Abstract
Mateship, or companionship and loyalty in adverse situations, was a common theme in late nineteenth century Australian short stories. Women were excluded from the practice of and were not usually the protagonists of those narratives, being either kept in the background as mothers and housewives, or not present at all in the plots. Going against these stereotypes, in Barbara Baynton's story Squeaker's Mate, the mate is an independent, strong and hard-working woman. Baynton explores the gloomy consequences of this reversal of expected gender roles, especially after an accident leaves the protagonist paralysed and no longer in control of her body. What occurs in Squeaker's Mate is a kind of anti-mateship, in which irony serves as a device to expose gender relations and the exclusion of women from what is traditionally considered heroic and historical. In Squeaker's Mate, Baynton questioned the adoption of mateship as an Australian value more than half a century before that discussion started to draw formal critical attention.
Highlights
R “Mateship”, or companionship and loyalty in adverse situations, was a common theme in late nineteenth century Australian short stories
De Beauvoir attributed the exclusion of women from history to the functionalities of the female body: he warrior risks his own life to raise the prestige of the horde–his clan. his is how he brilliantly proves that life is not the supreme value for man but that it must serve ends far greater than itself. he worst curse on woman is her exclusion from warrior expeditions; it is not in giving life but in risking his life that man raises himself above the animal; this is why throughout humanity, superiority has been granted not to the sex that gives birth but to the one that kills. (73-74)
To what occurred in diferent parts of the world, it wasn’t until the last quarter of the twentieth century that the agency of women in Australian history– their active role in conquering the land and constructing the country–started to be acknowledged and studied in more depth
Summary
R “Mateship”, or companionship and loyalty in adverse situations, was a common theme in late nineteenth century Australian short stories. As for the poor representation of European-descent women in early Australian history, colonial statistics had a role in the much proclaimed view of Australia as a man’s country.
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