'A gumtree is not a branch of an oak': Indigenising settler nationalism in 1930s Australia

This dissertation examines three Australian nationalists of the interwar period: 'Inky' Stephensen, Rex Ingamells and Xavier Herbert, each of whom sought to establish settler Australia's national cultural independence through novel — and problematic — engagements with Indigenous tropes. The thesis proposes a reinterpretation of their efforts and of Australian settler nationalism in the 1930s and, in so doing, offers an original interpretation of Australian literary and political culture in the interwar period. These reflections are relevant to contemporary debates concerning the proper relationship between settlers and Indigenous peoples in Australia, and in particular the position of Indigenous peoples within the national community.