That Deadman Dance

That Deadman Dance is a 2010 historical fiction novel from Australian author Kim Scott. Set in the early 19th century, the novel explores the decades (1826 to 1844) after the first contact between the Aboriginal Noongar people of Western Australia and European colonizers. Scott himself is of mixed white and Noongar descent, and much of his work features indigenous Australian ancestry while exploring issues of racial identity. Reviewers praised Scott’s complex handling of historical Aboriginal and European relations, and the novel won the Miles Franklin award for Australian literature in 2011.

The novel follows a complex non-linear structure that jumps in time. The main character is a native Noongar boy named Bobby Wabalanginy, and this third person narrative juxtaposes the viewpoint of Bobby as a child with that of Bobby as an old man. Bobby's point of view also weaves the perspectives of his people with that of a few key characters, including the merchant Geordie Chaine, Chaine's daughter, Christine, Jak Tar, an American ex-whaler, and Dr. Cross, a British ex-military surgeon and leader of the new settlement.
From these many points of view, Bobby becomes a witness to the effects of colonization and the gradual takeover of his land, his people, and his culture by white European settlers. His Noongar name translates to “all of us playing together.” True to his name, he is a friendly child, full of laughter. His good-natured disposition allows him to easily move between his own people and the “pale horizon people,” or the European settlers.



Dr. Cross is one of the first settlers to arrive on Australia’s western shore. He is a kind man and seeks peace with the Noongar people. Dr. Cross extends his culture to young Bobby and teaches the boy how to read and write. He also shares his food and home with the indigenous people, and the tribal elders come to consider him a friend. He develops a complex and inter-cultural friendship with Wunyeran, Bobby’s uncle. Because Dr. Cross is open to their customs and culture, the Noongars hope to coexist peacefully with the new European residents.

Unfortunately, Dr. Cross has what Bobby calls the “coughing disease,” a European malady that spreads to many of the Noongar, killing them. More "horizon people" arrive on the Western Australian shores in their whaleships, and relations begin to sour with the Noongars. As more area is colonized, the natural resources from the sea and land become depleted. Menat, the sole female tribal elder, encapsulates the fear and anger the indigenous people have of the colonizers in saying that "these people chase us from our own country. They kill our animals, and if we eat one of their sheep…they shoot us."

Despite the reservations of the Noongars, Bobby remains carefree and oblivious throughout his childhood. He does not know fear. As a born performer, he dances something called the “deadman dance,” a humorous routine that mimics the stiff movements of the Europeans. The dance refers to the white settlers, whom the Noongar perceive as “dead” because they lack the spirit of the Aboriginals. The dance grows over time as Bobby adds new elements to it, gradually telling the story of the Noongar people’s experiences after encountering the “horizon people.”



Dr. Cross dies of his illness, and his close friend Wunyeran does too. By the time of his death, Dr. Cross has come to fear what the future holds for the Noongars who have become his companions. He asks to share a grave with Wunyeran, cementing their bond into the afterlife. They are buried together, but their grave is later moved as the Europeans expand and build on Australian land. Dr. Cross’s body is taken and reburied in a white Christian graveyard. Wunyeran’s body is left exposed, and some of his bones are stolen by dogs, while others are destroyed by builders.

As this historical drama shifts in time, parts of the story are narrated by an elderly Bobby reflecting on his past. This older man remembers that he did not know fear until he was an adult. As Bobby ages, he is less able to move between worlds. The white settlers assert their dominance over the land and over the Aboriginals. Subsequently, the Noongar’s spiritual connection with the whales is lost as American whalers overhunt them. Food becomes scarce for the Noongars, who once shared their bounty with the early settlers. Now that the tables have turned over the decades, the Europeans are not willing to share theirs in return. As for the adult Bobby, he becomes an oddity, a street performer who dances, launches boomerangs, and tells stories to entertain passing tourists. He observes that his people “are not so good traders as we thought... We learned your words and songs and stories, and never knew you didn’t want to hear ours.” His dance, which as a child he performs comically, becomes a dance of necessity.

Bobby grows frustrated with his lot, speaking and acting out against the injustices he sees perpetuated against his people. He depicts negative caricatures of different white people in the settlement. He is angry about the European influences that have slaughtered his people, such as guns and the coughing sickness, and is enraged that the whales have been hunted to the cusp of extinction. At the novel’s close, he performs a final version of the "deadman dance," an emotional narrative presenting the long struggle of the Noongar people since the arrival of their colonizers. Elderly Bobby's dance is a final attempt to communicate to these people, to express the spirit of the land—but there is no one left who can understand the old man’s dance. The settlers do not understand him or what he is trying to do. Ultimately, Bobby’s attempt is laughed at, and he is humiliated.



Bobby undresses, an act wrought with cultural significance. He sheds his European dress and reasserts his tribal kinship with the land. While his final attempt at harmony is futile, his defiance reflects his resistance to European sovereignty.