ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author shows how the Territory's discourse about itself was constructed in the early days of settlement and how it articulated with the experiences at Mainoru. The harshness and isolation of the outback was gradually invaded by the state's attempts to manage things, to curb the excesses, dampen the violence, reduce the distances, and to impose rationality both on the pastoralists' lawlessness and the natives' untamed waywardness. The author first heard of Billy Farrar as 'Uncle Billy', deceased husband of Judy, whose subsection was Wamut. While the fondly imagined laconic, sun-bronzed outback stockman might be embarrassed by his redneck ocker mate, the national imagery managed to incorporate both figures within the idea of a rational, progressive, modern Australian nation. It is not merely that desire and its objects were differently structured, but, as the people have seen, the white stockmen took pride in denying the value of desire itself, particularly for comfort, company and consumer goods.
