Space, Place and Capitalism The Literary Geographies of The Unknown Industrial Prisoner

210 Pages·2021·2.881 MB·English

by  Brett Heino

Space, Place and
Capitalism

The Literary Geographies of
The Unknown Industrial Prisoner
Brett Heino
Space, Place and Capitalism
Brett Heino
Space, Place
and Capitalism
The Literary Geographies
of The Unknown Industrial Prisoner
Brett Heino
University of Technology Sydney
Ultimo, NSW, Australia
ISBN 978-981-16-4261-6 ISBN 978-981-16-4262-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4262-3
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Cover illustration: Factory staff, Erehwyna 1972, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the help I have received
from many quarters. I am grateful to the Law Faculty of the University of
Technology Sydney, who granted the study sabbatical over which the
book was written. I am also appreciative to the Law School at the
University of Wollongong, who provided support to the project. Thanks
are due also to David T. Wright, Stephen Rogers and the New South
Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment for the use of
images appearing in this book.
On a personal level, I am deeply indebted to Professor Adam Morton,
Dr James Dahlstrom and Dr Rowan Cahill, whose feedback and sugges-
tions greatly strengthened the manuscript. I am also thankful to Yvonne
Apolo, Dr Eugene Schofield-Georgeson and Dr Ryan Kernaghan for
their companionship and intellectual engagement with my work.
Lastly, my chief supports in this process have been my wife, Erin, and
daughter, Charlotte. Erin good-naturedly listened to my frustrations and
difficulties and kept me centred. As a bustling three-year old, Charlotte
served as a constant reminder that life is best enjoyed as a series of games.
It is to them that I dedicate this book.
v
Contents
1 Introduction 1
Structure of the Book 5
References 10
2 S pace and Place in Radical Geography 13
Space and Place: An Introduction 15
Enter Lefebvre 17
Abstract Space 18
From Space to Place and Back Again 23
Conclusion 29
References 32
3 Literary Geography, the Spatial Unconscious and The
Unknown Industrial Prisoner 35
Literary Geography: An Introduction 37
The Raw Material of Ideology: Structural Marxist Literary
Analysis 41
A Synthetic Theoretical Approach 48
The Unknown Industrial Prisoner: A Synopsis 54
Conclusion 57
References 60
vii
viii Contents
4 Abstract Space (with Antipodean Characteristics?) 65
Australia’s Place in the Global Circuit of Capital 68
The Disappearance of Trees and Recession of Nature – Sydney
as a Locus of Abstract Space 75
The Silence of an Ancient Land 80
Abstract Space in the Production Process 82
The Limits to Abstract Space 87
Conclusion 95
References 98
5 The Spatial State 101
The State and Law: The Abstraction of the Juridic 103
“A place of correction”: Puroil and the Convict Heritage 111
Conclusion 120
References 123
6 R esistance – The Struggle for Place 127
Hope in the Country/Suburban Home? 129
“Our hole in the wall” – The Home Beautiful 138
Conclusion 151
References 154
7 T he Limits to the Home Beautiful 157
Plato’s Caution 158
Capitalist Imperatives – Corrosion from Without and Within 160
Living at the Lowest Pitch – The Ethos of the Great White
Father 163
‘The only women in the place always said Yes’ – Gender and
the Home Beautiful 166
On Borrowed Time – The Future of the Home Beautiful 171
Conclusion 174
References 176
Contents ix
8 Conclusion 177
The Spaces and Places of TUIP 178
Pathways for Future Research 181
From 1971 to 2021 – Australia Then and Now 183
References 187
References 189
Index 199
List of Figures
Fig. 4.1 First and second nature: the Caltex refinery at Kurnell. The
refinery itself operated from 1956–2014, and the site today is
still home to a tank farm. The strait of water at the top of the
image is the opening to Botany Bay, a key site in the British
colonisation of Australia. (Image courtesy of Black Diamond
Images) 82
Fig. 5.1 The heart of organised labour: the Sydney Trades Hall
Building. In its fabric and history is entwined both the left
and right of the labour movement, the latter of which Ireland’s
striking Puroil workers encounter 107
Fig. 6.1 The apotheosis of abstract space versus place: Jeffrey Smart’s
Factory staff, Erehwyna. (Photo courtesy of the Jeffrey Smart
Archive) 136
Fig. 6.2 The Home Beautiful? This picture is of the mangrove stands
and mudflats of Towra Point Nature Reserve, one of the last
remaining patches of this type of habitat in the Sydney region
proper. Adjacent to Kurnell, this image from Towra Point
gives us an idea of the environment within which the Home
Beautiful exists. (Image courtesy of John Spencer/New South
Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment) 141
xi
1
Introduction
Abstract This chapter will foreground the core contribution of this
book – an exploration of the spatiality of post-World War II Australian
capitalism, seen through the vehicle of David Ireland’s Miles Franklin
prize-winning novel The Unknown Industrial Prisoner (hereafter TUIP).
It will be posited in this chapter that the current crisis of space makes
2021, the fiftieth anniversary of TUIP’s publication, an ideal moment to
return to the novel. It will be argued that the class constitution and effects
of space in the Australian context is generally under-theorised. The use of
TUIP to shed light on these spatial concerns is rooted in the idea of liter-
ary geography, a burgeoning field of study which argues that literature
“knows things” about the spatial structure of the world it is born into. It
will be argued that TUIP is particularly rich in such knowledge, given
that it is perhaps the most incisive and critical account of post-World War
II Australian capitalism, rich with revealing, often paradoxical and hith-
erto unexplored spatial themes. This introduction will then outline the
structure of the book, justifying the division of the chapters into treat-
ments of space, place and the special role of the state.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 1
B. Heino, Space, Place and Capitalism, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4262-3_1