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BLACK DIGGERS
One hundred years ago, in 1914, a bullet from an assassin’s gun in Sarajevo sparked a war that ignited the globe. Patriotic young men all over the world lined up to join the fight - including hundreds of Indigenous Australians.
Shunned and downtrodden in their own country - and in fact banned by their own government from serving in the military - Aboriginal men stepped up to enlist. Undaunted, these bold souls took up arms to defend the free world in its time of greatest need. For them, facing the horror of war on a Gallipoli beach was an escape from the shackles of racism at home, at a time when Aboriginal people stood by, segregated, unable to vote, unable to act as their children were ripped from them. When the survivors came back from the war, there was no heroes’ welcome – just a shrug, and a return to drudgery and oppression.
Black Diggers is the story of these men - a story of honour and sacrifice that has been covered up and almost forgotten.
Written by Tom Wright and originally directed by Wesley Enoch, Black Diggers is the culmination of painstaking research into the lives and deaths of the thousand or so Indigenous soldiers who fought for the British Commonwealth in World War I.
Grand in scale and scope, it draws from in-depth interviews with the families of Black Diggers who heard the call to arms from all over Australia, as well as conversations with veterans, historians and academics. Young men will step from the blank pages of history to share their compelling stories - and after the curtain falls, we will finally remember them.
- drama, historical drama, indigenous themes
- 0
- 9 total
- 9 male identifying
- history
- 16 to 18, 18+
- adult, teen, young adult
- Playlab
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- PRODUCTION HISTORY
EMOTIONAL OUTPOURING AS INDIGENOUS SOLDIERS REMEMBERED
JASON BLAKE, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 19 JANUARY 2015
"Drawing on documentary and verbatim sources held at the Australian War Memorial, Tom Wright's script is a series of short vignettes organised into thematic strands. We observe events from the standpoints of several characters. There is humour and satire. Scenes of sudden action and high drama are interspersed with songs, hymns and “Dear mum†readings from personal correspondence."
INDIGENOUS SOLDIERS REMEMBERED...
DAVID WILLIAMS, THE CONVERSATION, 24 JANUARY 2014
This major theatre project set out to explore Indigenous military service in the first world war, and reflect upon the remarkable absence of those stories from our national history and mythologising of that conflict.
BLACK DIGGERS: LEST WE FORGET OUR NEGLECTED ANZAC DIGGERS
CANDACE BARNES, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 4 MARCH 2015
"At its heart, it serves as a reminder that an Australian is an Australian - no matter our colour, our creed or our experiences. And that, despite its minor flaws, is why Black Diggers is an important piece for the festival."
BLACK DIGGERS (SYDNEY FESTIVAL)
DAILY REVIEW, 20 JANUARY 2014
To mark the centenary of World War I, Black Diggers tells the untold stories of Indigenous diggers. Directed by Queensland Theatre Company artistic director Wesley Enoch and featuring a cast of nine of the foremost Indigenous Australian actors, Black Diggers uses writer Tom Wright’s extensive research to shed new light on the war and its forgotten heroes.
REVIEW: BLACK DIGGERS
LARISSA BEHRENDT, THE GUARDIAN, 19 JANUARY 2014
"Not just one of the highlights of this year’s festival but a new high point in telling a national narrative on the stage."
REVIEW: BLACK DIGGERS
MARTIN PORTUS, ARTSHUB, 20 JANUARY 2014
"Black Diggers avoids all the traps of black victimhood, expositional history and simplistic politics. It will emerge as an important landmark of our theatre."
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