Eliza Fraser

Eliza Fraser was a Scottish woman whose ship was shipwrecked on the coast of Queensland, Australia, on May 22, 1836, and who was captured by Aborigines. Fraser Island is named after her.

She was the wife of Captain Fraser, captain of the "Stirling Castle". There were 18 people aboard the ship and a cargo mainly of spirits, which may have been involved in the accident . They struck a reef hundreds of kilometres north of Fraser Island. They then launched a boat and landed at Waddy Point on Fraser Island. It was here that she was captured by Aborigines; her husband either died from starvation or was killed by an Aborigine because he was unable to carry wood). They were stripped of their clothing.

She was found by John Graham, an escaped convict who had lived for six years with the Aborigines, and is said to have gone naked to get the confidence of the Aborigines. Eliza later married another sea captain and went back to England. A sensationalised account of the incident was sold in London.

Fiction

In 1973, Patrick White wrote a fictionalised account of the incident in "A Fringe of Leaves". Other writers to have written her story include André Brink, Kenneth Cook and Michael Ondaatje. Sidney Nolan painted a wide range of personal interpretations of historical and legendary figues, including Eliza Fraser.

Film

In 1976 a comedy film titled "Eliza Fraser" ("The Adventures of Eliza Fraser" was an alternate title) was made about her. Susannah York played the title role, and the film was directed by Tim Burstall. It was the first Australian film with a seven figure budget, costing $1.2 million to make.

ee also

*White woman of Gippsland
* William Buckley (convict)

References

*Goldie, Terry (1989). "Fear and Temptation: The Image of the Indigene in Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand Literatures". Toronto: McGill-Queens University Press.
*Russell, Lynette, et al, eds (1998). "Constructions of Colonialism: Perspectives on Eliza Fraser's Shipwreck". Wellington: Leicester University Press.