The Chosen Vessel

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"The Chosen Vessel"
Author Barbara Baynton
Country Australia
Language English
Genre(s) Drama
Published in The Bulletin
Media type print (magazine)
Publication date 12 December 1896

"The Chosen Vessel" is a dramatic short story by the Australian writer Barbara Baynton, first published in The Bulletin on 12 December 1896. It recounts the story of an outback woman left alone with her baby in a bush hut as she awaits attack by a swagman who has called there during the day.[1]

"The Chosen Vessel" originally appeared under the title "The Tramp". It was subsequently published in the author's 1902 collection Bush Studies, under the preferred title and with some previously excised scenes restored.[2]

Plot summary

The woman hears a horse on the road and flees the house looking for assistance. But the horseman, a young catholic passing through the district, thinks the white-robed figure is a vision from God, and rides off in terror. The woman is later attacked by the swagman and murdered.[1]

Analysis

Further publications

Critical reception

Early reviews of the collection Bush Studies were not kind. The Clarence and Richmond Examiner stated, "If Barbara Baynton's manuscript had got into the hands of Colonial editors the expression would never have been allowed to appear in print; but being dealt with by Englishmen, who are not expected to be versed in Australian bush etymology, it has been allowed to pass." They concluded that the stories were "superfluous exaggerations and misconceived ideas of youthful inexperience".[4]

The Australian Town and Country Journal went further by stating, "It seems a pity that a writer with Barbara Baynton's keen observation, incisive pen, and dramatic sense, should not turn her powers to better account than she has done in Bush Studies", later referring to the stories as "harrowing" and "mercilessly tragic".[5]

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