Madukka the River Serpent

by Julie Janson

Aunty June is the proud owner of a TAFE certificate III in Investigative Services.
It took her thirty hours to complete online.
Now, she has set up her own private investigation Yanakirri Investigative Services – Confidentiality Guaranteed.
When environmental activist, Thommo, suddenly goes missing and the police ignore the case Aunty June takes it upon herself to uncover the secrets surrounding her nephew, Thommo’s, disappearance. Corruption, commercial cotton farmers, bikies, racism, water theft, and unreliable local police – Aunty June is really up against it.
Lies and corruption are hiding the truth from reaching the surface. And the Murray Darling River is running out of water. Aunty June may be out of her depths, but nothing will stop her fighting for her people and her land.
Madukka the River Serpent is a striking novel about family and resistance from Australian Darug Burruberongal writer and playwright Julie Janson.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Australia, Crime

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

Julie is a Burruberongal woman of Darug Aboriginal Nation. She is co-recipient of the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize, 2016 and winner of the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, 2019.

Reviews

[Lydia Ralte]

Interesting. Very heavy with the cultural context - the heaviness of racism.

As a reader, this was frustrating but it opened my eyes to matters that I've never known before.

[Ali]

This is a detective story, but not really a mystery. While it does follow an investigation, I'm loath to describe it as a procedural, as Janson is all about subverting expectations here, not playing into them.
Our detective hero June, equipped with a Cert III, a ton of local knowledge and enough courage and fury to drown the town if needed, doesn't so much manveour tactically through the case as run at it headlong, with thought often trailing later. Her Cert III means little in the face of either systemic racism or the knowledge of her family about how to survive it. That's not a united view: she is caught between younger mob's radicalism and "what do we have to lose" activism and the elders' caution and desire to avoid making a target of the local Aboriginal community. In the end, June's determination not to roll over fuels the plot.
It can be an uneven read: the dialogue crackles, there are evocative descriptions, June is a powerful central figure and Janson effectively weaves together racism, police corruption, drug production and the terrible damage to the Murray-Darling into something that both matters and makes sense. At the same time, the transitions can be clumsy - it can be hard to follow who is speaking or thinking, where the characters are and what the relationships are. It is not suprising to lean Janson is a playwright. Some points are belaboured (how beautiful a particular teen is is really a bit too hammered home) while others are skipped through. While there is a clear resolutions, aspects of the final plot are still messy - this is intentional I think, because life usually is a bit messy - but this might annoy those who want more of a plot diagram in their crime fiction. But this was immensely readable still, more so I think than Janson's debut novel Benevolence, which told a great story, but with a bit too much telling (rather than showing). This makes me excited to see what else Janson might do with long-form fiction.

[Gavan]

Exceptionally poorly written - does UWAP not believe in editors? While there were some well-written sentences and paragraphs, the book was incredibly uneven. The dialogue lacked "real world" feeling. The characters barely developed simplistic caricatures. The plot patchy and lacking in credibility - Thommo goes missing in late January, yet Aunty June doesn't interview his partner Duckie until 8 March? Sorry to be harsh ...

[Louise]

I enjoyed the book, but was disappointed in that it was described as a detective novel which I did not think was a good description as I expected a different style of story. I found it was much more a story about a town and the interactions between the people and what was going on between the various groups in town, and this made it worth reading. But don’t expect that suspense of great detective stories.

[Sarah]

Madukka the River Serpent is an immersive and fascinating read, drawing the reader into the lives of the inhabitants of the town of Wilga, located on the banks of the once-mighty Darling River in north-western NSW. In particular, the narrative is focussed around the activities and concerns of Aunty June, who has gained her Certificate III and, inspired by the heroine of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, aspires to solve mysteries large and small to benefit her community, particularly the indigenous community of Wilga and surrounds. As the book opens, Aunty June's nephew Tommo has gone missing, with local police authorities seemingly unwilling to take his disappearance seriously. Tommo has a known history as a small-time marijuana dealer, and as an activist against corporate water-theft from the Darling river.

[Alex]

There is such beautiful use of Indigenous language and profound cultural contexts throughout this novel - these aspects I really enjoyed reading. I also loved the use of traditional knowledge and the spirit world, through the authors use of imagery, poetry and storytelling.

