Homecoming

The story of the bunyip is only mentioned a few times in the novel, but as with many aspects of the novel, it takes on a different, deeper meaning as the story continues. The bunyip is first brought up by Isabel’s children, who tell her the Australian tale of the bunyip, “a shifting, nebulous amorphic entity with feathers and scales and ill-fitting ears” (176). As Isabel reflects:

Mythical though the creature might have been, inherent in her children’s description was a recognizable truth about this place: the uncomfortable but certain sense that danger, the unknown, was always lurking in the dark spaces ‘out there.’ This continent was one where beauty and terror were inextricably linked (176).

To her children, the tale of the bunyip is merely a spooky Australian folktale, but to Isabel, the bunyip represents her alienation from the Australian landscape, as well as the basic division between herself and her children, who are not outsiders to Australia as she is. Later, Jess remembers the tale of the bunyip as well, having also learned it as a child; she “hadn’t thought of it in decades, but now the cover came back to her, with its scaled and feathered creature, born from the mud, emerging from the place where the dark things lived, lonely and unlovely” (434). As a child Jess, just like Isabel’s children, is drawn to the story of the bunyip for its dark fantastical danger.

At the end of the novel, Jess buys a copy of that childhood favorite from the bookstore in Tambilla, but she realizes that for her, the meaning of the story has changed. It resonates partly because of her memory of reading the book with Polly at the library, but at the end of the novel, when she and Polly are reconnecting in Tambilla, the tale takes on an extra level of significance. Here, Jess understands how the bunyip connects to the theme of Finding Home and Belonging. Reading the story as an adult, she realizes that “the bunyip was simply a lost soul, wondering what and who it was, where and to whom it belonged” (539). She recognizes this now because the story reflects an echo of her own loneliness and search to belong.

Isabel Turner’s netsuke collection, which she inherited from her mother, is a prized possession that is on display at Halcyon. Originally an element of a Japanese man’s traditional ensemble, netsuke were small figures carved in ivory which, over time, became popular and valuable as collectibles. Isabel’s collection comes to her from her mother, and so the figures are valued as family heirlooms.

Netsuke were carved in a variety of images, one of the most popular of which was a rabbit. In Japanese culture, the rabbit is a symbol of luck, prosperity, new growth, and fertility. This symbolic meaning, as well as the great value of the netsuke itself, makes Isabel’s gift of the rabbit netsuke to Becky a significant one. Although the item is symbolic in its own right, it takes on additional symbolic meaning when Isabel gives it to Becky, saying, “I like the idea of leaving my small precious rabbit with the person who so loved my small precious child” (504). To her, the rabbit netsuke symbolizes her daughter, Thea, as well as the sweet nature of Becky herself. The rabbit netsuke takes on additional significance when Nora claims that Becky stole it. This act is designed to discredit the girl who recognizes Thea and knows Nora’s secret.