Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Conclusions about Australian Indigenous Drama




(Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers should be aware that this document/blog may contain images and names of people who have since passed away) 

This blog has been a journey through the tracks and maps left by generations of indigenous artists giving a sense of the rich history, stories, cultural backgrounds, perspectives and practices of dramatic traditions which date back thousands of years before white occupation. It is an attempt to provide a link between the representations of indigenous people, history, stories and dramatic elements in more traditional ceremonies through to the collective revues of Bill Onus and his comrades to the vibrant Indigenous Theatre which evolved in the 1970's and 1980’s to the stories and performances which occupied a prominent place on Australian stages and remain pivotal to the Australian theatre scene today in the 21st Century. Australian indigenous performing arts have always been a complex integration of different narratives dramaturgy and cross-arts dialogue. The richness of Australian Indigenous Drama is that it is a living dialogue between traditions, ceremonies, forms and individual and shared histories. As Casey and Craigie state in their 2011 article entitled A Brief History of Indigenous Australian Contemporary Theatre, “Traditional Indigenous performance works alternate rhythmically between speech and silence, between the past and the present and between performance and story…” (Casey & Craigie 2011, p2).

Indigenous drama is not something that can be viewed as separate from the interrelated aspects of the lives, culture, stories and history of Australian Indigenous peoples. Stories and drama explain, document and define people’s lives and nowhere is this more evident than in the long, and continuously rich and confronting narratives presented to us in Australian Indigenous Drama.

The shift from a National Aboriginal Playwright’s Conference to a National Indigenous Theatre Forum (NITF) as a major meeting place and forum for discussion about Indigenous Australian theatre and drama issues is a significant one, in that it shows the movement away from viewing a ‘published’ work and a playwright  as being at the centre of indigenous dramaturgy towards a view where the performance and processes of performance making are seen as central to the Australian Indigenous drama and theatre making process. Some of the issues raised at the recent National Indigenous Theatre Forums (NITF) and in the Platform Papers published on Australian Indigenous drama and theatre have centred on the importance of ownership when dealing with indigenous stories, drama and theatre. The issues of community permissions and when and how they should be sought  and sensitivity, protocols and permission that need to be requested, raise larger issues of the ownership and caretakership of stories and their enactment. These are not easy issue to navigate through even for seasoned indigenous theatre artists like Rhoda Roberts (for the Indigenous sequences of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and Jane Harrison (for the play Stolen) and this raises the question of who ultimately ‘controls’ or ‘cares for’ indigenous stories once they are put into performance pieces. As Indigenous Australian artists move toward different models of dramaturgical processes where the playtext may or may not be at the centre of the process or where devised work by indigenous performers is appearing without a ‘writer’ listed, the questions are raised again of “Who owns the story?” and “Who is in control of the storytelling?”.

The larger questions of who is able to develop, act out and ‘write’ Indigenous drama are still vital questions. The question of casting indigenous people who are from the family, clan or tribe who own the history behind the story was frist raised in modern times by Bill Onus and brought again to prominence by Jack Davis casting spme of his plays with members of clans and families who had experienced and ‘owned’ the stories told. In more recent times the use of Indigenous family members to act out the stories of members of their family in the award winning film Ten Canoes and the use of members of the Namatjira family to paint sets live during performances of the play Namatjira, highlight the necessity for more more Indigenous models of dramaturgy to be applied to notions of ownership of the creation and performance of Australian Indigenous drama and theatre. This can then be extended into the crucial questions raised by Indigenous artists interviewed and quoted in the important work of Glow and Johanson in their 2009 book ‘Your Genre is Black’: Indigenous Performing Arts and Policy (Glow & Johanson 2009) where the question is raised about how Indigenous performing artists can be allowed to break away from having all of their work framed within the ‘Black Theatre genre’ if they so chose.

