Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of racism.

At the time of Mary’s story, the English had been attempting to control Ireland for over 600 years. The first English-led invasions began in the 12th century under the Ango-Norman government and continued under the Tudor monarchs Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. English lords were given ownership of plantations of confiscated land, and landlords worked to discourage Irish language, culture, and the practice of Catholicism. Strict laws suppressed Irish manufacturing and commerce, keeping the majority of the population at or below subsistence level.

Following the examples of the French and American revolutions in the later 18th century, a group of Irishmen rebelled against English rule in 1798 in hopes of establishing an Irish Republic. The rebellion was brutally suppressed by English forces, and many of the rebels were sent to the penal colonies in Australia.

Throughout the 18th century, the British government, facing an overflow in its prisons, had transported convicts to its colonies in America. This solution ended with the American Revolution, and Britain turned to eastern Australia, which had been mapped by Captain Cook and claimed as a British possession in 1770. The first ships, carrying nearly 800 convicts, arrived in Botany Bay in January of 1788 and made land in the territory they called New South Wales, establishing the town of Sydney. Other colonies were later established in Queensland, what was called Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania), and in western Australia.

The transport of convicts to Australia continued until 1868, with an estimated 162,000 people being transported as part of their prison sentence. Most were convicted for petty crimes like theft, as more serious offenses like murder were answered with capital punishment. An estimated 15% of the convicts were women, like Mary, Eliza, and the other women on the Naiad. The convicts were pressed into labor for government purposes or contracted to free settlers. When their prison sentence was complete, many chose to stay in Australia. 

The British colonization in Australia had a devastating impact on the Indigenous peoples, which included over 250 unique nations of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. Hart briefly references this impact through Melody’s storyline, which reveals that her mother was Wiradjuri, a member of the Indigenous group with origins in Comber Bay. Though each Indigenous tribe was unique and distinct in its own way, they shared a semi-nomadic lifestyle blending hunter-gatherer and agricultural practices. Tribal history and beliefs were communicated and handed down through songs, stories, dance, and visual arts expressing shared symbols and myths. 

British settlers confiscated the lands of the Indigenous peoples, enforced the use of British customs and language, and spread diseases. Amnesty International estimates that while an estimated 750,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples inhabited the territory at the time of settlement, the indigenous population was reduced to fewer than 100,000 persons by 1900. (“Why saying ‘Aborigine’ isn’t OK.” Amnesty International. 9 Aug. 2015). Hart points to the long struggles of Australia’s Indigenous peoples for recognition, reconciliation, and rights through the land acknowledgment she includes in the front matter of the novel (xi). She also establishes that her fictional Comber Bay was inspired by Batesman Bay, a popular seaside resort in New South Wales where the historical custodians are the Walbunja people.