[Text on screen: We Acknowledge Country and recognise the lands, skies and waterways of where our schools and workplaces are located. We pay respect to Elders past and present as ongoing leaders and teachers of knowledge, songlines and stories, and acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples that contributed to the development of this film.]

[Text on screen: We advise this resource may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or historical content.

In this film, terms including First Nations and Indigenous are used throughout. In NSW public schools, 'Aboriginal' or 'Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander' are preferred.]

Stephen Page

[Stephen Page sitting in a chair talking to the camera]

My name is Stephen Page.

I'm a Munaldjali Ngugi Nunukal man of south-east Queensland, freshwater/saltwater man.

I am a director of dance theatre, director of contemporary creation ceremonies, curator and carer of stories in the performing arts.

[Cute away to a montage of Stephen Page working with performers rehearsing Bennelong (2017)]

The process and the stories, and the inspirations of a recent work, or my present work that I have just created, a production a, a dance theatre production, Baleen Moondjan, is an inspired story that is a personal touch for me because it comes from my mother's Country of Minjerribah Moorgumpin, which is North Stradbroke Island.

[On screen is a film clip of performance from Baleen Moondjan – Adelaide Festival (2024)]

At this age of my life, I always wanted to do a story from my mother's Country. And before she passed away, that connection on Country, her resilience, what she had missed out on as a child, not being, you know, forbidden to speak her own language, to carry language, to carry knowledge, to be connected to cultural practices, to know her kinship system, totemic kinship system. So, there were all these questions and that inspired me then to say, okay, I want to do a work for my mother.

So, Baleen Moondjan is, baleen is a form of whale. And, it's, it's not a particular whale, but the baleen has this enormous like, it's almost like a layer of knowledge that sits under their chin. And I thought the metaphor of that was a sense, the enormity of the whale, the storing of knowledge was a great way to have that as a metaphor to carry the story I wanted to tell about my mother.

And it's really just a generational story about grandmother and granddaughter and how these principles and values of knowledge is very important for the continual passing down of that knowledge. And so, it's a very simple story through song, dance, live music, sitting in this huge baleen-inspired whale bones, inside the belly of it. And that's what I presented to Ruth Mackenzie at the Adelaide Festival, and she's just was like, okay, let's go.

[On screen is a film clip of performance from Baleen Moondjan – Adelaide Festival (2024)]

One of the first part of the processes of creating story in the mediums that I work with, First Nation Stories, is that the processes, the relationships, community and clan, having a connection of what you are doing. And that, to me, is cultural protocol. That starts the first setting of cultural protocols and the process that you take.

All my time as artistic director of Bangarra, which I did for close to 34 years, we were First Nations artists, storytellers coming from all walks of life all over this country. So Aboriginal and Torres Strait, north, south, east, west of the country, urban, traditional, remote, metropolitan. Artists of all walks of life come together and they form under one shelter a contemporary clan called Bangarra.

[On screen is a montage of Stephen Page working with performers in Bangarra Dance Theatre rehearsals (2021)]

Now, the name Bangarra was chosen because it's a Wiradjuri word, which means 'to make fire.'

So that was endorsed by Wiradjuri elders that that name would be the name that would shelter this collective group of artists. And then, people were then wanting and waiting for what stories we were going to tell.

Now in those very beginnings permission for songs, permission for stories, Elders involved in community, wherever that story came from there were these dilly bag of cultural protocol principles, that you as a family and as a clan would, would pretty much obey to, you know, and, and that's just out of respect for stories to be cared for, to be respected.

And then in that process, once that's all talked through, you are allowed to go into your creative cave and then work with your clan for that story. You are allowed to bring your clan or your mob from outside to come and view that experience.

[On screen is a montage of Stephen Page working with performers on Country to develop Sandsong – Bangarra Dance Theatre (2022)]

A lot of the ideas and stories I've had over my professional career, they've all come from relationships and connections. There have been a few works where communities have come to me and said, hey, Stephen Page, you do shows at the Opera House. We want you to tell our story through your form. That becomes challenging because then you have a responsibility to care for that work and to make sure the integrity is kept within the mainstream.

Then you'll have stories that might be First Nations social political stories. They could be current and contemporary. Those stories are challenging too, because you then have the, you have cultural protocols where you might, people that were active in those social stories, you will want to be talking to and sharing and being inspired.

And at the end of the day, it's all about sharing the communication of story of what you're doing. But it's about those giving time to the relationship. I don't want to walk in there with a shopping trolley and just go off any stack and feel like I can take any inspiration and walk out. We can't do that in First Nations storytelling.

So, I've just had a very great opportunity in my experiences over my career where different stories inform different ways to connect to those particular cultural protocols. And once again, they're based on families and clans and sharing that relationship of story.

[On screen is a montage of Stephen Page working with performers on Country to develop Sandsong – Bangarra Dance Theatre (2022)]

My process of working with a clan of artists, what I would call our creative team or our creative clan, which usually exists of dancers, actors, composers, lighting designers, set designers, costume designers, sometimes a playwright. And I suppose my form of First Nations theatrical storytelling, and the form I work in, gives me an opportunity to work with all those different mediums.

[Cuts away to a film clip of performance extracts from Wudjang: Not the Past (2022) – Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company]

Wudjang is vast. Wudjang.

[Film clip continues as Stephen Page speaks, and includes footage from Baleen Moondjan (2024)]

Stephen Page

I did Wudjang: Not the Past, a story from my father's freshwater community. Munaldjali Yugambeh Nation man. And this time around I got the opportunity to do my mother's story, Baleen Moondjan.

So, I've worked with pretty much the same creative clan for, for close to over 20 years.

[End of film clip]

So, I have a lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, creatives and non-Indigenous artists who I bring together to tell this one First Nation story.

And with them coming together with me, we get to somehow unite as one with all those different art forms.