The question of who is performing, writing and controlling the framing and flow of indigenous stories in drama, is an important one particularily as Indigenous Australian drama makes its way from a novelty and curiousity to one of the most important forces in modern Australian mainstream theatre. Casey and Craigie see modern indigenous Australian drama as both a representation of individual and group indigenous voices and an agent for cultural representation and understanding of all Australians and their cultures.
In the second decade of the twenty-first century, Indigenous theatre continues to embrace its rich traditions but to also engage fellow Australians in another side of the story. Cumulatively, the plays and performance texts produced over the last fifty years have changed the understanding of Indigenous Australians and their cultures. The breadth of individual voices represented and expressed within Indigenous Australian playwriting defies any kind of generalisation. They come
from all over Australia, from Koori, Murri, Nunga and Noongar writers, from men and women, from urban and rural communities and individuals. Together, they represent the unexpected and intangible elements and variety of contemporary Indigenous Australian cultures.” (Casey & Craigie 2011, p.6)

At present in 2014, there are four permanent Indigenous theatre companies in Australia, two permanent Indigenous Dance Theatre Companies, an Indigenous unit which is part of Opera Australia and one Indigenous theatre director in charge of a major or State theatre company (Wesley Enoch is in charge of the Queensland Theatre Company). In these precarious times in Australia of shrinking arts funding where the work of four or five playwrights, three or four choreographors and one musician may get funded each year, a greater range of performance making processes and performance opportunities need to be embraced and properly developed and funded if Australian Indigenous drama is to grow and survive into the 21st century.

History teaches us that the way to genocide is to take a culture, mould it into a defunct company – bankrupt, at the mercy of its liquidators – and destroy its credibility so it can no longer reflect itself… up there on stage we are judged … on our individual talent, not our colour.
(Merritt, R.J. in the Preface of The Cakeman 1983:xi)


Complete Bibliography for Australian Indigenous Drama Blog

Aboriginal Dance – Three Dances by Gulpilil and Five Dances From Cape York (video). 1983. Film Australia. Sydney.

Aboriginal Perspectives in the Creative Arts. 2009. NSW Department of Education and Training website. (Accessed Nov. 2011)

‘Aboriginal Perspectives for Lower to Middle Secondary English’ (Unit 3) in Macquirie Pen Anthology of Australian Literature Teaching Guide. 2009. Allen and Unwin. Sydney. http://www.macquariepenanthology.com.au/files/unit_3.pdf

Anderson, T. et al. 2002. Blak Inside – Six Indigenous Plays From Victoria. Currency Press. Strawberry Fields, Sydney.

Australia Council for the Arts. 2007. Performing Arts – Protocols for producing Indigenous Australian Performing Arts. Australia Council. Surrey Hills, Sydney.

Bailey, J. 2001. The White Divers of Broome: The True Story of a Fatal Experiment. Macmillan Sydney.

Berndt, R.M. & Phillips, E.S. 1973. The Australian Aboriginal Heritage: An Introduction Through the Arts. Ure Smith. Sydney.

Basically Black (Television, video version of play performance). 1973. Maza, B. et al. ABC Television. Sydney. Telecast 26/2/73.

Bill Onus. 2008. Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography. Australian National University. Canberra. ACT.

Black Voice: A History of Indigenous Theatre (Radio Program). ‘Awaye’. ABC Radio National Australia. October 28th, 2011.

Bran Nue Dae Productions.1991. The Making of Bran Nue Dae (TV documentary). Bran Nue Dae Productions. Broome.

Berndt, R.M. & A.T.  1985. The World of the First Australians. Rigby. Adelaide.

Borchardt, D.H.  1966. 'Burn, David (1799-1875)’. Australian Dictionary of Biography. Volume 1. Melbourne University Press. Melbourne.. pp. 181-182.

Borg, Sonia & Maris, Hyllus. 1983. Women of the Sun, four television dramas. Sydney: Currency Press.

Bostock, L. 1973.  'Black Theatre in New South Wales' in New Dawn Sept. 1973 (paper from the 1st National Seminar on Indigenous Arts).

Blainey, G. 1975. Triumph of the Nomads: A History of Ancient Australia. Macmillan, South Melbourne.

Brisbane, K. (ed.) 2002. Plays of the 60’s, Vol. 1. 1997. Currency Press. Strawberry Hills, Sydney.

Brisbane, K. 1989. Plays From Black Australia. Currency Press. Surrey Hills. Sydney.

Brisbane, K. 2001. The Future in Black and White Indigenousity in Recent Australian Drama. Currency Press. Surrey Hills., Sydney.

Buchanan, Robyn. 2000. "In the Beginning... The Story of Brisbane" published in "This is our Brisbane", 4BH Radio, (now DMG Radio Australia).

Bungalung (short film). Morton-Thomas, Trisha (indigenous director). CAAMA. 2007.

Carroll, D. 1995. Australian Contemporary Drama. Surrey Hills., Sydney.

Casey, M. 2004. Creating Frames. Contemporary Indigenous Theatre in Australia 1967-97. University of Queensland Press. Brisbane.