Whilst the novel addresses important cultural themes and social issues including racism towards First Nations people and communities, and the overrepresentation of Aboriginal deaths in custody.. the overall novel story itself was a little average in my opinion, but a fairly quick and enjoyable read.

[Susanna Duffy]

The Murray Darling Basin is running out of water, the mighty rivers are vanishing. The wanton destruction of the environment for economic gain “dries the Dreaming tracks out”, but it's not only the First Nations characters who suffer from water theft by big irrigators, it's the three million people for whom the Darling is a water source. Aunty June’s enquiries into the death of an individual Aboriginal man explore Big Cotton and a host of other crimes.

[Le]

I really enjoyed this.

This book is about racism, about capitalism, about the environment, about poverty, about fascism, about police violence, and probably many more things I have not listed.

This book is such a woven tale, I understand why some people say they don't understand what is going on - I didnt get that feeling exactly, but I think I understand why some people feel it. I think the book is meant to leave you with a bit of a 'what is going on' feeling. It is a feeling the characters are having too.

I will be thinking of this book for a while to come I think.

[Cathy]

It might just be me, but there were a few parts of this book that didn’t quite hang together.
It also seemed a bit contradictory in places.
I loved the authentic first nations voices and the plausibility of the interwoven stories and the potential leads, but there was no real intrigue.

[Lisa]

I don't rate books I don't finish.

[Jillwilson]

In an interview in The Big Issue, writer Julie Jansen said she found inspiration in the work of Jane Harper and Sara Paretsky for this novel which is set in 2020 in the fictitious northern New South Wales town of Wilga, on the Darling River. As in much “outback” noir, Wilga is no idyllic country town. There is significant racism and tension in the town around water rights, the interactions between police and the black community, and the activities of drug dealers, environmental activists and “Big Cotton”. In that same interview, Jansen said she wanted to expose the corruption and ignorance that has impacted so savagely on the Darling River and its immediate environment.

Main character Aunty June is a “fifty-year-old […] freshwater Gamilaraay Aboriginal woman born of clay plains, dust and kangaroos”. She has completed an online TAFE certificate in investigative services and has set up her own private detective agency in Wilga. Most of her work is chasing down men who are trying to avoid paying child support but when a younger cousin of June’s (Thommo) goes missing, she decides that she has to try to find out what has happened to him. Thommo has been a bit of an environment activist – but has also sold a bit of dope in his time and maybe stirred up the local bikies whose illegal dealings include drugs. The gungie (police) led by Sargent Blackett refuse to take his disappearance seriously.

Jansen says that she did not set out to write a detective story. “The novel began as a social history story, but I worked with an excellent editor, Kate Goldsworthy, who agreed with me that the story led itself to adaptation to crime. Reading lots of books on “how to write a crime novel” helped. The one trope that I needed to acknowledge from the genre was “start with a body”, so I had to kill someone off. I was so attached to my characters like Aunty June, the private detective, that I couldn’t kill them. I created a new character, Thommo, a nephew of Aunty June’s. He disappears at the beginning of the novel.” (https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/...)

It’s a bit more haphazard than a traditional tightly plotted detective story. The narrative pushes ahead as Aunty June buttonholes people and asks them what happened to Thommo. There are no “clues” as such, just evasive or menacing behaviour from a number of people. There is such residual racism in the town that it is difficult for Aunty June to discern whether people’s actions are unusual or normal. At times the dialogue feels a little clunky but I think it is the fault of my Western middle class ear rather than the writing. I came to feel that the voices of the characters felt very real and authentic.

Some themes in the book reminded me of ‘Carpentaria’ by Alexis Wright – both novels circle around young men who are disturbed by what has happened to their environment and by the actions of big multinationals. There is also echoes of the environmental devastation in New South Wales described by Kate Holden in ‘The Winter Road’. There are subtle references to issues within the Aboriginal community in the novel – one charismatic Aboriginal leader is potentially colluding with developers and “Big Cotton”. Another man may have skimmed money from the collective to finance his gambling addiction. The women are vulnerable to violence and sexual exploitation from members of the white community. And the most devastating incident in the novel is a reminder that there have been 516 deaths since Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody report was published in 1991. It’s a reminder of how vulnerable Aboriginal people are because the systems of power cannot be trusted.