[On screen is a film clip of Stephen Page working with performers in Bangarra Dance Theatre rehearsals (2021)]

I've just been really obsessed with creation ceremonies, of bringing the multi forms of art forms together in a really strong way to tell, to heighten a story. I always feel First Nations storytelling are so deep in its spiritual connections of ideas to its exteriors, to just its whole, the whole inspiration.

The more, the older I get, I feel our representation of all these art forms pay true homage to the death and spirit of our First Nations story. So, when I got to do my father's story, I wanted it to be a First Nations opera. I wanted it to have that epic-ness.

[Cuts away to a film clip of performance from Wudjang: Not the Past (2022) – Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company]

Performance

[Performers singing]

[End of film clip]

Stephen Page

[Stephen Page sitting in a chair talking to the camera]

And it's been the same in Baleen Moondjan. It's the same spine and footprint of process and bringing all those art forms together.

[On screen are still photographs of the set and performers from Baleen Moondjan – Adelaide Festival (2024)]

When you look in First Nations artistic kinship system, you know, you have the storyteller, you have the song man, you have the dancer. You have the body designs that have to be painted on body to, to awaken the spirit to perform.

So, we've always, in our traditions, in our old ways, we've always have brought all those art forms together to tell the one story.

That for me, I believe, is when you accept who you are as an artist. And you accept that spirit gift that you have, you constantly make sure that you communicate that, and the caring of that story is shared with your clan of artists.

[On screen is a film clip of Stephen Page working with performers in Bangarra Dance Theatre rehearsals (2021)]

I am so glad that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artistic kinship system has always been alive and has always been breathing. And it really is at the core of our social system, and it's what gives us the tough goanna skin. You know, it's what gives us the power in our resilience.

Without that, I don't think, you could continue with truth.

[Cuts away to a film clip of performance from Wudjang: Not the Past (2022) – Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company]

[Text on screen: Baleen Moondjan (2024) footage courtesy of Adelaide Festival.

Additional footage provided by Bangarra Dance Theatre Australia.]

[Text on screen: BALEEN MOONDJAN (2024)

Performers

Gindara Elaine Crombie

Nundigili Zipporah Corser-Anu

Spirit of Yallingbillar Brendon Boney

Narrator DOBBY

Musicians

Jorjabelle Munday

Taj Pigram

Dance Ensemble

Alexander Abbot

Rika Hamaguchi

Gusta Mara

Beau Dean Riley Smith

Nicola Sabatino

Glory Tuohy-Daniell]

[Text on screen: Director & Co-writer – Stephen Page

Co-writer Alana Valentine

Set Design Jacob Nash

Costume Design Jennifer Irwin

Lighting Design Damien Cooper

Composer & Sound Designer Steve Francis

Musical Director Paul Mac

Language Consultant Donna Page

Assistant Director Beau Dean Riley Smith

Company Stage Manager Matthew Schubach

Assistant Stage Manager Kerry Ireland

Producer Jo Dyer]

[Text on screen: Lighting Programmer Harry Clegg

Sound Operator David Trumpmanis

Radio Mic Technician Tarlee Penwill

Wardrobe Maintenance Laz Snoswell

Photography Daniel Boud & Ashley de Prazer

Senior Program Manager Kate Donnelly

Production Manager Paige Goodwin

Production Coordinator Leisa Gosling

Site Coordinator Thomas Pidd

NIDA Production Secondment Shery Simson]

[Text on screen: Camera Operator David Tang

Camera Operator Celia Rio Suarez

Vision Switch Nik Carr

Lighting, Systems Text Simon Richie

Sound, Systems Tech Marco Rab

Vision, Systems Tech Rory Parker]

[Text on screen: BENNELONG (2018)

Choreographer Stephen Page

Composer Steve Francis

Set Design Jacob Nash

Lighting Design Nick Schlieper

Costume Design Jenny Irwin

Dramaturg Alana Valentine

Cultural Consultant Matthew Doyle]

[Text on screen: SANDSONG Stories from the Great Sandy Desert (2021)

Choreographers Stephen Page Frances Rings

and the dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre

Cultural Consultants Putuparri Tom Lawford Eva Nargoodah Cultural Consultancy,

Wangkatjungka & Walmajarri Elders

Composer Steve Francis

Set Designer Jacob Nash

Costume Designer Jennifer Irwin

Lighting Designer Nick Schlieper

AV Designer David Bergman

Rehearsal Director Daniel Roberts

Aerial Movement Consultant Joshua Thomson

Rigging Consultant Chris Twyman

Sound Recordist Brendon Boney

Reaturing dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre]

[Text on screen: WUDJANG: Not the Past (2022)

Director/Co-writer/Choreographer Stephen Page

Co-writer Alana Valentine

Set Designer Jacob Nash

Composer Steve Francis

Costume Designer Jenny Irwin

Lighting Designer Nick Schlieper

Assistant Director Kate Dunn

Music Director Alan John

Associate Music Director/Musician Veronique Serret

Vocal Coach Leith McPherson

Language Consultant Donna Page

Actors Elaine Crombie, Jess Hitchcoc, Elma Kris, Kirk Page, Justin Smith

Musicians Brendan Boney, Amaru Derwent, Tess Nuku

Featuring dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre]

[Text on screen: With special thanks to Stephen Page

and Bangarra Dance Theatre]

[Text on screen: NSW Department of Education:

Aboriginal Education and Communities

Secondary Curriculum - Creative Arts]

[Text on screen: Filmed and edited Andrew Piper

Producer Carolyn Hammer

Production Manager Emily Murphy-O'Neill

Production Assistant Gemma El Kazzi

Filming on Gadigal Country, Sydney Opera House]

[End of transcript]

[Text on screen: We Acknowledge Country and recognise the lands, skies and waterways of where our schools and workplaces are located. We pay respect to Elders past and present as ongoing leaders and teachers of knowledge, songlines and stories, and acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples that contributed to the development of this film.]

