Plains of Promise
- Alexis Wright
Part I Timekeeper’s Shadow
Ivy Koopundi Andrews - 7 year old
Errol Jipp
Beverly Jipp
Dot - Jipp’s daughter
Maudie
Pugnose
Elliot - Pugnose’s son and the Traveller
Gabriel & Mervin - left handed identical twins
Dorrie - Pugnose’s sister
Jimbo Delainy - Dorrie’s son
Gloria
Ruby - Gloria’s mother
Pilot, the old chinaman
May Sugar - Pilot’s wife
Ivy arrives with her mother as a young girl of 7 years old at St Dominic’s Mission for aborigines. The inmates observe a crow sitting on the tree facing the mission camp and suspect a death. Ivy’s mother keeps crying for the missionaries to give back Ivy. They chase her away and so one day, she sets herself on fire with the kerosene that she takes from Maudie’s hut. Following Ivy’s mother’s suicide, several suicides and deaths follow. Everyone starts taunting Ivy, believing that she is responsible for the curse on the otherwise peaceful life of the people.
Old Jipp is the protector of the Aborigines in St Dominic’s Mission and he shows special ‘interest’ on Ivy. Beverly, Jipp’s wife, wants company as her two daughters had left home; she demands Jipp to bring Ivy home, so that she can take care of her as her daughter. She hands over a pretty white dress that belonged to her daughter for Ivy’s mother’s funeral. Ivy is not deeply moved by her mother’s death until she sees her in the coffin. Ivy feels lonely and depressed as the girls in the dormitory consider her an ill omen. They are jealous of her because every night Jipp comes to take her away and the girls assume that Ivy has seduced Jipp. Jipp, the protector of the Aborigines and church priest, physically abuses young Ivy at night. Ivy is unable to share her pathetic condition with anyone. The girls beat her up and leave her injured quite often. Ivy’s appearance and her attitude gains her the name ‘the timekeeper’, as they superstitiously believe Ivy is behind the innumerable deaths in the camp.
People in the camp see Ivy as a slut and the deaths in the camp still continue. The Elders decide to send a traveller secretly to inquire about the curse by visiting Ivy’s mother’s place. Elliot is chosen to be the traveller and he sets on a journey to the strange land. He chants the song lines all about his travel and seeks the spirits’ approval to enter the different lands. On his first journey, he finds an old chinaman named Pilot, his wife May Sugar and another woman. The three old people tell about the strong spirits of the woman’s land. The traveller returns back to the camp and sets on a second journey to the land during the corroboree ceremony of the people. He encounters a near death experience before arriving at the land and gets himself terribly injured and buried for a long time. He continues his travel and sees the people’s faces painted in white for the ceremony. He learns from the chinaman that the people of the land want the girl: Ivy.
The traveller carries the message and visits a house on the way where he sees a young girl of fifteen, named Gloria with bright painted lips. They offer him shelter for the night and early in the morning, he hears the voice of the chinaman and May Sugar. Through their conversation it becomes clear that the woman in the house is related to Ivy. Elliot is strongly attracted towards Gloria and wants to marry her.
Elliot returns to the camp and is surprised to find Gloria who is held back in St Dominic. Jimbo Delaiany places a request to Jipp wanting to marry Gloria and he sanctions the request. Elliot visits Jipp in the office and he gets him to marry the fourteen year old pregnant Ivy. Ivy is subjected to torture in the hands of her husband Elliot and her father-in-law Pugnose who cooks up fake stories about Ivy’s infidelity. Elliot and Gloria continue their relationship even after their respective marriages. Gloria gives birth to two of Elliott’s children and then her husband ties her down with a chain to secure her fidelity. Elliot detests Ivy but cruelly kills the old chinaman who comes to take her away. Ivy has a difficult pregnancy and her baby is taken away immediately. Ivy never gets to know about her child. She struggles with milk gorged breasts and cries in vain in front of the Jipps’ house who tell her that the baby was quite sick and was taken away by the flying doctor. Ivy and Elliot are still not at peace and so are separated. Elliot gets married to Joan Chapel but carries a life long passion for Gloria.
Part II Glimpses of Distant Hills
Ivy - 15 years old
Des Penguin - Head of Sycamore Heights Mental Health and Research Institution
Madame Sylvia Sadaan
Bessy (Bessie)
Bob
Ivy is transferred to another camp at Sycamore Heights where she is put in an asylum. She is incapable of revealing her past and is in a bad mental condition. Des Penguin takes charge of the administrative duties and is curious to learn about Ivy’s past. He displays her as a marvel for patrons to make generous donations towards the psychological health of the aboriginal women. Madame Sadaan is an attractive belly dancer who believes that belly dancing could be used as a therapy for the aboriginal women. Days pass by without any improvement as Ivy coils to the audience status. Finally Ivy gathers courage to dance and that is when she liberates her emotions. Des Penguin is glad about the positive impact of the therapy but unfortunately, funds grow weaker and Madame Sylvia Sadaan eventually leaves due to the lack of payment. Ivy is left without a proper enclosure but surprisingly manages to regain consciousness. Des Penguin no longer wants to keep Ivy around, so he sends her away to Bessy, a Christian charity woman who had lost her husband Bob, eighteen years ago.
