Terra Nullius

By T.D. McKinnon

Based on a true story; Terra Nullius is an historical fiction that chronicles the events of the 19th century through the eyes of the unfortunate race who, at the time, just happened to occupy the best piece of real-estate in the southern hemisphere.

It’s no secret that history is written by the victors and conquerors. More often than not, characters in history are portrayed two dimensionally; with, inevitably, no recourse for the disenfranchised depiction. Invaders can, and do, present their own version of events with dry statements of the facts, from their point of view; casting themselves, historically speaking, in a softer, fuzzier light.

The facts of this story however are indisputable; aliens invaded the Caretakers’ land and proclaimed the land 'Terra Nullius' (land of none): a neutral or uninhabited area or land not under sovereignty of any recognised political entity and therefore theirs for the taking; with no regard for, or consideration of, the standing residents. Displacing them, the invaders stole their women and systematically murdered, raped and pillaged; spreading disease and decimating their number into virtual extinction.

All the characters in this story are actual historical persons; their stories are dramatisations built around factual events. A central character is Trucannini, who witnessed the rape or murder, or both, of her sisters, mother and brother, and the mutilation and murder of her fiancé, and was herself pack raped; all by her sixteenth year. Beginning around two hundred years ago; it took just seventy years to all but obliterate a race of people who had taken care of their land for more than forty thousand years.

For such a huge, systematic atrocity to have occurred in our quite recent past; an episode that is not taught, as a matter of fact, in Australian history lessons; a chapter that is not common knowledge even in Tasmania, let alone Australia and the world at large, is quite unbelievable, and an indication of the massive guilt buried deep within the Australian and especially Tasmanian psyche.

Terra Nullius is a tale that weaves its way very tightly around the recorded facts of that period; without the gloss, without the whitewash, without the colonial mindset slant that anything written about that era generally contains. Calling a spade a spade, an invader an invader, Terra Nullius gives a very human face, with all the complexities that entails, to the people who were the standing residents of Tasmania, formally Van Diemen's Land; originally simply The Land.

Filling in the blanks, so to speak; I have fleshed out the stories behind the facts, presenting probabilities that are far more plausible than those shrewdly alluded by the conquerors, from their colonial point of view.

• Language: English
• Publisher: T.D. McKinnon
• Release date: Dec 9, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466061811

T.D. McKinnon

Born in Scotland in 1950 and raised in the coalmining communities of Scotland and England, T.D. McKinnon joined the British Parachute Regiment when he was just fifteen years old. After spending five years in the British army he worked at a number of occupations including bus driver, furnace-man, builder's labourer, roofer, bouncer, storeman, car salesman, life guard, aquatics manager, private investigator and for many years he was in high risk security: event and venue security, close personal protection, cash and gem escort and armed, rapid response for a national bank group. Training in the martial arts for most of his life and becoming a master in several forms he represented at national level, both in Scotland and Australia, and became a national referee. As well as teaching and instructing in the private sector, he taught at government and private schools; also in the corporate sector (security industry). T.D. McKinnon has a daughter, Amanda, living in England, sons, Stuart and Steven McKinnon, living in Syney Australia. Whilst at school T.D. McKinnon displayed a natural talent for writing, but it wasn't until the 1980s, after moving to Australia, that he began writing again. Initially writing for his own enjoyment, after having publications in the 'Letters to the Editor' columns of several Sydney newspapers, the inevitable, delayed budding of his writing career began. Following articles published in 'Impact, Blitz and 'Combat', martial arts magazines, and 'The Green Earth', an environmental newspaper, he began submitting short stories to various magazines e.g. 'Cosmopolitan' etc. T.D. McKinnon writes in several genres including action/thriller, speculative fiction, memoir and historical fiction. Thomas is now writing full time and has completed 'Surviving the Battleground of Childhood', 'I Was a Teenage Devil - But I'm Alright Now!', 'John Farrell Is Utrinque Paratus', 'Heather Skye Wilson Is the Psychic Warrior', and 'Terra Nullius'. T.D. presently lives in Tasmania, Australia with his wife Zoë, a professional actor, singer and dancer. Zoë is the editor of T.D.'s works; additionally she designs and creates the book covers.

Book preview