As to the fate of the aboriginal peoples in Tasmania (possibly the "Condemned man" was a metaphor for aborigines), they were not all killed immediately; many died of diseases brought by the Europeans for which the aborigines had not resistance. This slow death is alluded to in the story: "You see, it's not supposed to kill right away," the Officer said. "The injustice of the process and the inhumanity of the execution were beyond doubt" the author writes, and indeed the inhumanity of colonizing and killing native peoples is obvious given historical context.
The entire scene that unfolds before the consciousness of the reader is cruel, twisted, bizarre and...
And the author uses the mechanics of this awful machine as part of the barren harsh landscape to build a case for inhumanity and offer the unbelievably torturous situation for condemned men who had done nothing seriously against the order of the day.
"Because of its silent working, the machine did not really attract attention," the author writes. The dirty dealings that went on in Tasmania when the Europeans (British) swept in to colonize the continent were not attracting much attention either, because of course all the action was far away from "civilization."
The final paragraphs offer more landscape setting images, adding to the confining, stark and hideous theme established earlier in the story. "On the ground floor of the house was a deep, low room, like a cave, with smoke-covered walls and ceiling," the author explains. A cave is the perfect image for the dreary inhumane and hideously cruel situation in this story.