[Text on screen: We advise this resource may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or historical content.

In this film, terms including First Nations and Indigenous are used throughout. In NSW public schools, 'Aboriginal' or 'Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander' are preferred.]

Beau Dean Riley Smith

[Beau Dean Riley Smith sitting in a chair talking to the camera]

My name is Beau Dean Riley Smith. I'm a storyteller.

I am Wiradjuri / Gamillaraay man from central New South Wales, from Dubbo.

I also grew up on Culburra Beach on Yuin Country, and I've been living on Gadigal country for the past 12 years.

[Cuts away to a film clip of a group of dancers in Wudjang: Not the Part – Bangarra Dance Theatre rehearsal (2022)

Performance

Blackface creature.

Beau Dean Riley Smith

I love dance. I love creating, I love the idea to be able to tell a story without words to be able to be quite poignant in what you're trying to deliver, and to be able to do that with your body.

You know, we've been doing it for thousands of years.

[End of film clip]

I guess the cultural processes to creating, creating Bennelong, you know, it's the same processes that you, that there is in just being in a community, being with your family, you know. But say with Bangarra, because we're all from different parts, you have to really engage in the community.

And so, there was a lot of discussions with Metropolitan Land Council, working with historians of Sydney, Richard Green, Matthew Doyle, you know, spent a lot of time working with the language, so engaging in the community from Sydney to make sure we're really bringing justice to, to this man. A very important man.

For me, being a Wiradjuri / Gamillaraay man, telling another man's story from a country that I do not belong, there is this cultural obligation to, to give justice to this man's story.

[On screen is a film clip of Bennelong photoshoot – Bangarra Dance Theatre (2017)]

[Cuts away to a film clip of Bennelong – Bangarra Dance Theatre (2017)]

Performance

I nestle in the soil. Are you, are you, are you.

Beau Dean Riley Smith

It takes a community to be able to tell a story, and that's just like life.

Art imitates life, life imitates art. At the end of the day, we are all just truth tellers.

[End of film clip]

In 2016, I was asked if I wanted to create a work with Bangarra Dance Theatre. And I come from a very strong matrilineal system, and so two of my mums, my aunties, Auntie Di, Diane McNaboe and Auntie Lynette Riley, everyone was a part of it.

All these conversations that would come in, that would teach about the totemic system, about the kinship system, about the moiety system, and then bringing my family in, really making sure that the dancers were a part of that.

They are my family because they are my family away from my family.

[On screen is a film clip of Miyagan rehearsal – Bangarra Dance Theatre (2016)]

There is always with me a one mindset in how to create a work. You engage with community first. You get consultancy. You discuss. You have a lot of conversations. You have to build relationships to be able to create, to create a work.

You have to make sure that foundation is right and correct, and that you go through those same protocols that you do when you engage in outside of the arts.

Maintaining relationships is key, and just doing that is, I guess, the key to creating a good work. A work that is specific.

When we were creating Miyagan, we actually went out on Country as well, so we brought everybody from Bangarra, the creatives out to Dubbo.

[On screen is a film clip of Miyagan rehearsal – Bangarra Dance Theatre (2016)]

It belongs to the community, and so yeah, the process of the conversations, all the conversations beforehand, then the meetings, bringing the world up, going back to Country, bringing the cast to Country, and then you spent five weeks creating, trying to create that magic, you know. There's all these puzzle pieces and trying to cultivate what it was that we saw on Country.

Then you tour it, and then the end, the end goal is to always bring that work back home. And that's where it can sleep.

[Cuts away to a film clip of Gubba – Sydney Dance Company, New Breed (2023)]

Performance

Go.

[Gunshot sound]

[End of film clip]

Beau Dean Riley Smith

The collaboration process, for me with Gubba was very different. It was the first time I was working with predominantly non-Indigenous artists. All I had was Brendon Boney, the sound designer, who is First Nations. But the rest was, you know, non-Indigenous people.

So, creating that, I, I had to lean into their experiences a lot because the work was about telling, telling a story of first contact in the Australian wars from a white perspective, but looking at it through a Black lens.

So, the processes in collaborating with the dancers from Sydney Dance Company, it was, it was challenging because for them it was a learning experience.

[On screen is a film clip of Gubba – Sydney Dance Company, New Breed (2023)]

They didn't, they didn't know anything, right? So, we had to do a lot of research. I asked them to watch The Australian Wars, get some kind of insight into what it is.

But then it was also, you know, really asking them questions.

How do they feel?

What do they think?

You need to have a team that you can trust, and from the get-go, there was just trust. You need relationships, you need the community to be able to tell the story. And even when you know the dialogue of, I don't know, oh, I don't feel, I feel uncomfortable, the trust to say I feel uncomfortable and then to be able to receive that by both parties, is, is currency.

[On screen is a film clip of Gubba – Sydney Dance Company, New Breed (2023)]

What I would say to teachers and students in seeing my works or First Nations stories is to come in with an open heart to receive the information that they're about to get, and, and allow themselves to be provoked.

If you said you liked it, why'd you like it?

Or if you didn't, why you didn't?

Oh, that's valid. And then to also receive and to be able to walk away and then to engage in conversations with each other because it's all about sharing and getting our stories out there.

I feel like when, if there's any First Nations content that is being taught in school, I personally think if the teacher isn't First Nations, then they need to bring somebody in. They need a cultural consultant.

My Auntie Lyn was telling me a story where she, a student of hers was, wanted to do a traditional, like Aboriginal dances and use clap sticks, but you can't do that. Right, you need to, if that's something that you want to teach, then you have to bring, you have to find the resources to bring, that has to, that has to be a First Nations person.