At the end of the novel, Aunty June wonders if “Australians will ever get off the boat from Europe.” Perhaps voting Yes in the upcoming referendum will be a start. There are more literary novels around but this one is about issues in contemporary Australia that we all need to think about and develop ways of understanding.

[Bree Pearson]

The blurb on the back of this book made it sound like we were getting something of a slap stick PI procedural, focusing on Aunty June and her investigation of her Nephew’s disappearance, combined with heavy themes around corruption, violence, racism, capitalism and environmentalism. What we got was a poorly put together 301 pages that read like a low budget Aussie B-grade 80s/90s movie. The author had some spectacular paragraphs setting the scene, painting a backdrop for the characters, but then somehow the dialogue and actual plot fell so short it wasn’t funny. There were moments of dialogue that were so poor we had the police Sargent say “the machine said you were speeding” like… what?! There were moments where it seemed like the story was edited in a way that just removed entire paragraphs to make word counts. One scene started from the POV of a spirt coming to terms with the after life and finished with June making tea and eating Tim Tams.

The only reason I finished this book is because I became just invested enough to need to know what happened. This story with its themes had so much potential but was lost under poor editing and inconsistent writing.

[Mike]

Indigenous author, playwright and poet, Julie Janson has published her debut detective fiction novel titled Madukka: the River Serpent. It features Aunty June, a private detective with a level three college certificate in Investigative Services from TAFE. When her environmental activist nephew disappears, she realises she has to find him, given the local policeman’s contemptuous inactivity. As she investigates, she discovers lies, corruption, water theft and plenty of suspects including local bikies, and a drug boss. It’s a tale full of rich characters, indigenous culture, yet another first nation’s death in custody and a town riot. At its heart is the Indigenous spiritual and ecological life, spotlighting the Murray Darling River running out of water. A truly enjoyable exemplar of indigenous storytelling, infused with a crime mystery that is a four and a half star read rating. Hopefully, there are more adventures to come with sleuth hero, Aunty June. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

[Jayne]

This is a book that will immerse you in First Nation Australian culture and life and highlights many issues, both past and present.
The 'theft' of the water from the Murray-Darling Basin to irrigate farmland is a major point of difference in the area. Habitat is being lost, the wetlands of Lake Menindee have virtually disappeared and species are rapidly becoming endangered as the river dries up.
The treatment of First Nation people by the police, the government and local land owners is appalling. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody has not solved the issue at all.
The use of Indigenous language throughout and reference to culture involved the reader with the characters.
However the story was quite disjointed, stilted and strangely paced, particularly in the first half of the book. It picked up by the final third of the book. As the book is the author's first novel and was developed from a play she had written, this makes sense.

[James Whitmore]

This unsettling crime novel takes place in the fictional town of Wilga, Ngyiampaa Country, on the Barka or Darling River in western New South Wales. It’s a place haunted by colonial atrocities, “the soil full of human fragments, skin and hair and terror and murder … it was a kind of stinking trickle, a miasma oozing from the grey earth.” That violence has continued in into the presence in different forms. “It used to be all rural, sheep mostly,” Janson writes, “all gone now. It’s cotton and security firms.” Those cotton firms are pillaging the river for irrigation, leading to environmental catastrophe. The firms pay gang members embroiled in drug trafficking for security. The money seems to flow freely from business to politics to crime. Read more on my blog.

[Jen]

June is a newly accredited private investigator in Wilga, a small town in far west N.S.W., on the banks of the Darling River, the sacred Barka river for the local indigenous people.

The Barka is running dry, and many of the Aboriginal people are concerned that the water is being stolen by the big cotton farms up north.

Throw in some violent bikies running drugs and a racist policeman, with a young, city offsider on his first posting, and a missing indigenous man who has possibly been murdered by the bikies, or henchmen from the cotton farmers, or maybe has just skipped town, and the town of Wilga is about to explode.

This novel explores the lives of indigenous people, who are front and centre of this novel, rather than on the sidelines. It is great to see these characters taking control of events and their own lives, even when tragedy strikes.

