Point of View

"Remembering Babylon" is told in the second person. The story is about an English boy named Gemmy who is taken in by the aborigines and later tries to return to his old culture. It shows how shortsighted the colonists' views are in settling Queensland and how little they regarded what already existed there. Gemmy manages to touch the lives of many people and awakens them to what is around them before he returns to the aborigines.

Setting

The main setting of the story is in mid-nineteenth century Australia, where the English are attempting to settle their "new" land. Most of the story takes place in the settlement itself, near the costal town of Bowen. There are also some events that take place in the capital city of Brisbane, in Scotland and at sea. The entire time span of the story is from approximately 1845 to 1917.

Language and Meaning