Raw and hauntingly beautiful, a vivid reimagining of John Batman's infamous roving party that set out to hunt and kill the Aborigines of Tasmania. Winner of the 2011 Australian/Vogel's award.
1829, Tasmania...John Batman, ruthless, singleminded; four convicts, the youngest still only a stripling; Gould, a downtrodden farmhand; two free black trackers; and powerful, educated Black Bill, brought up from childhood as a white man. This is the roving party and their purpose is massacre. With promises of freedom, land grants and money, each is willing to risk his life for the prize.
Passing over many miles of tortured country, the roving party searches for Aborigines, taking few prisoners and killing freely, Batman never abandoning the visceral intensity of his hunt. And all the while, Black Bill pursues his personal quarry, the much-feared warrior, Manalargena. A surprisingly beautiful evocation of horror and brutality, The Roving Party is a meditation on the intricacies of human nature at its most raw.
What the judges said:
'I really, really am in awe of the amount of work that's gone into this...' Margo Lanagan
'I'm still talking about this story to people long after finishing it - the spark in it...has stayed with me...' Cate Kennedy
