English - Yr 8 - Unit 2 - Resource - Dougy - Chapter Summaries

Dougy Chapter One Introduction to the town – small town with an aboriginal population. We hear the story of the Moodagudda, a dreamtime story about a spirit in the river. Introduction to the characters – Gracey (Dougy’s big sister and his friend, a runner), Raymond (loves rugby, big brother, trying to sneak a drink of grog), Johnny Warren (another aboriginal kid, a bad reputation amongst the white community), Dougy’s dad (a drunk, hardly ever around, tells the story of the Moodagudda), Dougy’s mother (strict, doesn’t like it when dad is drunk, but in first chapter she is laughing along with the story, doesn’t believe the Moodagudda is real), Cooper (drives a red panel van, white guy, his dad lives by the river in a shack, has many visits from the local police because he keeps bashin’ his dad), Dougy (an aboriginal kid, feels that he is invisible because people seem to look straight through him, a bag of bones, a no-hoper, scared of the story about the Moodagudda, walks his drunk father home – too scared to put his back to the river, he tells us he is the only one who gets to see the Moodagudda). Chapter Two Live near Cunningham – about an hour (two stubbies) away. Mr Jenkins comes every weekend to train Gracey in her running. Paddy O’Shea comes to pick up the rent from the houses along ‘Sesame Street’ – always gets his money from Dougy’s house. Mr Jenkins tells Gracey about the State Championships in Brisbane, and starts trying to organise some funding. All Gracey’s friends are celebrating her good news until they tell their parents – the parents tell the children that it isn’t fair, that the government gives too much money to the black people. Dougy’s family are all going to go to Brisbane to see Gracey race. Chapter Three On the train to Brisbane. Dougy uncomfortable but happy to be experiencing new things. Very excited to be on a train and is constantly looking out through the window. Dougy has a vision of yellow faces staring at him from the field (sunflowers). On arriving in Brisbane, Dougy is concerned because they are the only aboriginal people he can see. They catch a taxi to their hostel. The taxi driver asks for money before they ride because he thinks they won’t be able to pay. Steve meets them at the hostel, and offers to drive them around. He takes them to the running track for Gracey to have a practice. Steve takes Raymond and Dougy to look at Lang Park (the rugby field). Raymond thinks the trip to the field is the best thing ever and tells them that he will play there one day. Merv gets upset that they were allowed into the park and tells them to leave. Dougy is upset because there is no way that Raymond would have done anything to harm even a blade of grass in the ‘holiest of holies’. Chapter Four Steve offers to drive the family to the track for the first race – but they end up running late. Gracey goes straight to the starting line and registers to race. She is nervous about the race and blows chunks on some random lady. Her shoes, a gift from Mr. Jenkins, are designed for racing on grass not on the special red surface of the track and she is not allowed to race in them. She races barefoot and wins. Gracey makes a new ‘friend’, Tanya, who came second in the championships last year. Chapter Five Gracey and Mum sit up late talking about the race. Gracey is concerned that there are high expectations of her because she is an aborigine. There are nine girls in Gracey’s final race. Mum, Raymond and Dougy go to the finish line so that they can see who will win the race. The whole crowd is watching and even mum is yelling for Gracey. Gracey is State Champion and everyone celebrates – except for Tanya, who is upset to be beaten again. Gracey is interviewed by some journalists and the boys get in the photo for the newspaper. Mrs Granello offers Gracey a scholarship to Hamilton College in Brisbane, the same school Melissa Brodie has been going to. All her school fees will be paid, and even travel home in the school holidays, as long as Gracey will train and race for the College. The newspaper article comes out the next day and everyone is very excited. Gracey sees another article in the paper that shows a drunken Melissa Brodie being taken away by police after sneaking out of school.

