Scene 8: Black Skin Girl

A traditional dance that uses the Kamilaroi (Murri) language and includes dance as a means of storytelling. The dance is interrupted by projections of letters on to the actor starting with ‘A’ and proceeding through the alphabet. At first this symbolism of forced education and assimilation is treated as fun. However the character becomes weary and then distressed by the changing letters. Finally the letter ‘Z’, the end of her culture, is projected onto the actor’s bare skin. Assimilation has taken everything.

Scene 9: Invasion Poem

Verse is utilised in this scene to demonstrate the impact of colonisation on Indigenous Australians. The poetry displays a woman’s response to having her children forcibly removed as part of the Stolen Generations. Still topless from the previous scene, she is vulnerable. Her innocence is highlighted as she shows respect to those who come to her house. Their despicable act, deceptively framed as a friendly visit through the front door, is full of brutal violence as they remove the children. The children are taken and stripped of their culture, the woman left bereft among the sacred landscape.

Scene 9 Quotes

‘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: 1788

Cloaked in humour and colloquial language, the woman rebukes the first fleet for parking in the harbour. Her comment that they are ‘taking up the whole harbour’ foreshadows their uninvited settlement that will reach the corners of Australia.

Scene 10 Quote

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

Scene 11: Murri gets a Dress

A brief section of monologue is delivered as stand-up comedy recounting experiences of discrimination. A clear commentary on the inequitable treatment of Indigenous people, the monologue covers the suspicion others may have of them as security is heightened in shops, blame is attributed to them as someone who ‘budgied’ in the elevator, and the stereotyping of simple actions which are attributed criminal status. The humour is entertaining while subtly conveying the racist attitudes of many white Australians. The use of repetition – police, army, fire, UN, sniffer dog – shows the unbalanced response Indigenous Australians may receive in comparison to others in the same situation.

Scene 11 Quotes

‘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: Aunty Grace

Grace, an expatriate aunt who moved to England and lost touch with her roots, is introduced in a soliloquy. A further comment on cultural dislocation, Grace returns for the funeral and laments how much she has missed. After a visit to the grave, Grace is said to have emptied her suitcase and filled it with soil; symbolically leaving behind the trappings of new-world ideas and packing red earth into the suitcase in an attempt to restore culture and country.

Scene 12 Quotes

‘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: Mugshot

Scene 13 shifts dramatically from the emotive to the detached as a court report covering the facts surrounding a death in custody is read. A factual account of a traumatic event, it contains both the broad issue of Indigenous deaths in custody and specifically the real-life case that involved Daniel Yocke, a Murri dancer. The seriousness of the issue is at the same time found in the factual tone but lost in the context. The issue needs reporting but how can the loss of a life be summed up in a neat report.

The report outlines how a group of youths were drinking in a park, then subsequently arrested and transported to the watch house. The youth in question arrived in a serious condition and police called an ambulance, emblematising the passing of blame. The youth was taken to hospital but was unable to be resuscitated. There is a brief section about the struggle for life that appears to be improvised and not directly from the report. This reminds the audience of the sanctity of life.

Scene 13 Quotes

‘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: March

The Woman recounts her experiences at an Aboriginal protest march in Musgrave Park in Brisbane. Musgrave Park had its own Aboriginal Tent Embassy and has been the site of several protest marches over Indigenous sovereignty. In this instance, the woman recalls how as a family they had silently marched but the media had reported the instance as defiant and traffic stopping. A glib comparison to other traffic stopping events, such as a Christmas parade, shows media bias and the common reaction to protests.

Scene 14 Quotes

‘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: Bargaining

In a silent, mime-like piece, the actor grieves for the loss of land by hammering two pieces of wood together as a cross. As she places it next to the grave the words ‘For Sale’ can be seen. This challenges mainstream society to consider what may be lost as a result of capitalistic ways. From colonialism to modern economic society, Indigenous people and lands have paid a price. The question is how much? Can white people put a price on progress if that price is land rights or Indigenous lives. There is a dichotomy between the sacredness of land in pre-colonial times and desecration of the land after white settlement.

Scene 15 Quote

‘What is it worth?’ Scene 15