how does the secret river develop the theme of ownership?

This quotation demonstrates the abyss separating the Western understanding of ownership from the Aboriginal conception that they and the land are one. The British colonists saw no reason not to take land and resources that had not been claimed by either public or private ownership. They took the absence of permanent structures and tilled fields to mean that the Aborigines had not invested in the land. In the tradition of the Protestant work ethic, a people that did not labor on the land or develop its resources were not considered to own that land. Merely existing on a piece of land was not enough to warrant the respect of British law or traditions. The Aborigines, on the other hand, lived in harmony with their environment. Until the colonists arrived, the question of ownership of the land and its fruits was irrelevant. The land existed, and so did they. What the land provided, they ate. They felt the firmness of the land beneath their feet and knew that it belonged to them, and that they belonged to the land.

There were no signs that the blacks felt that the place belonged to them. They had no fences that said this is mine. No house that said, this is our home. There were no fields or flocks that said, we have put the labour of our hands into this place." p.93