Casey, M. 2005. Indigenous Drama in the Classroom. ADEM: Drama and Indigenous Perspectives, 10 : 6-11.

Casey, M. & Craigie, C. 2011. A Brief History of Indigenous Australian Contemporary Theatre. Australian Script Centre. Salamanca, Tasmania. http://australianplays.org/assets/files/resource/doc/BlakStage_Essay_ABriefHistory.pdf

Films of the Ceremony: Djungguwan at Gurka’wuy. 2006. Film Australia. DVD Education Pack.

Chalmers, Samantha. 2008 Indigenous Dance: Defining Traditional & Contemporary Dance


Chesson, K. 1988.  Jack Davis, A Biography. Dent, Melbourne.

Chi, Jimmy and the Kuckles. 1990. Bran Nue Dae. Published by Currency Press & Magdabala Books. Broome & Sydney.

Corroboree 1949 (show program). 1949. Melbourne. (State Library of Victoria Archives).

Cribbin, J. 1984. The Killing Times. Collins Fontana, Sydney.

Damyanovic, Milena. 1971. Sharing the Dream (short documentary film). Screened on ABC Television March 1972.

Drama Australia. 2007. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Guidelines for Drama/Theatre Education. Drama Australia.

Eckersley, M. 1987. Workshop Record of the Bob Maza Workshops at National Playwright's Conference 1987. Unpublished Manuscript. Canberra.

Eckersley, M. 1997. Soundings in the Dramaturgy of the Australian Theatre Director. University of Melbourne. Melbourne.

Eckersley, M.(ed.) 2009. Drama from the Rim: Asian Pacific Drama Book. Drama Victoria. Melbourne. 2009.

Edwards, H. 1984. Port of Pearls: Broome’s First Hundred Years. Self-published. Swanbourne (WA).

Ellis, C.J. 2002. Aboriginal Music: Education for Living. University of Queensland Press. Brisbane.

Ellis, J.A. 1994. This is the Dreaming. Collins Dove. Nth Blackburn.

Enoch, W. 1993.‘Tread Softly with Padded Feet’, DRAMA AUSTRALIA Journal. 17 (3) pp 15-20. Drama Australia. Brisbane.

Enoch, W. 2000. ‘Indigenous Performance’. In The Oxford Companion to Indigenous Arts and Culture. Oxford University. Sydney.

Enoch, W. 2008. ‘Media Release and Speech’. April 28 2008. Reprinted in The Age April 29th, 2008.

Enoch, W. 2009. ‘Black Medea’ in Contemporary Indigenous Plays. Currency Press. Strawberry Hills, Sydney.

Esson, L. 1920. The Drovers. Prompt Copy. Hanger Collection. University of Queensland. St Lucia, Brisbane.

Eyre, E. J. 1845. Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound, in the years 1840-1;  Including an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines and the State of their Relations with Europeans. (London, T. and W. Boone, 1845) Ferguson 4031. Vol. II.

Foley, G. 2001.  Black power in Redfern on The Koori History Web.  http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/essays/essay_1.html (Accessed June 2011).
Frankland, Richard J. Conversations with the Dead. In Black Inside Currency Press. 2002.

Frazer, J.G. 1987.The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Penguin Books, New York.

Garryowen. 1888. The Chronicles of Early Melbourne. (State Library of Victoria Archives).

Gattenhof, S.(ed). 2005. Drama and Indigenous Perspectives , ADEM (Drama Australia Education Magazine) No 10. Drama Australia. Brisbane.

Gilbert, H. 1998. ‘Reconciliation? Indigenousity and Australian theatre in the 1990’s’. Our Australian theatre in the 1990s. Rodopi. Amsterdam.

Gilbert, K. 1970. The Gods Look Down and Other Sketches. Self-published. Sydney.

Gilbert, K. J. 1973. Because a white man will never do it. Angus and Robertson. Sydney.

Gilbert, K. J. 1977. Living Black, Blacks Talk to Kevin Gilbert. Penguin. Ringwood (Victoria)

Gilbert, K. 1988. The Cherry Pickers. Burrambinga Books. Canberra.

Gregory, Helen. (1996) The Brisbane River Story. Meanders through Time. Australian Marine Conservation Society.

Gray, O. 1997.‘Burst of Summer’ in Brisbane, K. (ed.) Plays of the 60’s, Vol. 1. 1997. Currency Press. Strawberry Hills, Sydney.

