Capricornia

work by Herbert

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June 22, 2026

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Capricornia is a 1938 novel by Australian author Xavier Herbert. The novel is a comic chronicle set in Australia's Northern Territory. It depicts the harsh treatment of Aboriginal people by white colonizers. Herbert, who had experience working with Aboriginal communities and in northern Australia, drew on these experiences for the novel. While Capricornia is considered Herbert's most notable work, his later novels received less critical acclaim. The novel's themes of social protest and concern for Aboriginal people align with the literary movements of its time.12

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Australian literature
Nationalism and expansion
By apt coincidence, Xavier Herbert’s Capricornia (1938) was published at this time. Herbert’s sprawling comic anarchy, his maverick vision, and the sense of remoteness from regulated society all derive from his Northern Territory milieu. But Capricornia also displays all the themes important to the Jindyworobak movement: concern for the Aboriginal,…
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By apt coincidence, Xavier Herbert’s Capricornia (1938) was published at this time. Herbert’s sprawling comic anarchy, his maverick vision, and the sense of remoteness from regulated society all derive from his Northern Territory milieu. But Capricornia also displays all the themes important to the Jindyworobak movement: concern for the Aboriginal,…
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Xavier Herbert
…known for his voluble novel Capricornia (1938), a comic chronicle about life in the Northern Territory of Australia and the inhumane treatment suffered by the Aborigines there at the hands of white men.
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…known for his voluble novel Capricornia (1938), a comic chronicle about life in the Northern Territory of Australia and the inhumane treatment suffered by the Aborigines there at the hands of white men.
Read More