This doctoral creative thesis comprises a novel This town, last town, next town,
and an accompanying exegesis. The novel is set in Western Australia in the
1950s in sideshow alley, a unique part of Australian culture that has not
previously been represented in Australian fiction. It is a period in which the
sideshow is coming to the end of its heyday as a place of carnival and
spectacle. The three main characters are: Joan Tiernan, a dancer and married
to the owner of an entertainment show; Rose Jackson, the wife of a boxing tent
owner; and Corrie Cooper, married to an Aboriginal boxer. Joan and Rose
travel with the show but Corrie stays behind, living in a small timber shack on
the outskirts of a wheatbelt hamlet, while her husband travels with the tent
most of the year. The narrative explores the women’s hopes and personal
desires and how these are negotiated and shaped by the needs of the
community.