Glow, H. 2006. Recent Indigenous Theatre in Australia – The Politics of Autobiography. Deakin University. Melbourne.

Glow, H. & Johanson, K. 2009. ‘Your Genre is Black’: Indigenous Performing Arts and Policy. Currency Press. Strawberry Hills, Sydney.

Gulpilil:One Red Blood. (Television documentary). 2003. ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission). Sydney.

Haddon, A.C. 1898. Torres Strait Islanders (short film). Australian Government Film Archives. http://aso.gov.au/titles/historical/torres-strait-islanders

Harris, S. 1980. Culture and Learning: Tradition and Education in Northeast Arnhem Land. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press.

Harrison, J. 2000. Stolen. Currency Press. Sydney.

Hinch, T, Butler, R. 1996. ‘Indigenous tourism: a common ground for discussion’ in R. Butler & T. Hinch (eds) Tourism and Indigenous Peoples. London: International Thomson Business Press.

'Indigenous Actor Makes Good'. 1972. New Dawn. April 1972. Sydney. p10-11.

Issacs J. 1982. Australian Dreaming: 40,000 Years of Indigenous History. Bay Books. Sydney.

‘Judges’ Report’. 1928. The Bulletin, vol. 49, no. 2532, 22 August 1928, p. 9.

Kaine-Jones, K. 1988. 'Contemporary Indigenous Drama', in Southerly No.4, 1988, 'Focus on Indigenous Literature'. English Association. Sydney.

Kendall, H. Complete Poetic Work of Henry Kendall. http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/kendall-henry
Kelly, V.1987. Australian Playwrights: Louis Nowra. Rodopi Press. Amsterdam.
Kelly, V.1998. The Theatre of Louis Nowra. Currency Press, Sydney.
Kunoth-Monks, R. 2006. Talk to Desert Knowledge Symposium, Alice Springs 2006, "Land and Culture — Necessary but not Enough for the Future" reprinted Alice Springs News, 9 November 2006.Macknight, C.C. Macassans and Aborigines, Oceania, Vol. XLII, No.4. 1972.

Langton, M.1993. 'Well, I heard it on the radio and I saw it on the television': An Essay for the Australian Film Commission on the politics and aesthetics of filmmaking by and about Aboriginal people and things. Australian Film Commission. Sydney.

Little Piggies (Music Band). 1997. GMCD001 Dreaming in Broome., LP-CD1 Full Moon over Broome. Michael Torres, Goolarri.

Macknight, C. C. 1972. ‘Macassans and Aborigines’, Oceania. Vol. 42, No.4.

Making a Show of It: Indigenous Entertainers and Entrepreneurs in 1950's Melbourne. 2008. Exhibition. City Gallery. Melbourne Town Hall. Melbourne, VIC.

Maris, Hyllus & Borg, Sonia. 1983. Women of the Sun, four television dramas. Sydney: Currency Press.

Marshall, A. 2004. 'Singing your own songlines: approaches to Indigenous Drama' in Mooney, M. (ed.) & Nicholls (ed.) Drama Journeys:Inside Drama Learning. Currency Press. Strawberry Hills, Sydney.

Mathews, R.H. 1905. Ethnological Notes on Aboriginal Tribes of N.S.W. and Victoria. White Publishing. Sydney.

Merritt, R.J. 1983. The Cakeman. Currency Press. Paddington, Sydney.


Miers, J. 2008. Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories website.

Moncrieff, W.T. 1831 Van Dieman's Land - An Operatic Drama in Three Acts. Cumberland. London.

Mooney, M. (ed.) & Nicholls (ed.) Drama Journeys: Inside Drama Learning. Currency Press. Strawberry Hills, Sydney.

Mullins, B. 1989. Aboriginal lore: a pictorial review of ancient aboriginal life, ritual and culture, as recorded in the marks they left on the land. Shepp Books. Hornby, N.S.W.

Naidoo, B. et al. 1997. Global Tales. Longman. Sydney.

Neuenfeldt, K. 1997. The Didgeridu: From Arnhem land to the Internet. John Libbey & Co. Sydney.

N'ingla a-na; Hungry for Land (documentary film).1972. (Dir.) Cavadini, A. and Strachan, C. Independent Films.

Nowra, L. 2000. Radiance. Currency Press. Strawberry Hills.

