The Annotated Pratchett File, v7a

The Discworld Mapp chronicles Sir Roderick’s career in some detail, his principal achievement being three epic voyages of discovery around the Disc, during which he completely failed to find XXXX, the Counterweight Continent, or indeed any land of any consequence at all.

+ [p. 35] “[...] in that country the bark fell off the trees in the winter

and the leaves stayed on.”

This is what happens with Australian gum trees, such as the coolabah.

+ [p. 35] “[...] men who go around on one big foot”

C. S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, book three of the Narnia series, features the island of the Dufflepuds, who do this. Terry himself traces the story back much further:

“Two things influenced this. One is that, in accounts of very early long-distance voyages, ‘people who go around on one foot’ are among the usual freaks encountered (memory creaks, and recalls some about them in The Saga of Eirik the Red...). The other is that, when I was a kid, I’ll swear we had a class reader of Robinson Crusoe and a pic showed him in his goat skins marvelling at the one footprint he’d found in the sand. The illustrator had obviously been told to draw the picture of RC finding ‘a footprint’ and had done just that.”

+ [p. 35] “It says the continent has very few poisonous snakes...”

In fact, the snakes of Australia are noted for their lethality. According to one source, 14 of the world’s top 15 poisonous snakes are Australian.

+ [p. 37] “If you made a hole in the soles and threaded the twine through

it [...]”

... you’d have a thong sandal. Pretty much acceptable as footwear in most of tropical Oz, although not in most restaurants.

+ [p. 39] “[...] expanding circles of dim white light.”

In Aboriginal art, a waterhole is generally shown radiating concentric circles outwards into the desert.

+ [p. 41] “Many a poor sailorman has washed up on them fatal shores rather

than get carried right over the Rim,”

The Fatal Shore, by Robert Hughes, is one of the seminal history texts concerning the British colonisation of Australia and the transportation of convicts.

+ [p. 46] “Ridcully’s own eyes were burning bright.[...] ‘Tigers, eh?’ he

said.”

The first stanza of William Blake’s famous poem ‘The Tyger’:

“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

+ [p. 48] “Turned out nice again,’ he said.”

“Turned out nice again” was the catchphrase of the 1940s/50s British comedian George Formby. In his films, he invariably said this just as he realised that he was in trouble and a split second before he started running.

+ [p. 52] “Some of the trees lining the beach looked hauntingly familiar,

and spoke to the Librarian of home. This was strange, because he had been born in Moon Pond Lane, Ankh-Morpork, next to the saddle-makers.”

This name may be related to the famous Australian suburb of Moonee Ponds, which gave the world Dame Edna Everage and Tina Arena.

+ [p. 55] “Oh that means “come quick, someone’s fallen down a deep hole””

Scrappy the Kangaroo parodies Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, an Australian children’s television series. See also the annotation for p. 91/83 of Guards! Guards!.

+ [p. 60] “It looked as though the artist hadn’t just wanted to draw a

kangaroo from the outside but had wanted to show the inside as well.”

A characteristic of Aboriginal art, sometimes known as “X-Ray painting”.

+ [p. 61] “What it showed, outlined in red ochre, were dozens of hands.”

Important Aboriginal tribe members often had their handprint put on a rock face by having the artist fill their mouth with water and ochre, and then squirt the “paint” over the hand leaving the silhouette on the rock.

+ [p. 68] “I don’t mind putting my hand up to killing a few spiders,”

See the annotation for p. 99.

+ [p. 75] “Are you coming the raw prawn?”

Australian for lying or pulling someone’s leg. See also the annotation for p. 149/132 of Reaper Man.

+ [p. 81] “There’s only one of everything.”

In Hobbyist, a short story by science fiction writer Eric Frank Russell, the hero finds a planet where there is, indeed, only one of every kind of animal and plant. It turns out to be run by an alien super-being who creates life forms.

+ [p. 87] “Most people call me Mad.”

Refers to Mad Max, eponymous hero of the classic Australian film series that made Mel Gibson a star. Max drove the V8 Interceptor (matching Mad’s eight horses), with a supercharger (which Mad also engages, although Max’s version didn’t involve feedbags). The description of the pursuing road gang certainly looks as if it might have been inspired by a scene from the movie Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.

+ [p. 91] “Mental as anything”

The name of a well known Australian rock band.

+ [p. 97] “[..] The Small Boring Group of Faint Stars [...]”

Appropriately enough, Rincewind’s birth sign, according to The Light Fantastic.

+ [p. 98] “[...] the important thing is not to kill your own grandfather.”

The “grandfather paradox” is a common philosophical objection to time travel. Science fiction writers have developed numerous ways of dealing with it, of which what Terry calls “the trousers of time” is only one. This scene looks at a couple of others (see also the annotations for pp.

99, 101).

+ [p. 99] “You might ... tread on an ant now and it might entirely prevent

someone from being born in the future!”

In Ray Bradbury’s short story A Sound of Thunder, the killing of a butterfly in the distant past completely changes history. See also the annotation for p. 118/86 of Lords and Ladies.

+ [p. 101] “Because, in fact, history already depends on your treading

on any ants that you happen to step on.”

The “closed loop” theory of time travel—that all the loose ends will be tied up, even if it’s not immediately obvious how—contrasts with the “trousers of time” model. It was well expressed in the film The Terminator, although the sequel promptly abandoned the idea.

+ [p. 104] “Dijabringabeeralong: Check your Weapons.”

You can actually get doormats and house nameplates with the inscription “didjabringabeeralong”. The first description of the town, including the sign, is similar to Bartertown in the movie Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome.

+ [p. 104] “It’s run by Crocodile.”

Signals a shift in the films being parodied, from the Mad Max series to Crocodile Dundee. (In the film, Crocodile was a human, nicknamed for his prowess at wrestling or otherwise dealing with crocs.)

+ [p. 105] “[...] one day he found a footprint in the sand. There was a

woodcut.”

The book the Chair is talking about is known, in our world, as Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. See the annotation for p. 35.

+ [p. 106] “If you were marooned on a desert island, eh Dean... what kind of music would you like to listen to, eh?”