I think what would help teachers in school is to build in a relationship with their AEA or an anybody who was First Nations in that school.

And how you can do that is by simply just asking them if they want to have a cup of tea. How do you build those relationships, you know, not through, you know, using technology. Like this face-on-face relationship is really important and integral.

I think it's really important for teachers to, to have an understanding of how complex First Nations Australia is.

There's over 260 nations, so it's really important to engage with the community that you are in and to build those relationships, those foundations, the imprint of that.

If you do that from the very beginning, it's going to make your teachings much more easier. You will access much more easily by building those trust with the community that you are in.

You've got to think that the, they have to put in a lot of hard work because there's a lot of, there's a lot of systemic trauma that has been passed down that we as Black people sometimes don't even understand why we're carrying that, but it's just been passed down from generation to generation. And so you have to put in the hard work to be able to open that, you know, peel back those layers, build that trust, and that just takes time and persistence.

[Text on screen: Additional footage provided by

Bangarra Dance Theatre

Sydney Dance Company]

[Text on screen: BENNELONG (2018)

Choreographer Stephen Page

Composer Steve Francis

Set Design Jacob Nash

Lighting Design Nick Schlieper

Costume Design Jenny Irwin

Dramaturg Alana Valentine

Cultural Consultant Matthew Doyle]

[Text on screen: WUDJANG: Not the Past (2022)

Director/Co-writer/Choreographer Stephen Page

Co-writer Alana Valentine

Set Designer Jacob Nash

Composer Steve Francis

Costume Designer Jenny Irwin

Lighting Designer Nick Schlieper

Assistant Director Kate Dunn

Music Director Alan John

Associate Music Director/Musician Veronique Serret

Vocal Coach Leith McPherson

Language Consultant Donna Page

Actors Elaine Crombie, Jess Hitchcoc, Elma Kris, Kirk Page, Justin Smith

Musicians Brendan Boney, Amaru Derwent, Tess Nuku

Featuring dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre]

[Text on screen: MIYAGAN (2016)

Choreography Beau Dean Riley Smith and Daniel Riley

Music Paul Mac

Set Design Jacob Nash

Costume Design Jennifer Irwin

Lighting Design Matt Cox

Cultural Consultant Diane McNaboe, Lynette Riley]

[Text on screen: GUBBA (2023)

Choreographer Beau Dean Riley Smith

Composer & Sound Designer Brendon Boney

Music Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of ‘The War of the Worlds’ and ‘Breathe’ by The Prodigy

Set & Costume Designer Aleisa Jelbart

Lighting Designer Alexander Berlage

Film Pedro Greig]

[Text on screen: With special thanks to Beau Dean Riley Smith,

Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Dance Company]

[Text on screen: NSW Department of Education:

Aboriginal Education and Communities

Secondary Curriculum – Creative Arts]

[Text on screen: Filmed and edited Andrew Piper

Producer Carolyn Hammer

Production Manager Emily Murphy-O'Neill

Production Assistant Gemma El Kazzi

Filming on Gadigal Country, Harrold Park Community Hall, Sydney]

[End of transcript]

[Text on screen: We Acknowledge Country and recognise the lands, skies and waterways of where our schools and workplaces are located. We pay respect to Elders past and present as ongoing leaders and teachers of knowledge, songlines and stories, and acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples that contributed to the development of this film.]

[Text on screen: We advise this resource may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or historical content.

In this film, terms including First Nations and Indigenous are used throughout. In NSW public schools, 'Aboriginal' or 'Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander' are preferred.]

Andrea James

[Andrea James sitting in a chair talking to the camera]

My name is Andrea James.

I'm a Yorta Yorta / Gunaikurnai woman.

I'm a theatremaker, writer, director, sometimes producer of theatre. I grew up on my father grandfather's Yorta Yorta Country and occasionally visit my grandmother's Gunaikurnai Country. And I currently live and work on Gadigal land.

[Cuts away to a montage of still photographs from performances of Sunshine Super Girl – Performing lines (2022), swim – Griffin Theatre Company (2024), and Yanagai! Yanagai! – Melbourne Workers Theatre in association with Playbox (2003)]

Yes, in writing Yanagai! Yanagai!, I drew upon my family experiences growing up. You know, sitting around the kitchen table, listening to all the yarns, listening to who's related to who and how. I mean, they're some of my greatest memories listening to stories.

And so really, you know, I was really attracted to storytelling from a very young age, and also to theatre from a really young age as well. And I think that also one of the main sounds that came up and out of our kitchen table was laughter, actually, laughter too, that you know, my family, my grandparents talked a lot about struggle, but also there was a lot of laughter through that struggle as well.

So, yeah, when writing Yanagai! Yanagai!, I was in my early years at Victorian College of the Arts and Yorta Yorta people were right in the midst of the pre-court hearings of the Native Title claim. And, yeah, a bit of an accidental playwright, actually. I didn't really mean to write a play, but a lot of the things that were being said in the media about the land claim and, the five-point plan and Wik was really counter to what I could see my people and my Elders were experiencing through that process.

[On screen is a series of still photographs of performers in Yanagai! Yanagi! – Melbourne Workers Theatre in association with Playbox (2003)]

And then of course, when Judge Olney, you know, came down and said that our right to Native Title rights was, you know, washed away by the tide of history, my pen was already on the paper. So yeah, in a lot of ways, I'm an accidental playwright.

And I just knew that what I wanted to do and show was to use theatre to demonstrate our connection to Country. And so that really was about talking to Elders, talking to as many Yorta Yorta people about what their connection to country was, and through that came the play Yanagai! Yanagai!

[On screen is a series of still photographs of performers in Yanagai! Yanagi! – Melbourne Workers Theatre in association with Playbox (2003)]

I've had the great opportunity and privilege of dramatising a few Aboriginal leaders and icons now, the story of the wonderful Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

[Cuts away to a film clip of a performance of Sunshine Super Girl – Performing Lines (2020)]

Performance

This is a good spot here. This is mum's spot.

