... intertwine as a part of Queensland's own history. The family spans from the early nineteenth century to the twentieth century, in which they each experience a sense of loss and aimlessness. Each of them was and is searching for something, yet they never know what they are searching for. It is a story of generational conflict that ends as a shared past between the family members. The Laffey family begins with Cornelius, an Irish-born journalist who moves his family from the laid-back lifestyle of Sydney to the historical revulsion in Northern Queensland. His wife, Jessica Olive and two children George and Nadine are forced to find their place in a heartless society in which the white Australians slaughter the Aborigines and dispossess the land from them: "one of our sub-inspectors of police has given sanction to the indiscriminate slaughter of these dispossessed people." (p.32). Cornelius in particular is guilty of ...

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