The Transit of Venus

For the British society that receives the Bell sisters, Australian identity has an aura of the accidental about it. This in part stems from the circumstances of Australia’s “discovery”: British Captain Cook found Australia in June 1769 when he attempted to go to Tahiti to see the planet Venus make its transit across the face of the sun. While the British soon colonized Australia and left their mark on the country’s language and education system, they are somewhat astounded by the presence of Australians amongst them in their home country. They do not know what to make of this reverse migration of former imperial subjects, and they view Australians as provincial and inferior. Christian describes his reluctant infatuation with Australian Grace in cosmological terms, as “something out of the ordinary [that] had been set in motion” (20). Just like Captain Cook discovered Australia on a diversion from his mission, Christian thinks of Grace as “a departure” from his expectations of a wife.

Ironically, the Bell sisters, who have undergone an Australian education that centers on British texts and wildlife, also regard Australia as a diversion; it is Britain that is the heart of culture and therefore life. Hazzard based this on her own experiences of growing up in Australia.