You see that current there, swirling around and around? That's the backwater, full of leaves and twigs and bugs. That's what the fish are after, and that's what I'm after, the fish.

[End of film clip]

Andrea James

I think that one of my biggest passions, the reason why I am into theatre and live performance is I just want to see more Aboriginal faces and stories on stage. And in many ways, they're my Elder, so I have to respect that Elder. And at the same time, I have to bring my own area of expertise. So, they'll have their area of expertise, which  Evonne did an incredible world-winning tennis champion. But I'm a theatre expert as well. So, you know, it's about gaining trust of the person whose story that you're going to tell.

[On screen is a series of still photographs of a performance of Sunshine Super Girl – Performing Lines (2020), and of Evonne Goolagong Cawley working with the cast in rehearsals for Sunshine Super Girl (2022)]

And obviously when you're talking about stories about people who have passed, you have to, you know, speak really sensitively to the living relatives and people who share the bloodline with that person as well. So yeah, you have to, you have to be really mindful of the moments that you're going to dramatize but also, to keep reminding the person and the relatives that it's, that it's theatre and it may not look or feel exactly how you felt it in, in real life.

[Cuts away to a film clip of a performance of Sunshine Super Girl – Performing Lines (2020)]

Performance

Evonne, come out here, check this out.

And out the back of our outdoor dunny is the Barellan War Memorial Tennis Club courts. Right out the back. Next to our backyard.

[End of film clip]

Andrea James:

I think if you go into it with the right spirit, which is, you know, I want to honour and respect, you know, and platform that person's legacy and experience, and then transfer that to a group of people, actors, and designers, who will also interpret that person's story. So, you know, many hands will touch that story before people see it performed live on stage as well. So you know, it's such a collaborative art form, you know?

So even how I approach it as a writer will be different than to how I approach it as a director, and then how the actors are going to interpret the work and the nuance in the language and the way they move their body. You know, it's, it's all up for interpretation.

[On screen is a series of still photographs of performance and rehearsals from Sunshine Super Girl – Performing Lines (2020)]

But at the same time, we try to be as truthful, you know, as integral to that person and their story. And, you know, connecting to their Country and their cultural place is just vital. You know, every time I tell a person's story or I'm in partnership with people to tell a story, you know, it's really important that I go to that Country, you know, and I speak as many people from that Country who know that person.

You know, we have to let Country speak to us because that's what's brought that person up, you know, and their community around them. So, you know, I can't do that without, you know, walking on Country, without speaking to the people from that Country.

And then hopefully in turn that'll be transferred to the page and then transferred into, you know, the design concepts and the, ultimately the performances as well.

[On screen is a series of photographs of Andrea James working on Country – Sammy Butcher talking with the Big Name, No Blankets teams at Warumpi Hill, Papunya (2023), Andrea James on artist residency at Bung Yarnda, Krauatungalung Country (2024), Creative Development, Big Name, No Blankets creative team, Papunya (2023)]

For theatremakers, time is such a pressing thing. You know, you get four weeks to rehearse a show, and then you're up. And you know, for a lot of Aboriginal people, you know, we often talk about this concept of timelessness, of Dreaming, you know, that we have a real different relationship with time.

So we are kind of looking at this constant tension, you know, where we're trying to portray these massive concepts of Dreaming and creation, but also for us, you know, we are always referring to the past, to the connections, to the past, and to connections to Dreaming and ceremony and creation.

You know, so for us, there really isn't a difference between past and present because they both live in us together.

[On screen is a film clip of the landscape from Andrea James’ artist residency at Bung Yarnda, Krauatungalung Country (2024), and a still photograph from Griffin Theatre creative development, swim creative team, Yugambeh Country (2024)]

You know, we can't walk, you know, on this Country and talk and be without referring to our Elders and ancestors and people that have come before us, you know, so theatre is a really perfect vehicle for that.

You know, I often write in a magic realist form because that helps, really helps to draw out those kinds of concepts where you can look back in the past, and you can have dream sequences.

[On screen is a series of still photographs from a performance of swim , written by Ellen van Neervan, Performed by Dani Sibosado, Directed by Andrea James, Griffin Theatre at Carriageworks (2024)]

Then of course when you're on the stage, you know, you've got, you know, this whole breadth of story, this whole concepts of time and timelessness that you need to capture within a one and a half hour to two-hour timeframe where the audience will be with you, living that experience with you as well.

[On screen is a series of still photographs from Winyanboga Yurringa Belvoir Theatre, Dalara Williams, Angeline Penrith, Dubs Yunupingu and Tasma Walton (2019) and Winyanboga Yurringa Moogahlin Performing Arts, Tessa Rose and Angeline Penrith (2016)]

Theatre is very much a collaborative art form. You know, as a writer you spend a little bit of time on your own, but it doesn't really start to take flight until you get around a table and you start to hear it read, you know, by actors. And that's where it really starts to, to live, not only in your own head but in other people's creative spheres as well.

[On screen is a series of film clips of swim rehearsals (2024)]

Yeah, I love the collaborative nature of theatre and it suits Aboriginal stories really well. Like, you know, we're a communal collaborative people. It's not about the individual, and so I really love that about Aboriginal theatre and how it serves our community.

You know, I don't like to work from a top-down way as a director. I think that, you know, we are all on the same ground together. We're all trying to do the same thing.

[On screen is a still photograph of Andrea James from swim rehearsals (2024)]

If I had one word of advice for, for aspiring theatremakers, would be, you know, it's really exciting to be a part of the cultural fabric of Australia and Australian storytelling for stage, and Aboriginal stories are a really vital part of that picture, of that fabric.