Ivy is sent far away from Sycamore Heights to live with Bessy as Ivy has no place to call as her ‘home’. She tidies the old woman’s house. Ivy is given Bob’s room and she scantily sleeps at night due to uncanny sounds of night and the haunting of Bob in the form of a small dog. Bob tells Ivy that his wife had poisoned him and it was not through suicide that he jumped off the bridge during flood. Ivy is shocked by the revelation and suspects Bessy of murder. She stops eating the food served by the old woman and gets food poisoning frequently. She checks the food supplies and tin cans if they are marked poison. Bessy suspects Ivy that she is attempting to poison her. Every night Bob (as dog) comes looking for his wife and Ivy directs the dog to the outside of the house where Bessy is sleeping; the dog strangely coils under the feet of the woman.
Bessy loves gardening and grows varieties of fruits and vegetables, rears goat for milk and supplies it to the townspeople. Ivy is afraid of the people around and sneaks out only at night to take a shower, wash her clothes or even to use the bathroom. The old woman accuses Ivy of theft, which she really was doing to buy perfumed soaps and talcum powder to wear on some special day. Years pass by and finally on a rainy night full of thunder and lightning, the two women get violent and fight. That is when the explosive chemicals that Bob had secretly collected and stored on the roof gets struck by lightning and the entire place blows up. Bessy is burnt with her dog Pal, but Ivy manages to escape by taking shelter with the goats.
Ivy starts living with the goats and a Tuberculosis epidemic starts in the aboriginal camps. Ivy’s hair turns long and grey and she lives with the goats in a refrigerator box in an isolated area. Local legends spread regarding Ivy and her terrific ways towards young children. People suspect that goats are a carrier of Tuberculosis and one day the goats are mercilessly shot dead and Ivy is rescued and taken away to be checked for Tuberculosis and for recovery post trauma.
Part III Victory Lane
Mary Nelson
Jessie - Mary’s daughter
Buddy Doolan - director of the coalition
Lesley - Receptionist
Johnno Scott
Mary Nelson is a young woman who was brought up by white parents. She learned of her aboriginal origin only after the death of her adoptive parents. She had worked in a computer company for twelve years and was in Victory Lane to work with the coalition of the aboriginal governments, a team of aborigines set to work for the land rights of the aborigines and autonomy. Buddy Doolan is the director of the coalition and quickly starts an affair with Mary; he even stays with her and eventually gets her pregnant with Jessie. Mary is the unfortunate recipient of buddy’s anger and hard emotions. She has a difficult labour and gives birth to Jessie in the absence of buddy. Earlier, Mary was so innocent and unable to fight back, but after the birth of her daughter she is extremely protective and shrewd.
Lesley is the office receptionist who is friends with Mary. She visits her in the hospital with stuffed animals and gifts from buddy and brings her home. Buddy visits Mary and his daughter Jessie with his brother Donny and his father. His father finds something unusual with the place due to the visit of a crow at midnight in the kitchen. He instructs his son to find the history of Mary’s family and leaves immediately. Buddy leaves for his village soon and informs that he cannot come to the city because his brother Donny had met with an accident and required support.
Mary stays in the house with Jessie and joins duty after a few days. The office gets into trouble with the police for their ideals and Mary is transferred for safety. She has to keep changing places for security purpose. Buddy Doolan never comes and remains in the village. Mary brings up the child in different places and Johnno arranges the places of Mary’s stay. Mary gets to visit Delainy through Johnno who welcomes her to set an office at St Dominic’s Mission.
Part IV Plains of Papery Grass
Ivy
Mary
Jessie
Johnno
Elliot
Delainy Victor Victoria Gloria
Buddy Doolan
Johnno insists Mary to visit St Dominic’s Mission which might help her find her origin. Mary wants to go but wonders if that would be right for her daughter. Johnno suggests her of setting up an office at St Dominic’s Mission. Mary decides to travel once to Buddy Doolan’s place to show Jessie her father. Jessie feels happy to meet her father, Buddy. Buddy spends some time and leaves after a while on some business. Mary does not wish to stay longer and she leaves.
Mary, then, visits St. Dominic’s Mission to set up an office and she is shocked to find Delainy paralysed. His son Victor helps Mary to set her office and shortly they start an affair. Elliot helps Mary with the works outside the house and Gloria has turned old and crazy. Victor takes Elliot, Delainy, Mary and Jessie on a trip. Elliot cooks and everyone has dinner but suddenly it rains. They take shelter in a deserted house and find an old woman groaning with long grey hair. She looks scary and the sound that the old woman makes terrifies Jessie and she starts crying. Elliot picks old Ivy like a pile of bones and warns her to remain quiet. Ivy is scared and she calms down.
Meanwhile, Johnno betrays the aboriginal coalition and joins hands with the government. After the strange experience and the unfavourable decision regarding land rights of the aborigines, Mary does not wish to remain longer in the place for the betterment of everyone and goes away. She compromises that living with the ties of white culture and the roots of her aboriginal culture make her life meaningful. She cannot deny either, as she has a dual identity. Even though she finds her mother, she feels detached from her and finds promise and resilience only in moving out of St Dominic’s Mission.