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Chapter Six Melissa Brodie is flown home from Brisbane to her very angry parents, but everyone in the town was so excited that someone from their town was famous. Paddy O’Shea is worried about Gracey leaving her family to go and live in Brisbane – he relates the scholarship to the Stolen Generation, families torn apart. He thinks the school will try to turn her into a ‘white girl’, but Gracey’s mum thinks it is a great opportunity for her to get out of the small town. Mum starts to tell people about the scholarship once all the paperwork has been done and she is sure that Gracey will be going to the new school. Again the people in the town start complaining about the aboriginal people getting ‘handouts’ from the government, and the kids on the school bus are all upset again, and Gracey is concerned about taking the scholarship because of the reactions of her schoolmates from Cunningham, and because she is afraid of being the only aboriginal kid in the school. Mum tells her that the opportunity is too good to pass up, that she shouldn’t want to stay in the town. Dougy starts thinking about what the Moodagudda will do if Gracey tries to leave town. Even though Dougy doesn’t want his sister to leave town he encourages her to take the opportunity and finally convinces her that it is the best thing to do, but he is worried that the Moodagudda will try to stop her from going. Chapter Seven Mum sends off the papers for the scholarship. People in town are worried about the lack of rain – worried it might be the start of a drought. Melissa Brodie wants to learn to ride motorbikes but her dad announces that he will not let anyone in to his pub if they take her riding. Mum decides that Gracey’s scholarship is so important that it should be celebrated by the whole town, and books the local hall for the party. Rains hardly reached the town, but the river was set to swell after rains had dumped up stream, and the town begins to work together to sandbag the river bank to stop the rising waters from entering the town. Trucks ferried sand from the sandhills to bring to workers along the riverbank. On the third trip back with sand, the drivers brought news that Melissa Brodie had been found unconscious in the sandhills. No one knew what had happened to her but questions start flying until someone asks who could have done something to hurt her. Soon the conversation turned to finding blame and the finger was pointed at the aboriginal people who sometimes went to the sandhills to drink. Cooper arrives then and informs the people that he saw Johnny Warren ‘roaming’ that morning. Chapter Eight Mum goes to Cunningham to buy some things for the party in the hall. Mr Price, the police officer, goes to Johnny Warren’s house, to ask him some questions. Cooper is there too, and wants Mr Price to search the house for Johnny. Mr Price does not have a warrant and refuses, he thinks they should wait until Melissa wakes up in hospital and tells them just what happened. Cooper drives his red panel van to Sesame Street, and is followed by some friends in a four wheel drive. They begin going house to house to try to find where Johnny Warren is hiding. They come to one house, where Curly Ross is waiting on the veranda with a gun, refusing the white men entry. One of the white men also pulls out a rifle and there is a standoff. Without warning one of the guns goes off – no one can say who fired but everyone runs off. Gracey and Dougy are unable to get to their house and head off instead towards the town hall. Craig and Brett also run to the hall, and the divide between blacks and whites is evident even between friends, as they face off against each other. Craig decides to head home to be with his family, and Brett goes into town to try to contact his father. Chapter Nine Raymond slides into the hall, eager to share the news that he has been sent to spy on the whites, to keep an eye out to make sure that they don’t sneak up. Brett returns without his father who is still in Cunningham. Mr Price was about to go and find out what the shot was about and Brett told him what had happened. Brett tells Gracey, Raymond and Dougy how Cooper arrived at the police station and told his side of the story. He thinks the whole town has gone mad, and there are enough guns to start a war. Cooper had left one of his guys at the station to make sure Mr Price stays out of the fight. Raymond shares the news that the phone lines have been cut so that no one can call for help. Brett and Raymond start arguing and nearly start their own fight but Gracey steps in to calm them down. Shots are heard – covering fire for a group of white men creeping forward to the protection of a brick near the

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teacher’s house along Sesame Street. As soon as the men arrived, the teachers began shooting at the fence and the men leave. Chapter Ten Tiny is spotted riding his bike along the main street, apparently checking the rising water level. He is shot at and thinks that he has a puncture. Gracey runs out from the hall and stands in the line of fire to protect him. She convinces Tiny to run to the hall with her, and tells him what has been happening. Tiny explains what had really happened – that Melissa Brodie had been riding his motorbike and refused to wear a helmet. She had fallen and hit her head, but started to walk home, seemingly unhurt. Tiny was worried about what would happen if Mr Brodie found out – especially after his threats in the pub – and didn’t want to go and spread the word. Chapter Eleven The water is rising. Dougy, watching islands form and disappear realised that the first houses to flood will be the ones along Sesame Street – the lowest houses in the town. Cooper comes to the hall and tries to burst his way in. Gracey and the others hold them off for a while by barricading the doors, but Cooper soon returns with Ron Kendall and they climb in through a window from the bonnet of the four wheel drive. Both men have rifles. Cooper holds his out, allowing aiming across the young people, Kendall allows his to hang by his side. Brett tries to tell the men what Tiny has told them about Melissa Brodie, but Cooper already knows – there had been a phone call before the lines were cut; Melissa had woken up and told them what had happened. The young people try to work out why Cooper would keep on trying to fight when he knows Johnny Warren had nothing to do with Melissa. Cooper is tired of Aboriginal people being ‘given’ everything. Gracey argues with Cooper, trying to make him see sense, but Cooper shuts her down by making all the young people move into the kitchen. Kendall and Cooper keep talking about their plans and it becomes obvious that they are in the hall because they think it will be the best place for them to start shooting the Aboriginals as they try to leave their houses as the river rises. The young people feel hopeless, knowing this and being unable to do anything about it. Raymond again wishes he had a gun to even things up a bit. Dougy starts thinking again about the Moodagudda. The river is the Moodagudda’s home, and now the river is rising, the Moodagudda can come into town too, searching for people, and it was starting to get dark. Chapter Twelve Cooper leaves to get more people, and Kendall stays in the hall to watch over Gracey, Dougy, Raymond, Tiny and Brett. The young people decide to try to convince Kendall to talk to the whites. Gracey speaks with Kendall, to organise a truce. Cooper comes back to the hall and is annoyed that Kendall has allowed the young people to talk to him. Kendall tries to speak with Cooper to try to make him understand that the war needs to end. While they’re talking Raymond sneaks forward and tackles Cooper to the ground, knocking Kendall down. They both drop their guns. Raymond grabs a gun, and calls to Gracey to grab the other gun. Gracey kicks the gun away and calls to Raymond to give the gun back. Cooper and Kendall think the kids have tricked them, that they didn’t want a truce, they just wanted the weapons. Kendall is angry with Raymond but tries to calm him down and get the gun back. Raymond is nervous. He thought that having a gun would make everyone listen to him. Kendall steps towards Raymond, and Raymond steps back. Kendall tries to talk to him, and says that Raymond won’t shoot him. The gun goes off, and Kendall falls to the floor. Cooper goes straight for the gun; Gracey runs past him and dives for the gun. She pushes the gun away but slides into chairs and breaks her collarbone. Cooper doesn’t hang around, he runs off. Raymond checks on Kendall, who has started screaming from shock and pain. They all realise how badly hurt Kendall is and he slowly bleeds to death. Raymond keeps trying to think of ways to revive him, but Gracey tells him there is no point. Chapter Thirteen Raymond is in shock and will not leave Kendall’s body. Tiny is accusing Raymond of murder. Raymond tries to defend himself and tries to remind them of what had happened – already their ideas of what happened are different. Brett makes a sling for Gracey’s arm. Cooper’s friends come to pick up the Kendall. Tiny wants to go with them, but Brett wants to stay because he thinks the whites will not shoot while Brett is in the hall. They decide to try firing