You have to have, you know, a real, a love and a really great intention for the work, and you need to have respect and you need to honour and respect protocols so that you can make a work that's really true to this country, but also true to all of the Aboriginal nations from around Australia and I think that theatre, you know, really has something great to offer that space.

[On screen is a series of film clips from Sunshine Super Girl – Performing Lines (2020)]

And I think there's always going to be, you know, an inspiration for Aboriginal storytelling on stage and it will never end.

It will be a continuum, as it is always has been on Country.

[Text on screen: YANAGAI! YANAGAI! (2003)

Playwright/Director Andrea James

Cast David Adamson, Lou Bennett, Liza Maza

Tony Briggs, Bryan Andy

Composer Peter Lawler, Tim Prince, Lou Bennett

Dramaturg Patricia Cornelius

Lighting Designer Philip Lethlean

Sound Designer David Franzke

Designer Adrienne Chisholm

Puppet Maker Phillip Millar

Puppetry Consultant Sarah Kriegler

Mechanist Osman Salih

Costume Co-Ordinator Amanda Banks

Stage Manager Natasha Marich]

[Text on screen: SUNCHINE SUPER GIRL (2020)

Creator & Director Andrea James

Movement Director & Additional Choreography Katina Olsen

Original Choreographic Concept & Initial Movement Direction Vicki Van Hout

Composition & Sound Design Gail Priest

Lighting Design Karen Norris

Set & Costume Design Romanie Harper

Dramaturg Louise Gough

Mentor Paige Rattray

Video Media Design Mic Gruchy

Production Manager Jason Thelwell

Produced by Performing Lines]

[Text on screen: swim (2024)

Director Andrea James

Movement Director Kirk Page

Designer Romanie Harper

Lighting Designer Karen Norris

Composer & Sound Designer Brendon Boney

Video Designer Samuel James

Cultural Consultant Aunty Jenny Fraser

Cultural Consultant Lann Levinge

Cultural Consultant Aunty Maria van Neerven

Gender & Inclusivity Consultant Bayley Turner

Stage Manager Isabella Kerdijk

Production Manager Damion Holling

Senior Producer Elinor King

Associate Producer Paris Mordecai with Sandy Greenwood, Dani Sib

Workshop Dramaturg Bryan Andy

Workshop Choreographer Yolande Brown

Workshop Performer Hannah Donnelly]

[Text on screen: Yanagai! Yanagai!: Photo by Ponch Hawkes

Sunshine Super Girl: footage supplied by Performing Lines

Photos by Paz Tassone, Luke Currie-Richardson,

Brett Boardman, Jamie James

swim: Original book by Ellen van Neerven, directed by

Andrea James, Griffin Theatre 2024. Footage supplied by

Griffin Theatre

Closer music: Soundstripe.com]

[Text on screen: With special thanks to Andrea James]

[Text on screen: NSW Department of Education:

Aboriginal Education and Communities

Secondary Curriculum – Creative Arts]

[Text on screen: Filmed and edited Andrew Piper

Producer Carolyn Hammer

Production Manager Emily Murphy-O'Neill

Production Assistant Gemma El Kazzi

Filming on Gadigal Country, Carriageworks, Sydney]

[End of transcript]

[Text on screen: We Acknowledge Country and recognise the lands, skies and waterways of where our schools and workplaces are located. We pay respect to Elders past and present as ongoing leaders and teachers of knowledge, songlines and stories, and acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples that contributed to the development of this film.]

[Text on screen: We advise this resource may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or historical content.

In this film, terms including First Nations and Indigenous are used throughout. In NSW public schools, 'Aboriginal' or 'Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander' are preferred.]

DOBBY

[DOBBY sitting in a chair talking to the camera]

Being on Gadigal country, I'd just like to bring some Murrawarri language here.

[SPEAKING IN MURRAWARRI]

80,000 years to the land. 80,000 years to the sky. Always was, always will be.

My name is Rhyan Clapham. I'm a proud Filipino and Murrawarri musician by the name of DOBBY. Filipino on my mother's side from Tacloban, 1985. And on my father's side, Murrawarri.

My grandmother was born and raised in Brewarrina, Ngemba Country, north-west New South Wales. Her father, my great-grandfather, was born under the birthing tree on the Culgoa River, in Weilmoringle and Murrawarri Country.

So that's me, and my passion for music started when I was quite young, my mum strongly suggested that I learn piano. I was about seven years old, got into piano lessons, and all the while I just got so interested in hip-hop around that age. You know, Lupe Fiasco, Missy Elliott, The Pharcyde, Eminem, MF Doom, Snoop Dogg, you know, Ice Cube, Beyoncé, Destiny's Child.

So, yeah, that was kind of my upbringing. And then being a jazz drummer and a rapper, I call myself a drapper.

[Cuts away to a film clip of DOBBY performing ‘Matter of Time’]

Murray-Darling basin, never quit, never fade 'til we vote them out today. I'm a fighter in my blood, this is in my DNA. My ancestors speaking through me, I'm connected to this place, like the river I got Murrawarri flowing through my veins.

[End of film clip]

DOBBY

[DOBBY sitting in a chair talking to the camera]

It means a great deal and it's a big privilege for me to be able to share everything on that album and in my music generally, you know, with audiences.

Very much knowing that it's not just Aboriginal people listening to my music. It's non-Indigenous people, it's people of colour, it's, you know, which is a beautiful privilege and a great gift of music, right? That we can, there's that element of universal appeal that I'm trying to reach as a musician, but with it, I bring my cultures, and I bring my identities and my family and the stories of my community or what I've learned, into that music. And it's, it's, it's what I love. It's what keeps me going, you know, it's what I do it for.

