The Ever Protecting Mother:An Analysis of the Story ?A Dreamer? By Barbara Baynton

Abstract

Abstract

The young country ?Australia? which is broadly known as a convict colony has a richly flourished body of literature. The historical, geographical and sociological conditions of Australia have greatly contributed for the evolvement of Australian literature. Though the convict history of Australia has created a ?weirdmelancholy?(Quoted in C.L.L.Jayaprada, P. 25) among the first setters of Australians, the boundless resistance and perseverance of the Australians have helped them find their own identity in world’s literature. Since the inception of Australian literature, women writers have significant influence by portraying the culture, customs, beliefs, prevalent conditions in the outback and the indigenous qualities of the land. They have written on various themes such as mateship, loneliness, difficulties of child bearing and child rearing, lack of kindness, hospitality and natural dangers in the bush. Women writers like Kathleen Caffyn, Beatrice Grimshaw, Elinor Mordaunt, Marie Bjelke-Petersen, Helen Bridges, Helena Summer Locke, Rosa Praed, Miles Franklin, Ada Cambridge, Mary Gaunt, Barbara Baynton, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Helen Spence have explored the various experiences of women in the Australian bush community, and thus remarkably contributed for the development of