One Tree, One Man (documentary). Puruntatameri, Jedda (indigenous director). TEABBA. 2008.
Oodgeroo Noonuccal. 2008. Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poems. Australian Poetry Library Website.

O’Toole, J & Donelan, K. Drama, Culture and Empowerment: The IDEA Dialogues. IDEA Publications, Brisbane. 1996.

OToole, J. The Process of Drama. Routledge, London 1982.


Page, S. 2003. ‘Kinship and Creativity’, in Katharine Brisbane, (Ed) The Parson Lectures. Currency Press. Strawberry Hills, Sydney.

Parsons, M. 1997. 'The Tourist Corroboree in South Australia'. Indigenous History. 21(1), 46-69.

Parsons, M. 2002. '"Ah that I could convey a proper idea of this interesting wild play of the natives" corroborees and the rise of Indigenous Australian cultural tourism'. Australian Indigenous Studies, 2(1), 14-27.

Parsons, P (ed.). 1995. Companion to Theatre in Australia. Currency Press, Sydney.

Reed, A.W. 1993.  Aboriginal Myths, Legends and Fables. New Holland Publishing Australia, Melbourne.

Roberts, R. 1997. ‘A Passion for Ideas: Black Stage’. Third Rex Cramphorn Memorial Lecture. Belvoir Street Theatre. Sydney. 13 November. 1997.

Robinson, R. B. 2000. Dreaming tracks : history of the Indigenous Islander Skills Development Scheme, 1972-1979 : its place in the continuum of Australian indigenous dance and the contribution of its African American founder Carole Y. Johnson.   [Masters thesis] University of Western Sydney. Sydney.

Shoemaker, A. 1989. Black Words White Page. University of Queensland Press, Brisbane.

Smith, O. and D. Plater. 2000. Raging Partners: Two Worlds, One Friendship. Magabala Books. Broome.

Strehlow, T.G.H. 1959. Land of Altjira, p.319 (unpublished manuscript).

Strehlow, T.G.H.1986. Aranda Traditions, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.

Strehlow, T.G.H. 1947. Aranda Traditions, Melbourne University Press. Melbourne.

Stubington, J. 2007. Singing the Land. Currency Press. Strawberry Hills, Sydney.

Swasbrook, E. 1997. Aboriginal Legend Plays. Prim Ed Publishing. Greenwood, W.A.

Syron, B. Indigenous Voices - Contemporary Indigenous Artists, Writers and Performers 1990, 138:142, Liz Thompson, Simon & Schuster, Brookvale, Australia.

Syron, B. 1991. Voices of the First Day - Awakening in the Indigenous Dreamtime, Robert Lawlor, Inner Traditions International, Vermont, USA

Syron, B. 1996. Kicking Down the Doors - A History of Indigenous Filmmakers from 1968-1993, Brian Syron, Brian Kearney, Donobri International, Hawaii/Sydney,

Syron, L. 2005. ‘Artistic Practice in Contemporary Indigenous Theatre’ http://search.arrow.edu.au/apps/ArrowUI/?adapter=ViewSearchResultsAdapter&personField=Syron,%20Liza-Mare

Thomson. H. 2005. A Production of Great Impact: Review of Black Medea. The Age. September 2005.

Thompson, L. 1990. Indigenous Voices. J.B. Books Australia. Melbourne.

Tjungaringanyi [1975-1992]. Journal of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music. Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music. University of Adelaide, Adelaide.

Turcotte, G. 1994. Jack Davis, The maker of history. Angus and Robertson. Sydney.

Unaipon, D. 2006. Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines, Melbourne University Press. Melbourne.

Vote Yes for Aborigines (documentary). Peters-Little, Frances (indigenous director). Ronin Films 2007.

Watego, C. 1992. 'Indigenous Australian Dramatists' in Community Theatre in Australia, ed. Richard Fotheringham. Currency Press. Sydney.

Winmar, D. 2008. Yibiyung. Currency Press. Sydney. (Script and Program for original production).

Woolgoodja, S. 1976. Lalai Dreamtime. Aboriginal Arts Board. Canberra.

Yothu Yindi (band). 1988. Homeland Movement (music). Mushroom Records (1991). Sydney.

Yothu Yindi (band). 1992. Tribal Voice (music). Mushroom Records. Sydney.

Young Kabbarli, The (audio recording/LP). 1973. Music by Margaret Sutherland, Libretto by Lady Maie Casey. His Masters Voice. Flinders University, Adelaide.

No comments:

Post a Comment