You know, this project, Warrangu: River Story, is filled with just lessons that I learned, throughout the river with people like Brad Steadman and other community members in the area. And what's really rewarding is when people say to me, you know, oh, I really loved this part, or I didn't know this about the Murray-Darling Basin, or, oh, I love the story of the Mundagatta. And they're using Murrawarri language and speaking to me in, in these terms.

And I'm like, this is the power of what music can do, you know? It's education.

[Cuts away to a film clip of DOBBY performing ‘Matter of Time’]

I am the treaty, I am the truth, I am the problem, I am the proof. I am the bridge. I am the line. I'm the divide between the divide. And I'm keeping the spirit of rivers alive. You're thinking it's fine. But really, it's only a matter of time.

[End of film clip]

DOBBY

[DOBBY sitting in a chair talking to the camera]

As someone who teaches a lot in schools and uses the power of hip-hop music to inform students about Aboriginal culture, or at least my Aboriginal culture, you know, I'm in a very interesting Venn diagram between the culture of hip-hop, the culture of our mob, and I guess my story, right? And there's so many interchangeable elements that really work.

[Onscreen is an image of DOBBY in a classroom working with students at Rozelle Primary School, for Busking for Change (2024)]

You know, the four elements of hip-hop being the graffiti, the DJ, the MC, and then the breakdancing, which is the exact same in hip-hop, in Aboriginal culture.

You know, it's like the graffiti is our body paint, our body ochre. You know, the breakdancing is our dancing, in corroboree and kicking up the dust to bring the rains back up to, from Baiame. You know, the song lines is our MCs, our rapping, and then the, the DJ is our music makers, you know, the didg, the yidaki, the boomerang, the clapsticks, all of that stuff. So, it's just culture.

And those two things, the fifth element of both of those cultures is knowledge. None of those things would matter if we didn't have the knowledge with which to pass those things through.

You know, so there's so much power in the platform of hip-hop music, and especially because we're in its 51st year of hip-hop music, and still to this day, I believe I'm a bit biased, but I believe it's the first, it's the most direct form of music that we still have.

You know, it reaches the youth, it reaches political realms. It helps us, you know, reclaim our language. It helps talk about ecological sustainability. The power in potential is endless, and so I just find it such a no-brainer to be able to use it to, one, teach people about Aboriginal culture, and two, give the power to the youth so that they can express their identity and their story.

[Cuts away to a film clip of DOBBY performing ‘Language Is In The Land’]

Better rivers in better states! A better livin’ a better place! Preparation of better days! Generation of better ways! Better rivers in better states! A better livin’ a better place! Preparation of better days! Generation of better ways!

[End of film clip]

DOBBY

[DOBBY sitting in a chair talking to the camera]

The advice that I would give for students and teachers to engage more in Aboriginal artists, their material and their communities, is really just that relationship that we need to build within the system for more approved artists to be able to, you know, provide their music so that teachers are more confident to be able to analyse and teach it.

You know, we, there are all too many artists that I know that are, that are ready and willing to have students learn about their stuff, you know, because the implications are bigger than just the story. It's bigger than the song. It means the family, it means the community. It means 80,000 plus years of culture. So, we're ready to share it.

You know, we should all be proud of the lands and waterways that we're on. And in order for that to happen, our system needs to catch up and we need to be able to have a better relationship with our First Nations artists and their learning materials. So that we can all learn, you know, how to care for this Country.

The advice for people listening who want to use music as their way of, you know, telling their story and expressing themselves, I would say to you is: there are no right or wrong answers. It's your story. So, if you are making music or you're writing these lines down, if it feels right to you, then that's what matters.

It's not for anybody else. This is for you to be able to tell your story in the way that makes the most sense. If you make something for somebody else, it's not going to vibrate properly. It's not going to be on the same frequency that you are living your life. So, it needs to be something that resonates properly with you, and that's the way that you're going to reach fans.

That's the way people are going to understand more about who you are. That's how you, engage art in a loving relationship.

[Cuts away to a film clip of DOBBY performing ‘Matter of Time’]

It's only a matter of time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's only a matter of time.

[End of film clip]

[Text on screen: "Matter of Time" (Official Music Video), Performed by DOBBY,

Music Written and Produced by Rhyan Clapham

Courtesy ABC Music

Licensed by Australian Broadcasting Corporation]

[Text on screen: "Language Is In The Land" (Official Music Video)

Performed by DOBBY

Music Written and Produced by Rhyan Clapham

Courtesy ABC Music

Licensed by Australian Broadcasting Corporation]

[Text on screen: With special thanks to DOBBY]

[Text on screen: NSW Department of Education:

Aboriginal Education and Communities

Secondary Curriculum – Creative Arts]

[Text on screen: Filmed and edited Andrew Piper

Producer Carolyn Hammer

Production Manager Emily Murphy-O'Neill

Production Assistant Gemma El Kazzi

Filming on Gadigal Country, Church Street Studios, Sydney]

[End of transcript]

[Text on screen: We Acknowledge Country and recognise the lands, skies and waterways of where our schools and workplaces are located. We pay respect to Elders past and present as ongoing leaders and teachers of knowledge, songlines and stories, and acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples that contributed to the development of this film.]

[Text on screen: We advise this resource may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or historical content.

In this film, terms including First Nations and Indigenous are used throughout. In NSW public schools, 'Aboriginal' or 'Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander' are preferred.]

Blak Douglas

[Blak Douglas sitting in a chair talking to the camera]

My name is Blak Douglas.

I'm a Koori artist from New South Wales, born in Blacktown and raised in Penrith and now I'm residing on Dabee Country. And I primarily make paintings, and I focus on social justice and politics that affect First Nations peoples today in Australia.

[On screen is a film clip of Blak Douglas using a ruler and pencil to work on a painting]

My passionate interest for art originally came from observing my mother's brothers who were very famous sign writers. Sign writers were commercial artists that painted signs with a brush.

