Salt Creek, by Lucy Treloar

The grim reality of Terra Nullius and the natural consequences of colonialism and invasion are brought to life in Salt Creek. The Coorong in the 1850s is unsuitable for farming but arrogant English adventurers, with ambitions far ahead of their abilities, displace the native population to give it a go anyway, wrecking the land in the process. The families of these incompetent, hypocritical pillagers are almost as much their victims as the local aboriginal tribes, all suffering deprivation, unnecessary illness and hardship - especially the women and girls. The story is told from the point of view of teenaged Hester, memories recalled 20 years later, back ‘home’ in England. She is the middle child and eldest daughter of the settler Finch family, who tries to hold everything together while the actions of her feckless father destroy all around and the family disintegrates. It takes a while to get in to the story, the back and forth between 1850s South Australia and 1870s Chichester is a little confusing and some of the set-up is a little dull. But Treloar gradually establishes a strong sense of time and place, building an appreciation of the beauty of this unique region, even as despair and frustration grows as the deluded religiosity of the British ruling class undermines all that is good.