scale of settlement increased, leading to the Bathurst War of 1824, in which the Wiradjuri peoples of that region resisted the colonization of their land. The war led to the further depletion of the Wiradjuri and the military enforcement of colonial rule. The novel refers to this history in the name “Massacre Plains,” the displacement of the Gondiwindi family, and their loss of title to their property.