A West Footscray playwright is bringing to the stage the story of the first Aboriginal resistance fighters hanged in Victoria.
Sisterly Love, written by celebrated indigenous playwright John Harding, examines the story of Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, who were among 16 Tasmanian Aborigines brought to Melbourne from Hobart by Chief Protector of Aborigines George Augustus Robinson in 1839.
In 1841, the pair left Melbourne and launched a series of raids that held Victorians in terror for six weeks.
Harding says the decision to capture and hang the two resistance fighters as criminals and murderers raises the question of what status Aboriginal warriors should have in the history of the so-called frontier wars.
“It would be like describing someone who died at Gallipoli as a murderer because they shot a Turkish soldier,” he says.
Harding has spent three years investigating and researching the story, finding an intriguing array of theories about why the pair embarked on their raiding campaign.
He says he heard a disturbing echo of the earlier removal of Aboriginal people from their land in last week’s comments by Prime Minister Tony Abbott about Aborigines remaining in remote outback communities as a “lifestyle choice”.
“It wasn’t about prisons, it was about economics,” he said. “It’s incredible that nothing has changed.”
Harding laments the lack of indigenous playwrights and indigenous stories on the Australian stage but feels the situation is better than when he first became a playwright 30 years ago.
“There was not one black person on the stage in Melbourne, there was not one black person on the TV in Melbourne,” he said. “We had no images of black people.”
“I think with plays it’s a lot about metamorphosis. The fact people have made a conscious effort to leave their home and come, it means they are more open to what you are saying.”
Harding hopes a full-scale Sisterly Love production will hit the stage within 18 months, but a sneak preview play reading will be held at La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton, at 2pm on Saturday, March 28. Tickets: cost $5.
For bookings, go to www.lamama.com.au or phone 9347 6142.