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warning shots to keep the guys away from the hall, but the sound from the rifle made Raymond scream and he retrieved the gun and returned to Kendall’s side. Brett’s Mum comes by dinghy with Mr Price and takes Brett home. Mr Price lets them know that a helicopter is coming and they should get on the roof if the water continues to rise. Brett assures Raymond that he will tell his father what really happened in the hall. Chapter Fourteen The water is rising, Gracey and Dougy move to the stage, but Raymond will not leave the body; he doesn’t even care if he drowns, and keeps maintaining that he didn’t mean to shoot Kendall. They finally convince Raymond to move higher, but the water is getting higher and they need to organise somewhere else to go. Gracey and Dougy try to find a way into the ceiling. They remember the manhole in the ceiling at home, and find a broom to locate the manhole in the hall ceiling. Gracey praises Dougy when he finds the manhole but now have to find a way to climb into the ceiling. They move a table and then stack some chairs to reach the hole, but they will need to pull themselves up. Dougy annoys Raymond until he finally helps Dougy to raise Gracey into the roof. Dougy will not give up; he keeps trying until he manages to get his family to the safety of the ceiling. Chapter Fifteen Dougy and Gracey reflect on what has been happening. Dougy tells Gracey that he needs her help, but she is in too much pain to think clearly. She is tired and goes to sleep. Dougy hears the sound of the helicopter, and is annoyed with himself for not thinking of a way onto the roof so that they were ready to be rescued. Dougy starts to realise that he needs to think of a solution himself – he needs to rely on himself. Being in this situation has started Dougy thinking about what is going to happen to him. Dougy thinks of the gun and decides to try to shoot the screws holding the tin down to get out through the roof. He climbs back down through the manhole, stands on the chairs and lowers himself into the cold water, which has risen higher. He heads to Kendall’s body, where he had last seen the rifle. He has to dive deep under the water and uses Kendall’s body as a guide. He finally finds the gun and heads back to the manhole. The tables and chairs have moved so he has to think again of how he can get up. He throws the gun through the manhole and starts to try to lift the table onto its end to climb back into the ceiling. It takes him some time, but he is successful. Chapter Sixteen Now Dougy has the rifle with him, he and Gracey have to work out how to work the rifle together. They manage to load the rifle and Dougy shoots out the screws. Raymond is again upset by the sound of the rifle going off so Dougy calmly explains what he is doing. He is able to lift a piece of tin high enough to allow them to squeeze through to get out onto the roof, but Raymond still will not budge. There is a weak torchlight shining on them and they duck down just in time to avoid a bullet. Gracey thinks it must be Cooper keeping watch on them, not wanting to give up until he has killed them. They stay out of the light, but they don’t want to miss the helicopter. Gracey calls out to where she thinks Cooper is, but he doesn’t respond. They hear the sound of a house collapsing under the strain of the flooded river, and the cry of Cooper’s voice. The helicopter comes to the roof of the hall and shines the light to find Dougy. The Moodagudda surely couldn’t get them now…but Dougy sees a figure, rising out of the water, grab Gracey’s hair and drag her back into the water. Dougy tries to tell the rescuers to save Gracey but the helicopter is just too loud and he struggles until the man knocks him out. Even in the helicopter the rescuers can’t catch Dougy’s story about Gracey and the Moodagudda, but they eventually take the risk to find Gracey clinging to a tree and bring her to safety. Chapter Seventeen In hospital Gracey tells Dougy that it was Cooper who had pulled her back into the water, but she allows Dougy to tell everyone (except Raymond) his story of seeing the Moodagudda. This story is the only one told about the war, except for Brett’s account for his father. Sergeant Graves took care of Kendall’s body. The town is declared dead. Paddy O’Shea finds a house for Dougy’s family in Cunningham and Dougy goes back to school – high school.

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