So, we had art running through our family in that, in that sense. And why I chose to honour that is because of the fact that we've lost sign writing as tradition. And I quite like the way I choose to paint because it's somewhat like sign writing. It's very, very fine and particular, and neat and symmetrical.

So, I feel that even though I've created my own style of Aboriginal art, I also am honouring my family's tradition.

[On screen is a film clip of Blak Douglas continuing to work on a painting]

As I've painted for the Archibald Prize over successive six years of being a finalist, I sought to memorialise Aboriginal people, particularly Elders who I'd known and been close to.

And I just painted big floating heads. It kind of, is a metaphor for a coin or a stamp as we have been used to seeing the monarchy represented on our currency. And I kind of dreamed, well before our Elders were placed on our notes that we would literally have memorialised specific peoples.

[On screen is a series of still photographs – Blak Douglas posing with the painting ‘White Shells, black heart’ 2019 Archibald Prize finalist of subject Esme Timbery, Blak Douglas and Maya Newell posing with the painting ‘Writing in the sand’ 2021 Archibald Prize finalist (Dujuan Hoosan), Blak Douglas and Roy Kennedy posing with the painting ‘Uncle Roy Kennedy’ 2018 Archibald Prize finalist]

And so that's why I would paint a big floating head, to memorialise in the way I felt should have been done.

And some of those examples were great contemporary artists that we live with. Uncle Roy Kennedy, deceased now. Auntie Esme Timbery, deceased. And they were particular examples that started to get me some popularity and get me some momentum within the Archibald Prize.

Most of the artists that I've painted for the Archibald Prize, I've known personally for a prolonged period. So I knew of their idiosyncrasies and their art practices, and I was fortunate to, have kind of been mentored by those particular artists.

The one exception in recent times was the incredible Dujuan Hoosan from the documentary In My Blood It Runs. And it's an incredible tale, and it was very empowering for me to meet a young, traditional healer.

The difference for me with Dujuan was that he's a tribal boy, and I got to go back on Country with him, which is literally where Albert Namatjira hailed from.

[On screen is a still photograph of Blak Douglas and sketching Dujuan Hoosan]

And that was very special for me to have a whirlwind visit to Mparntwe, Alice Springs, and to sit on Country with Dujuan and to be shown his dreaming sites and the landscape, that beautiful landscape that we all know too well in the desert.

What I found in my experience of having worked with different First Nations peoples on this continent as an artist is that it's very important to establish cultural protocols, mostly by meeting with the Elders or a council of people from particular Country, and make sure that you've ironed out things that you need to be aware of.

And, I've had good and bad examples of that.

I've had examples where I've created work with particular symbology in a mural sense that the whole public gets to see. And you have a grand opening where the mayor comes of the local town, and then all of a sudden, an Elder accosts you and says, you shouldn't have put that in there. It's a sacred story that only belongs to certain people. And only experience will learn you proper.

Trying to navigate how to create an image that pleases everybody is a difficult thing, particularly because my concepts that come from my brain are often considerably left field to the average viewer.

So, what I enjoy is trying to meet in the middle from a contemporary artist, artistic sense with a cultural-advised, informative perspective.

And that's what makes my work so exciting in that sense, and challenging.

[On screen is a series of closeup film clips of works in progress in Blak Douglas’ studio]

When working with Aboriginal Communities today and students in schools in general, I’ve found that it's very important to try as hard as you can to engage and re-immerse with the actual cultural practices of the peoples from the Country on which you are sitting at that time.

From my perspective as a contemporary Aboriginal artist, I've worked very hard to create my own style and not just copy what is an otherwise generic style of work. And I've been speaking out about that as have many of my colleagues for some years now.

It's very important for individuals to try and find out the roots of origin of their people and what was practiced on that landscape. For example, in the southeast region of Australia, a very common practice was to scar trees to create artworks within those scars on the trees, and also ceremonial grounds where mounds of earth were created for a ceremony to take place, a corroboree, if you will.

We did not particularly paint a certain style that is known to come from the desert. And that's one thing that I try to impress on students, that you can't just copy somebody else's style just because it fits the banner of being Aboriginal art.

And in my workshops with kids, I give examples of that. For example, if you google Aboriginal art, that's it, Aboriginal art in your Google search engine. Have a look at the page that comes up, and it’s all highly contemporised stuff. It's stuff that has been exploited for the tourist market over the years, over the 30 years that I've been painting, and we don't seem to be educating ourselves and trying hard enough.

And the irony is that I became very aware of that when I first began painting in 1998. And watching my colleagues in a little workshop that we had gathered in South Penrith and all of the Kooris were just painting that style on didgeridoos, on boomerangs, terracotta pots, you know, just stuff to appeal to the tourist market.

And I took myself to Papunya to sit with the last of the senior male painters, and asked and learned and why that style evolved from out there. And then I’ll come back and question these artists, you know, you're a Wonnarua. You're a Dharawal. You know, you're Darug. You guys didn't paint this stuff in the old days.

My advice to students today is to firstly, don't eat too much sugar.

Secondly, make sure you exercise. And make sure that you work hard enough until you begin to tire and only then put down your pen or your pencil, or your paintbrush.

And when it comes to appreciating Aboriginal art, pick your top seven most favourite contemporary Aboriginal artists, and make sure you learn about those artists before learning about any other style of Aboriginal art.

[Text on screen: All images supplied by Blak Douglas]

[Text on screen: With special thanks to Blak Douglas]

[Text on screen: NSW Department of Education:

Aboriginal Education and Communities

Secondary Curriculum – Creative Arts]

[Text on screen: Filmed and edited Andrew Piper

Producer Carolyn Hammer

Production Manager Emily Murphy-O'Neill

Music Soundstripe.com

Filming on Dabee Country, Rylstone NSW]

[End of transcript]