by Jack Davis
FRANK: No, met her at a dancin’ contest; Charleston, at the Lux, in Perth.
SAM: How long since you seen your kids?
FRANK: Six months; haven’t even sent ’em any money.
JIMMY returns and falls over the bike in the dark.
JIMMY: Oh, Jesus, me bloody leg! Fuck that bike!
JIMMY kicks at the bike savagely.
DAVID: Oh, Uncle Jimmy, don’t do that; I just fixed it up.
JOE: [jumping up] Eh, kongi, David’s been workin’ on it all day. Kienya.
He runs to rescue the bike, but collects an accidental blow from JIMMY.
Ow! Me nose!
SAM jumps up, runs to JIMMY and pushes him.
SAM: You cut that out, you hear me?
JIMMY: You git!
He swings an ineffectual punch at SAM.
SAM: Just stop it, awright?
JIMMY attacks and they engage in a ragged brawl. After a moment they separate and circle one another. JIMMY takes his coat off.
JIMMY: Awright, come on, come on.
SAM: Stop it, you hear me? And none of your bitin’.
FRANK: I’d better go, Mrs Millimurra.
MILLY: Yeah, awright.
FRANK stands.
FRANK: And thanks for the really nice meal.
MILLY: That’s all right. Eh! Cut it out, you two.
FRANK: Tooroo!
FRANK leaves. JIMMY and SAM are locked together, cursing each other. CISSIE and DAVID rescue the bike from under their feet. JOE blows his nose and looks for blood on his sleeve.
GRAN: Don’t you hit him, SAM.
SAM: I will if he bites me.
GRAN: I’ll stop you two fellas.
She charges at them, grabbing both by the hair and pulling viciously. They separate and she falls on her backside. MILLY laughs.
MILLY: Aw, Mum, you’re cruel.
JOE goes and tries to pick her up. SAM seizes his chance and sits on JIMMY, who thrashes about helplessly.
JOE: Granny, git up, you’re getting dirt all over you.
GRAN gets up with help from JOE.
JIMMY: Who do you think you are, fuckin’ Jack Johnston?
SAM: You think you’re fuckin’ Jack Dempsey.
GRAN: I’ll stop youse, I’ll stop youse.
She takes her wahna stick and gives them both a solid poke in the ribs. They separate and get up, reluctantly.
[To SAM] Now git off him. You know he’s weern koort minditj.
SAM: He ain’t sick in the chest, he’s sick in the bloody head.
JIMMY crawls for his coat, then for the bottle. MILLY beats him to it.
MILLY: This is real fightin’ stuff, eh? Real fightin’ stuff.
She pours it onto the ground. JIMMY sits, head between his knees, and groans.
SCENE FOUR
The Police Station and lock-up, Northam, night. Two separate cells imprison JIMMY and SAM. The SERGEANT and CONSTABLE put possessions into drawstring bags and record their contents. Beside them stands a bottle of port, nearly empty.
SERGEANT: Munday, James Emmanuel.
CONSTABLE: One mouth organ, one length of binder twine; tobacco tin, Wild Woodbine; one book, Lasseter’s Last Ride, eightpence halfpenny.
SERGEANT: [inspecting the bottle] Port. Who got it for ’em?
CONSTABLE: [laughing] They’re not sayin’.
JIMMY takes out a mouth organ and plays ‘Home, Sweet Home’.
SERGEANT: Be that bloke camped down the goods yard. I’ll check with publicans and pick him up in the morning…
[Nodding at JIMMY] Thought you took that thing off him.
CONSTABLE: [picking up a bag] I did, it’s here.
SERGEANT: Musta had two of ’em. Get it off him.
The CONSTABLE walks down to JIMMY’s cell
CONSTABLE: Give me that instrument.
JIMMY: This ain’t a hinstrument, it’s a mouth organ.
CONSTABLE: Hand it over.
JIMMY: You already got one.
CONSTABLE: Give it here.
JIMMY: I gave you me other one.
CONSTABLE: Just bloody-well hand it over.
SAM: Give it to him, gnoolya, baal nooniny barminy.
JIMMY relents and pokes it through the door. The CONSTABLE returns and puts it in the bag.
JIMMY: Bastard.
CONSTABLE: Two mouth organs. Wish I knew how to play one of these.
JIMMY picks up the toilet bucket.
JIMMY: [calling] Eh, Sergeant! Sergeant!
SERGEANT: [to the CONSTABLE] See what he wants.
The CONSTABLE walks to the cellblock doorway.
JIMMY: [calling] Sergeant!
CONSTABLE: What do you want?
JIMMY: Tell your boss the koomp bucket’s got a hole in it.
CONSTABLE: [to the SERGEANT] He reckons the piss bucket’s got a hole in it.
SERGEANT: Bullshit; he can’t aim straight.
CONSTABLE: There’s nothing wrong with it, you not aimin’ straight.
The CONSTABLE returns to the bench.
JIMMY: [calling] I’m aiming straight, all right. I’m a good shot. I can knock a rabbit’s eye out at a hundred yards, and I could blow the sergeant’s head off with a three-oh-three at six hundred, bloody oath.
SAM: Eh, gnoolya, dubakieny.
SERGEANT: Listen, Munday, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut up.
JIMMY: Him, he don’t care. He’s happy he’s got us here. Fuck ’em! Fuck ’em! Fuck ’em all!
He hurls the bucket against the wall.
SAM: Gnoolya, you flamin’ idiot.
SERGEANT: [to the CONSTABLE] That’s government property. Stop him.
The CONSTABLE goes to JIMMY’s cell carrying a baton.
