HDR Candidate: Spragg, Kimberly


Title of Project The Holy Ordinary: Settler Alienation, Creaturehood, and Antipodean Belonging in the Novels and Non-Fiction of Tim Winton
Course of Study Doctor of Philosophy
Language of Instruction English
Abstract

This dissertation considers how Tim Winton's writings illuminate the relationship between place and spirituality, particularly in the context of Anglo-Australian settler alienation and the potential for non-Indigenous belonging. The study examines how Winton employs ubiquitous and ordinary elements such as salt, trees, and kangaroos as symbols to underscore the connections between humans, nature, and the numinous. Drawing on a Christian theology of creaturehood, the research investigates how a deeper understanding of creaturely interdependence might respond to the literary, cultural, and historical tropes of Anglo settler alienation in Australia. The thesis contrasts the Australian and American settler engagement with landscape and belonging and explores how Winton incorporates both Christian and Australian Aboriginal spirituality into his understanding of place, alienation, and belonging. The study applies a close reading and textual analysis to survey Winton's novels and non-fiction, and draws on interdisciplinary sources from literature, history, Christian theology, and Aboriginal studies. The research questions include: How are spirituality, alienation, belonging, and perceptions of creaturehood, conditioned by a sense of place? How does Winton's use of ubiquitous, ordinary things illuminate the ways place works on people? In what ways does Winton's incorporation of Christian notions of creaturehood challenge conventional perceptions of belonging and alienation among Anglo-Australians, and how does this perspective reveal the interconnectedness between humans, nature, and the numinous?