This thesis explores the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, with particular attention to the concept of whiteness. The novel, Bird with a Broken Leg, surveys the interaction of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians through the prism of the prison system. Using mainly the narrative viewpoint of (white) prison workers, the novel follows Carson, a young Indigenous man, as he traverses the white-dominated world of his Western Australian environment, being

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... ed time and time again and having to deal with a world which gives him very little control over his own destiny. The novel follows in a tradition of Australian social justice works and highlights the issue of whiteness which is explored in the accompanying exegetical essay. This essay, "Whiteness and Australian Fiction", looks at Australia's recent literary past and the way particular novels have sparked public discussion through challenging, criticising and revealing uncomfortable truths about modern Australian reality. The essay demonstrates that whiteness has been a major issue in many of these works, and that social justice novels of this kind have led to progressive changes in fostering a more contemplative and compassionate Australian society. Both essay and novel speak to the power of storytelling as an influence regarding the possibility of reconciliation within a fractured society. CONTENTS Bird with a Broken Leg ................................................