Plays

The Sisterly Love Play Reading written by celebrated Indigenous playwright John Harding examines the true story of the first two Aboriginal resistance fighters hung in Victoria. Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner were among 16 Tasmanian Aborigines brought over from Hobart by The Chief Protector Aborigines George Augusts Robinson in 1839, and in 1841 left Melbourne and through a series of raids held Victoria in terror for 6 weeks. Truganinni was also among the group that conducted the raids.

The two freedom fighters capture and subsequent hanging at Old Melbourne gaol, convicted as criminals and murderers, raises the question of what status Aboriginal warriors should have in the history of the Frontier Wars

Cue the Chorus is a series from Currency Press in association with the Copyright Agency Limited. It f eatures seventeen new critical responses to seventeen classic Australian plays.

The series is written by respected Australian playwrights offering insights and personal responses to the work of their peers.

‘Gran Munday is like a conglomerate of women I grew up around, from a generation that was fast being forgotten. They were the last generation to live a totally traditional lifestyle and culture. As they were the natural and cultural matriarchs, they felt a strong sense of helplessness as they witnessed the power they held within their families being whittled away by a succession of government policies.’ - John Harding

Second Helping (North Melbourne Arts House) was devised from a series of dinner parties, held in the lead-up to the last election, to discuss the main talking points around reconciliation.

A violent uprising is planned for Reconciliation Day in a future Australia. Will retribution or forgiveness prevail?

Enuff is published in Blak Inside, a collection of six plays from Victoria by Aboriginal writers, including:

The play is set in the remote Aboriginal community of Flat Creek, where life is pretty uncomplicated - that is until Ian Sampson, Canberra bureaucrat, returns home. High spirited and irreverent, Up the Road is a celebration of life, love and family. Australian Human Rights Award in 1997.

The play is set in St. Kilda, set against the backdrop of when Premier Jeff Kennett abolished St. Kilda Council, created Port Phillip Council, then set about "cleaning the streets" in preparation for the first Melbourne Grand Prix. The homeless Koories and non-koories of Catani Gardens were in the firing Line, as were many homeless people of the wider St. Kilda area. John did 3 months research conducting interviews with the homeless to develop the script. The story follows a young adopted Koorie lad who travels from Glenhuntlys white neighborhood to St. Kilda to ask about his Aboriginal mother.

This play was part of the Bless Your Blak Arts Festival, staged at Theatreworks and produced by Port Phillip. Most of the Koorie actors strutted the stage for the first time, and was one of the brilliant David Ngoombujarras (picture on poster) early theatre lead roles.

The 2022 Seniors Festival brings you a wonderful radio adaptation of the ground-breaking promenade play The Dirty Mile

With an all-First Nations cast, re-live the experience of strolling down the streets of Fitzroy, and hearing the stories of those that created the Koori community that initiated the first Blak Services in Australia

Walk through Fitzroy’s Blak history and experience Indigenous peoples’ strong and continuing historical, cultural and emotional connection to this place – from its Woiwurrung beginnings right up to the here and now.

Follow Doug Nicholls to footy training, listen to his sermon, meet our Returned Soldiers, our women who worked in WW2 munitions factory, Atherton Estate locals before the highrise, our sporting heroes – the Indigenous Fitzroy residents – in the pubs, organisations, churches and back lanes. The sum of all these parts connects every blakfella historically, culturally and emotionally to “Dirty Gerty”, Fitzroy…. The Dirty Mile