1. There is a reoccurring
symbol we would like to ask you about. It is a
wheel shaped symbol, with 4
spokes, used on many of the mechanical
machines. It is on the
ships, cannons, horses, headers and buildings. It
is clearly illustrated on the
page "but there were too many rabbits" in
the right hand corner on the
cannon. We would like to know your reasons
for choosing this, and what
it symbolises. One student noted its
similarities and differences
to the swastika?
My answer is probably not as
interesting as your question! I can't really
say that it has any special
significance in itself, except that it's a nice
mechanical feature that
seems to fit in with the rabbits culture, which is
based on Victorian England a
bit - which is where that kind of spoked wheel
probably started. The use of
repeating elements like this helps link the
details of different
pictures together, and emphasises the rabbits
dependence (sometimes
excessive) on technology.
2. We would also like to
know your opinions on the rock-painting symbol
(fossil of the numbat) on
the page "we lost the fight". Is it a symbol
for the people who died in
the rabbit war or their ancestors?
Both of those, I would say.
It's hard to tell from the text when all of
this happened from the point
of view of the narrator - it may have been
recent or a long time ago.
In that picture, it was the idea of numbats
essentially killed in the
wars, and their 'spirit' returning back into the
earth.
3. We would like to know are
the machines carrying away the baby numbats
from their parents a
combination of boats and planes for any particular
reason? They are a great
creation and we would like to know more about
your ideas for drawing them.
That's a good question - I
suppose they are like boats and planes as you
say. I can't remember where
I got the idea from exactly, but I've always
been fascinated with
airships and aircraft, especially early ones.
Sometimes I can trace my
ideas back to a source - something I've read or
seen - but in this case I'm
not sure - the whole page I remember thinking
of while I was having a
shower for some reason, after spending a long time
not know what to draw for
this 'stolen children' scene, so it came in a
rare flash of inspiration.
I'm glad you like the boats though - I also
thought they looked pretty
cool.
4. We would also like to
know about the repeated use of the clocks on
the buildings, in the
rabbit's eyes and elsewhere.
I'm interested in clocks as
a way of dividing up time and organising life
into segments, which is a
relatively modern European thing I think, and
became especially prevalent
after the Industrial Revolution and working
life became very regulated.
Clocks seemed one of those things that would
certainly confront an
indigenous person as very unnatural and possibly
incomprehensible. The
rabbits, throughout the book, seem obsessed with
measuring and dissecting
space and time - so fences, roads and clocks have
a similar function for them.
Also, the clock on top of
some flags is quite significant, though probably
not obvious. For a long
time, European Australians more or less believed
that history began in this
country only upon their arrival, and before that
nothing was important or
very noteworthy. So planting a flag to 'own' a
place is coupled with
planting a clock, to say that one group of people now
owns time, or the historical
record of that place. So that the only
important memory now is
rabbit-memory.
