Why are European influences to be seen in major Australian writers?

At the turn of the century, writers tended to concentrate on specifically political aims but the best work done was the putting down of markers towards a definition of the Australian character. The writers had an inward intention – to look into the Australian soul. The need to find a genuinely Australian niche was characterised in its extreme form by the Jindyworobak movement. In 1938, a writer called Rex Ingamells founded the Jindyworobak club in Adelaide and published Conditional Culture, its prose manifesto. They called themselves “Jindyworobaks”, an Aboriginal term denoting specific local identity. Their chief representatives were Ian Mudie and Rex Ingamells. They rejected all European myths, opting instead for a culture derived from Aboriginal legends and modes of thought. This was too unnatural to be successful but their example is still observed today. Each year sees the publication of literary works claiming to interpret the country according to Aboriginal concepts such as Dreamtime, or attempting the refurbishment of major Aboriginal legends.