Commentary
This story by Barbara Baynton is culturally important to Australia in that it paints a graphic picture of the isolation and dangers faced by women living in the ‘outback’ during the 19th century. Many people see similarities between this story, first published in 1896, and another story dealing with the life of women in the outback, Henry Lawson’s The Drover’s Wife, published four years earlier. Although both deal with the difficulties faced by women in rural Australia at the time, their focus is very different. Lawson addresses the relatively “straightforward” concept of the conflict between man (or rather woman) and nature. Baynton’s story examines the deeper question of the purpose that women are seen to serve in the outback. Are they, as Lawson suggests, almost equals who can be relied on to stand alongside their men in facing the challenges of nature? Or are they, as Baynton suggests, primarily seen as “vessels” to be used for the purpose of receiving a man’s seed and/or producing children?
There are also differences in the way that the men of the bush are portrayed. Lawson presents most of his bushmen as strong, kindly, quite likeable characters. The three men who the poor woman encounters in Baynton’s story each have a major character flaw. Her husband, who angrily called her a cur (cowardly dog) when she first had trouble with a cow and calf, is dominating and short-tempered. The swagman, who murders her, could well have serious mental issues. And the rider who leaves her to the swagman is a meek “mother’s boy” too full of religious superstition to realise her danger.
SOURCE: Xpressenglish Blog (2021), URL: https://xpressenglish.com/short-stories/the-chosen-vessel/
The Chosen Vessel ( Summary) | Barbara Baynton | Bush Studies
The Chosen Vessel, first published in the Bulletin as The Tramp on 1896, is the story of a woman – the nameless wife of a bushman , left alone with her child in their shanty.She meets her fate at the hands of a passing swagman who rapes and kills her.
SOURCE: literature apothicaire (2021), posted on YouTube, Duration: 6:38 mins, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsw-Cius6R8&t=7s
Bush Studies by Barbara Baynton, read by Kirst Leishman [Full Audio Book]
Bush Studies by Barbara BAYNTON (1857 - 1929) Genre(s): Short Stories Read by: Kirsty Leishman in English. Bush Studies is a short story collection published in London in 1902. Baynton presents a grimly realist view of bush life in Australia for women in colonial Australia. She wrote in response to Henry Lawson's romantic depiction of bush life during the same era. - Summary by Kirsty Leishman.
Chapters: 00:00:00 - 01 A Dreamer; 00:16:21 02 Squeaker's Mate; 00:51:39, 03 Scrammy; 'and 01:35:35, 04 Billy Skywonkie; 02:08:08, 05 Bush Church; 02:50:34 , 06 The Chosen Vessel.
SOURCE: Librivox Audiobooks (2019), Bush Studies, Posted on Youtube, [3:07:41 mins] URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRgNn3XaeiY
The Chosen Vessel
‘The Chosen Vessel’ is a short film inspired by a 19th-century story from Barbara Baynton - and directed by Johnny Milner. The narrative takes place in the Australian bush and centres around a woman who is attacked and murdered by a passing swagman. It draws on the atmospherics as well as the themes of Baynton's original story - highlighting the sense of loneliness and fear associated with the bush in 1800s Australia.
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