The Secret River Lesson Plan

The Aborigines do not plant and cultivate land like the English settlers, and William assumes this makes them inferior to his civilized ways. Does this assumption prove to be true? Why or why not?

Like most of the other settlers, William operates with a worldview that prioritizes white Europeans over all other groups. He believes without question that he is a civilized, advanced person, and the Aborigines are childlike savages. Even as he is continually faced with examples of the Aborigines' intelligence and resourcefulness, he refuses to believe that they are superior to him in any way. Despite William's short-sightedness, readers can see how the Aborigines have...