"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. "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.
Plot summary
The Chosen Vessel follows the story of a young mother and baby who are left home alone in the isolating Australian Bush. When a swagman stops by one day looking for food, the mother provides him with some. He then goes and sets up camp near her home. Later that night he returns to the mother's home and begins to break in. In the distance the mother hears a horse and runs to try and get help, however the horseman continues on without aiding her. The swagman then catches her, resulting in her rape and murder. The last part of the story has Peter Hennessey find the woman as he heads to town to vote. But he believes the mother to be Virgin Mary and a sign from God that he should change his vote to that of his mother's choice and continues to ride on. Later that day he goes and talks to the priest about his vision and the priest tells him what he really saw.
Analysis
The Brisbane Courier stated that the story came "to paint the backblocks in the colours of hell. Compare this horrible nightmare with Lawson's '"The Drover's Wife," and you will realise the difference between the relentless, the strained, and the terrible, and that which is human."
Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Nicholas Jose, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Anita Heiss, David McCooey, Peter Minter, Nicole Moore and Elizabeth Webby
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". 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".