[Christine Ku]

This book is actually an eye opener. I didn’t know we have environmental issues, corruption and life threatening racism so close at home here in Australia- I’ve always thought that was an issue exclusive to China, India and developing countries. I also found it refreshing that it’s written from an Aboriginal point of view with a frank attitude towards British colonialism (I mean, there are probably other work out there that delve into this topic but I’m reading this as a mystery and what I like about this book is that the Aboriginal angle just seamlessly fit into the story).

[Helen]

This book is brilliant. It is certainly not literary, and is quite different to other popular outback mysteries, but it tells a story that needs to be heard, from the perspective of First Nations Australians. It is set in a fictional town on the Barka (Darling) River. The protagonist is a First Nations woman with a private investigation certificate. And the main issue is water in drought.
I lived along the same river during the same drought. These issues need to be heard. This book exposes corruption and betrayal at too many levels. Well done, Julie.

[Stef Rozitis]

Murder, police brutality, local government corruption, water theft by corporations and one elder with a TAFE certificate in private detection who won't leave things be...but also has to look after family and community and bind up broken hearts while she does it.

Set believably in an Australian rural setting but I have a feeling Aunty June's next adventure will be in Sydney and whatever she decides I am here for it.

A sad and traumatising book but a good one.

[Kate]

There is a lot to like about this book. The descriptions of country, the relationships between people and the ways in which the author highlights the ongoing issues of racism, corruption and environmental damage are some of the best parts of this book. However, there were a number of internal inconsistencies and some parts that felt poorly edited that let it down. A good read but it felt like it had the potential to be a great one but didn’t quite get there.

[Carla]

Dnf. There is so much that is important and compelling about this book. Water theft by corrupt politicians and corporations. Very contemporary themes that are not often discussed. I was rooting for this book so hard but it feels like a first draft. The dialogue for anyone who isn't the main character is strange, clipped, unnatural. The structure felt like it holes in it. It really needed many more parses. Loved the idea of an outback Indigenous Aunty detective.

[Peter S]

I found the writing quite uneven at times and had trouble with the lack of depth, then next, an enhanced description. I had trouble with the believability of the story line on occasion (ghosts and spirits are not my thing, though I understand the culture they derive from).
There is ample use of indigenous language which enhances the text (I would have appreciated a glossary at the end of the book for those terms I was unsure of during the reading.

[Luke]

Bucketloads of charm - the characters are all full and rich and human. June as the protagonist, is courageous and furious and witty. The ensemble around her provide copious light and shade.

I really enjoyed the weaving of Gamilraay and Ngiyampaa language, protocol and stories into the novel.

There are brilliant moments in this book, but at times it was hard to know where we were, why we were there or how we got there. A little hard to follow.

[Jane]

A rambling read that covered a lot of ground from drought, water theft, corrupt cops, corrupt politicians, corrupt farmers, aboriginal deaths in custody, rape, domestic violence, dope plantations, bikies, environmental activism, racism, the Green movement, alcoholism, floods, aboriginal culture, life in a country town, amateur sleuthing, loss and love.

[Julie D]

I hesitated between 2 and 3 stars. There are a lot of interesting elements in this novel. The themes, water rights, aboriginal rights, police brutality, misogyny, etc., and the characters, even though they are often underdeveloped, were good, but the mystery was an afterthought, the dialogue was sometimes weird and confusing and the novel felt disjointed and needed editing.

[Gretchen Bernet-Ward]

I pay my respects to author, poet and playwright Julie Janson but I could not finish reading this book. It’s not a comfortable read when you have influenza. My sensibilities blanched at the strong emotional terrain. It is a powerful story and worthy of high ratings but I was not in the right headspace.

[PJ]

As a detective story, it left me cold, but I really enjoyed the portrait of small town intrigues and race relations, plus the important messages contained in this book. It is worth the read for those factors

[S.M. Spencer]

Couldn’t finish this one - far too many editing error (both typos and plot issues) so I gave up. Had potential and is worth having it edited, even if only by a friend. I did like the premise of the story.

[Cath]

An intriguing and confronting look at a fictional - but relatable - rural Australian community, and the complexities of cultural differences and environmental challenges woven together with a unique writing style/story telling approach.

[Jessica]

I really enjoyed this wonderful story. I loved the depth of the characters; they felt so real to me. The incredible imagery transported me into the pages of the book. Highly recommend.