The Book of Science & Antiquities by Thomas Keneally

In the Australian Outback, remains are found which are those of a 42,000 year old Aboriginal man. The find becomes a cause celebré as historians, archaeologists and human rights campaigners hold Learned Man up as a statement of how the indigenous people of Australia have been mistreated. It’s into this chaotic scene that Shelby Apple bravely steps as he structures a documentary that will tell the tale of Learned Man.

In the distant past, 42,000 years in the past, we meet Learned Man, or Shade as he’s known to his people, and his clan as they live by the shores of a great lake, destined to dry out in the future. It’s a superstitious culture founded upon a strong belief in laws and dream trips to, and messages from, the Hero ancestors. Shade is marked as special from birth. He’s designated as a man who dispenses justice when there are transgressions, even if this means killing the offender. He is also shamanic in that he regularly travels to meet his Hero ancestor, Bounder Man, where he receives messages and revelations regarding the health of his community. But trouble is on the way.

Shelby Apple has had a long and distinguished career as a documentary maker. He won an Oscar for his production on Australia’s role in the Vietnam War, a cinematic endeavour that cost the life of his business partner. Since then, Shelby has continued to take on controversial topics, visiting war-torn regions in his efforts to make a difference in the world. From Eritrea to Alaska to the bottom of the ocean in a submersible, he’s tried to reach people with information that might sway them into taking action against injustice. But Shelby has been diagnosed with cancer, and remains immersed in the supposed life of Learned Man and the conflict over what to do with the ancient remains.

In the life of Shade, we come to understand how tribal society works. We are taken through Shade’s initiations and the loss of his son to an animal attack. It’s a tough life although they seldom want for food. But, during a visit to another tribe, one of Shade’s clansmen has returned with a special but dangerous stone that is cursed. This totem has the dark power to kill all the female children of the tribe thus wiping out the entire clan. It is the turn of Shade’s tribe to carry it, although with his daughter about to give birth to what they believe to be a girl, Shade has some very difficult decisions to make. Can he prevent the grief that will surely come with the cursed stone or is it all too much? Shade is a hero too, but are heroes enough?

As Shelby faces into a future of cancer treatment, he reminisces upon his life. He remembers the good times and the bad times; the betrayals and the beautiful solidity of his wife, Cath. He is still trying to shape governmental opinion on Learned Man and what Shelby feels is a great opportunity to heal the divisions that exist in Australian society by recognising Learned Man as another son of Eve (the African hominid), as is every man. But bureaucrats can be stubbornly arrogant and Shelby fears that a chance is going to be lost. Can he achieve a reconciliation of his people and successfully fight Jack the Dancer?

This is an usual book in that there can be few around that chronicle the lives of people as ancient as 42,000 years old. Shade’s is a fascinating story, the highlight of this book for Rebel Voice. It opens up Aboriginal society in a way not tried previously. Rebel Voice expects that Keneally did some serious research for this, into the way in which ancient people lived on the continent. Their tribal customs, whilst not properly known, will have been based upon both Aboriginal lore and archaeological discovery. It paints an intriguing portrait of life in what was a vastly different Australia. It was cooler for a start, and wetter.

Shelby Apple’s thread jumps around a lot in terms of the chronology, but it still holds together. This is not going to be seen as Keneally’s best work, but it might well be regarded as his most ambitious. Although Shelby’s character is well developed, he’s not someone who engenders admiration or sympathy. It’s difficult to know if this is because the author intended to keep him emotionally distant from the reader, or whether it was down to poor structuring of a far-reaching plot. Shelby could, perhaps, have been fleshed out a good deal more to help us feel something more profound for him in his battles.

At the end, the two threads don’t exactly entwine, but they do encroach upon one another. Shelby’s fight with cancer and the resultant delirium bring him closer to Shade, a man he could never know but who he felt he understood. Shelby Apple is a decent, if flawed, individual who might have benefited from a PR make-over in the mind of Thomas Keneally. His story-line is weak and this detracts slightly from what could have been an excellent book. However, the story is still engaging and should be sufficient to hold the reader even if it doesn’t really set your world afire.

Sult scale rating: 6.5 out of 10. The Book of Science & Antiquities is a strange bird. It consists of two threads, one in modern times and one 42,000 years in the past. The latter is the most interesting although the former provides a blatant contrast as two men battle their demons and strive to be heroes for their communities. Although separated by the vastness of human history, the two protagonists meet by the dry sands of a former lake in the Australian outback, which begin a journey for one, and the recognition of heroism for the other, even if his full and ancient story is not understood by those who find him. Decent book.

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