Scene 2

‘Grief … grieving … nothing, nothing, I feel nothing.’ Scene 2

Scene 4

‘My grandmother was a strong God-fearing woman who, at the age of sixty-two, was taken from us, passed away, moved on, gone to meet her maker, departed this world, slipped in to her eternal sleep, her final resting place, laid to rest.’ Scene 4

‘The whole family came together for meals.’ Scene 4

‘… gave her tithe to the church and was visibly nervous at the mention of “gubberment”.’ Scene 4

‘Sometimes you felt like crying …, and sometimes the joy of being there was enough to forget, even for the briefest moment, the reason.’ Scene 4

‘The neighbours would watch from the safety of their kitchen window.’ Scene 4

‘She took so many stories with her to the grave.’ Scene 4

Scene 5

‘The room is full of photographs … A testimony to good times, a constant reminder.’ Scene 5

‘With an unspoken gesture we remove the picture of my nana from her commanding position … and without a sound push her in to the shadow.’ Scene 5

‘Everything has its time.’ Scene 5

Scene 6

‘I’m trying to deal with Dad’s death. He hasn’t died yet.’ Scene 6

‘He hasn’t stopped fighting since ’67.’ Scene 6

‘The pain comes in here, I cry and cry until I can’t feel anymore. Numbed.’ Scene 6

‘It’s inevitable.’ Scene 6

‘The one thing that I find comforting about death is that other people die too.’ Scene 6

Scene 9

‘They come in the front door.’ Scene 9

‘I invited them in, they demanded respect.’ Scene 9

‘They sat in my father’s seat.’ Scene 9

‘Without warning.’ Scene 9

‘One took a handful of my hair and led my head to their knee … washed his face in my blood .. ploughed my feet. My feet.’ Scene 9

‘My children stolen away to a safe place.’ Scene 9

‘I lie painfully sleepless. In a landscape of things I know are sacred. Watching unsympathetic wanderings.’ Scene 9

Scene 10

‘You can’t park that there! You’re taking up the whole harbour. Go on, get!’ Scene 10

Scene 11

‘Have you ever been black? You know when you wake up one morning and you’re black?’ Scene 11

‘You get a lot of attention, special treatment from being black.’ Scene 11

‘Keep an eye on the nigger.’ Scene 11

‘… policemen, firemen, army, fucken UN and that same sniffer dog.’ Scene 11

‘Thinking that tomorrow will be a better day, I go to bed. … I wake up, looking in the mirror… I’m still black!’ Scene 11

Scene 12

‘She wasn’t going to stay with the rest of us. That was very clear.’ Scene 12

‘Dad said she was stuck up and wasn’t really family.’ Scene 12

‘She doesn’t have much luggage.’ Scene 12

The woman begins to fill the suitcase with red earth from the grave.
‘Crying, at last crying.’ Scene 12

Scene 13

‘The group was followed by Domrow and Harris … ‘ Scene 13

‘Harris made a series of calls on the police radio seeking assistance …’ Scene 13

The woman finally breaks out.
‘People called him Boonie!’ Scene 13

‘The people at the watch house didn’t know what to do so they called the ambulance.’ Scene 13

‘They took him to the Royal Brisbane Hospital pounding and pushing his limp body.’ Scene 13

Scene 14

‘Thousands … stretched out … Were not fighting, were grieving.’ Scene 14

‘If you feel like fighting, if you feel like yelling, grab it in your hand and show your grief, lift it up and show the world.’ Scene 14

‘We come from a long tradition of storytelling. Is this the only way we can get our story told?’ Scene 14

‘Don’t tell me we’re not fighting! Don’t tell me we don’t fight most of our lives.’ Scene 14

Scene 15

‘What is it worth?’ Scene 15

Scene 16

‘Now I want to tell you a story. Ill tell it how it was told to me.’ Scene 16

‘This pile here is the land, the source, the spirit, the core of everything. Are you with me on that?’ Scene 16

‘And this one here is about culture, family, song, tradition, dance. Have you got that?’ Scene 16

‘Now imagine when the children are taken away from this. Are you with me?’ Scene 16

The woman flays her arm through the remaining large pile and circle destroying it. (Scene 16)

Scene 17

‘… some other black lad had done something wrong … all them Murri boys look alike.’ Scene 17

‘So with my brother’s sense of justice… he pushed the police officer.’ Scene 17

‘Shame.’ Scene 17

‘They charged him – as if he wasn’t charged enough.’ Scene 17

‘But when Dad went to pick him up from the watchhouse in the middle of the night the shame was palpable.’ Scene 17

‘This is how it starts, the cycle.’ Scene 17

‘No matter how clean our clothes are. No matter how tidy we keep our house .. how hard we work … we are black.’ Scene 17

‘The story hasn’t finished yet.’ Scene 17

Scene 20

‘Boats ready for departure. If you don’t want to stay.’ Scene 20

‘My nation knows my identity. A sun, A land, A people, travelling.’ Scene 20

Scene 21

‘What does it mean when some people can even read or write the word?’ Scene 21

‘Everything has its time.’ Scene 21

Scene 22

‘You know there has always been this grieving.’ Scene 22

‘Grieving for our land, our families.’ Scene 22

‘I am scared my heart is hardening.’ Scene 22

‘These are my stories. These are my people’s stories. They need to be told.’ Scene 22

The woman places the suitcase down at the feet of the audience. (Scene 22)

Scene 23

‘Nothing. I feel nothing.’ Scene 23