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Aunt Nicki
Great-Aunt Mary is an elderly Aboriginal Australian woman and Albert Gondiwindi’s younger sister. The siblings were separated when they were taken to the old Lutheran Mission but reunited in later years. Mary helps Elsie prepare to move out of Prosperous House when Rinepalm takes over. Unbeknownst to Mary, her son—Jimmy Corvette—abused August and Jedda as children and likely murdered Jedda. Albert killed Jimmy with a spear and confesses to the crime in his dictionary.
Great-Aunt Mary Quotes in The Yield
The The Yield quotes below are all either spoken by Great-Aunt Mary or refer to Great-Aunt Mary. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 38 Quotes
To be isolated is to be unable to act. That’s what we were—isolated—from our family, from our language, from our cultural ways, and from our land. And then we were taken ngumbaay-dyil. But it wasn’t really that we were together, it just looked humane, a face in a crowd. But we were brutalized, we turned on each other, we were isolated in our humiliation but we couldn’t leave neither. […] We weren’t really all together in one place, we weren’t residents in those places, us kids on our cots, we were criminals by birth, inmates since we could walk. Together and isolated at once.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
In the entry for ngumbaay-dyil, meaning “all together in one place,” Albert reflects on the way European colonizers systematically isolated Aboriginal Australians from one another. The purpose, he believes, was to leave the indigenous population “unable to act” without the support of their community. To this same end, they isolated Albert’s ancestors “from our language, from our cultural ways, and from our land.” Knowing that Aboriginal Australians (and people generally) draw strength from a sense of belonging, the settlers in their various roles strove to separate them from their primary means of connection (language, culture, and land). Albert personally experienced Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur.
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Great-Aunt Mary Character Timeline in The Yield
The timeline below shows where the character Great-Aunt Mary appears in The Yield. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
When Albert Gondiwindi was young, he, his mother, and his unborn sister (Great-Aunt Mary) were led by police to a Christian Mission in Prosperous alongside the Murrumby River. By...
(full context)
Chapter 5
...more of a pruned bush. This reminds Albert of all the people he’s lost, including Mary, his little sister who was sent to the Mission’s Girls’ Home. Though Albert and Mary...
(full context)
Chapter 11
August’s Aunt Missy and Great-Aunt Mary pull up to the house. Both women are shocked to see August, though they embrace...
(full context)
August follows Aunt Mary to the vegetable garden, where she imagines herself and Jedda as children. Mary says Elsie...
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Chapter 13
Albert reflects on reuniting with his sister Mary and her son, Jimmy. Both he and Elsie sensed Jimmy had nguru (“evil”) in him,...
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Chapter 14
...Jedda tracing the insects’ path along the river. In Vegemite Valley, August pauses outside Aunt Mary’s house. Another house bears a sign reading “FUCK OFF RINEPALM.” Two men across the street...
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Chapter 17
Later, Aunt Missy and Great-Aunt Mary arrive with two others: Betty and Nora. August prepares the guest bedrooms for the aunts....
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Chapter 23
August and her family gather around the fire pit. She stands with her aunties—Missy, Mary, and Nicki—seeming to sense their thoughts. Missy remembers fishing and planting with Albert. Mary thinks...
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...gospel music and watches Elsie and Albert leave the house for the night. Uncle Jimmy—Great-Aunt Mary’s son—is babysitting. He shows them a movie and won’t stop stroking their hair. Jimmy eventually...
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Chapter 26
...August swings from a tree branch as Elsie returns from her errands. She and Great-Aunt Mary have been looking at “old-lady homes” since Elsie would prefer privacy to Mary’s offered lodging....
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Chapter 35
...He drives them back to Prosperous, where the wheat field is ablaze. Elsie and Great-Aunt Mary are waiting on the veranda.
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Chapter 37
Missy, Elsie, and Mary go back inside Prosperous while Joey and August look across the burning wheat fields. August...
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Chapter 39
...is the path toward forming a collective identity and fostering respect between groups. Elsie and Mary arrive and chide August, Joey, and Missy for chaining themselves to the fence. Joey insists...
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...to stay here in chains. Before night falls, a bulldozer uproots more trees. Hearing Aunt Mary wailing from Prosperous, August sees Aunt Nicki has arrived with a cassette recorder and a...
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Chapter 41
...Now, Aunt Nicki reveals Albert’s dictionary, along with his heartbreaking secret knowledge that Jimmy, Aunt Mary’s son, murdered Jedda. At the same time, Rinepalm fells a tree on the property, revealing...
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...records. The rain delays the mine’s construction. August stays in Massacre Plains with Elsie, Missy, Mary, and Joey. She has finally found the words and belonging she was looking for and...
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