Salt Creek
Lucy Treloar
Salt Creek
Lucy Treloar
Salt Creek, 1855, lies at the far reaches of the remote, beautiful and inhospitable coastal region, the Coorong, in the new province of South Australia. The area, just opened to graziers willing to chance their luck, becomes home to Stanton Finch and his large family, including fifteen-year-old Hester Finch.
Once wealthy political activists, the Finch family has fallen on hard times. Cut adrift from the polite society they were raised to be part of, Hester and her siblings make connections where they can: with the few travellers that pass along the nearby stock route - among them a young artist, Charles - and the Ngarrindjeri people they have dispossessed. Over the years that pass, and Aboriginal boy, Tully, at first a friend, becomes part of the family.
Stanton’s attempts to tame the harsh landscape bring ruin to the Ngarrindjeri people’s homes and livelihoods, and unleash a chain of events that will tear the family asunder. As Hester witnesses the destruction of the Ngarrindjeri’s subtle culture and the ideals that her family once held so close, she begins to wonder what civilization is. Was it for this life and this world that she was educated?
Review
Sharon Peterson
I have spent a number of family camping trips in the Coorong, a distinctive landscape south-east of Adelaide, that spans more than 130 kilometres of the South Australian coastline. No wonder I was attracted to the title of Lucy Treloar’s first published novel, Salt Creek, a town at the mouth of the Coorong.
In 1855, Stanton Finch relocates his family from a respectable home in Adelaide to the harsh environment of Salt Creek, where the nearest neighbours are at least 10 miles away. His intention is to tame the landscape and build a fine home. Supposing the low-built structure they arrive at is a stable, Hester, the eldest daughter, soon realises that it is in fact their new home.
As her mother, unable to cope with her family’s reduced circumstances, withdraws further and further into herself, Hester is forced to assume responsibility for keeping the household in order. As the story progresses and scheme after scheme fails, Stanton becomes almost maniacal in his efforts to make money and repay his debts, tearing his family apart in the process. Hester vows to one day free herself from the confines of Salt Creek and to live a life of her own choosing.
Always in the background are the Ngarrindjeri people, whose home and livelihood is decimated by these new settlers. The Ngarrindjeri mostly keep to themselves. The exception is Tully, a young boy, who is taken in by the Finches, joining in the children’s lessons and working on the property. It is through Tully that the younger Finches, and indeed the reader, come to respect his different culture and understand how misguided Stanton actually is.
Salt Creek is a very readable novel. The characters remain in the mind long after reading the final pages. Treloar has perfectly captured the sense of isolation and history that is still present in the Coorong today.
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