CONSTABLE: Put that down!
SAM: Stop it, gnoolya, steady down, steady down!
JIMMY puts the bucket down and turns around as if to urinate in it. The CONSTABLE returns to the bench.
SERGEANT: Damage to government property, to whit, one shit bucket. Add it to the charge sheet.
The CONSTABLE gets out the charge sheet. Silence.
JIMMY: [calling] I don’t give two hoots of a lamb’s tail. Never mind, Serge, I’ll sing you a song. I’ll sing you a hymn, if you like. [Singing]
‘Hail, Queen of Heaven, the ocean star,
Guide of the wanderer here below,
Thrown on life’s surge, we claim thy care:
Save us from peril and from woe.
Mother of Christ, star of the sea,
Pray for the wanderer, pray for—’
[He stops abruptly.]
No hymns. No good to you, you’re a proper mummari. Proper mummari, fuckin’ both of youse. [Singing]
‘When its springtime in the Rockies,
I’m comin’ back to you…’
SERGEANT: I think I preferred the mouth organ.
SAM: See you gettin’ six months tomorrow, gnoolya.
JIMMY: [calling] Six months! I can do that on me fuckin’ head.
SERGEANT: I’ll see what we can do.
JIMMY: [calling] Yeah, you would. [Singing]
‘Mammy, Mammy,
How I love you, How I love you,
My dear old Mammy…’
SERGEANT: Oh, gawd!
JIMMY: [singing]
I’d walk a million miles
For one of your smiles,
My Ma-a-a-ammy.’
[Calling] Hey Serge, Serge.
SERGEANT: [to the CONSTABLE] Ignore him.
JIMMY: [calling] I seen that talkin’ picture at the Palace, sittin’ right up the front, the roped off section for blackfellas. Al Jolson makin’ out he was black, poor white bastard.
SAM: Eh, dubakieny, wahnginy.
JIMMY: [calling] Sergeant! Sergeant!
CONSTABLE: [to the SERGEANT] Jesus, I wish he’d shut up.
JIMMY: [calling] Eh, Sergeant! You bin, you bin out to Gubment Well and told Mum and Milly me and Sam in here?… Eh? No, you wouldn’t think of that.
SERGEANT: [standing, to the CONSTABLE] I’ll leave you to it. I’m going to interview a few publicans.
CONSTABLE: Had enough?
The SERGEANT exits towards the main street.
JIMMY: [calling] Fuck you, you white bastard, fuck you. [Singing feebly]
‘I don’t give a damn for any damn man,
That don’t give a damn for me.’
SCENE FIVE
The courthouse at Northam, morning. The SERGEANT stands near the JP, a local cocky, who sits at the bench.
JP: What have we got?
SERGEANT: Not much.
JP: Good, I’m in a hurry.
SERGEANT: Two natives. One supplying.
JP: All right, let’s get moving. I’ve got to get to a bank auction in Wongamine; tryin’ to pick up a cheap binder.
SERGEANT: [calling] Francis James Brown.
FRANK enters and goes to the dock. The SERGEANT passes the JP a paper bag. The JP pulls the port bottle out of it and looks at it curiously.
Evidence
The JP examines it and sniffs it.
JP: Are Munday and, ah, what’s-his-name, natives within the meaning of the Aborigines Act?
SERGEANT: Yes, sir.
JP: What do you plead?
FRANK: Guilty with an explanation, sir.
JP: If you’re guilty I can’t see much point in an explanation.
FRANK: I’d still like to say something, sir.
SERGEANT: The accused has been warned on two previous occasions about associating with natives.
JP: All right, make it brief.
FRANK: I arrived in Northam a few days ago, and I was broke and I didn’t have anything to eat for two days and I ran into Jimmy in the park and he—
JP: [interrupting, to the SERGEANT] Who?
SERGEANT: James Munday. He was one of the natives arrested along with the accused.
JP: [to FRANK] All right, get on with it.
FRANK: Well, he was a real mate to me. He took me to his home and gave me a meal of—
JP: [interrupting, to the SERGEANT] His what?
SERGEANT: His camp at Government Well.
FRANK: He gave me a meal of—
JP: [interrupting] Look, I’m not interested in what you had for dinner. If you’ve got an explanation, just tell me what it is.
FRANK: [nervously] And he even lent me a razor; I hadn’t had a shave in several days. He and his family were very kind to me and when he asked me to pick up a bottle of wine for him, I felt obliged to do it.
JP: Were you aware that you were breaking the law?
FRANK: Yes sir, but I didn’t—
JP: [interrupting] Is there any previous record?
SERGEANT: No.
FRANK: I’ve never been in trouble before. I am an ex-serviceman and I settled at Lake Yealering.
JP: All right, I don’t need your life story. I understand the difficulty of the situation you were in, but it’s my duty to protect natives and half-castes from alcohol. In view of this, I sentence you to six weeks imprisonment with hard labour.
FRANK steps down.
SERGEANT: [calling] Samuel Nathaniel Millimurra and James Emmanuel Munday.
Pause. No one appears.
[Calling] Samuel Nathaniel Millimurra and James Emmanuel Munday.
The JP looks at his fob watch. SAM enters alone.
JP: [to the SERGEANT] Where’s the other one?
SERGEANT: Don’t know. [Yelling] James Emmanuel Munday. Come on, Jimmy. Get a move on.
JIMMY enters, tying a bit of binder twine around his trousers, and stands next to SAM.
JP: I hope you’re not making a mockery of the court by delaying proceedings.
JIMMY: Sorry, sir, I was on the shit bucket… toilet… Got a guts ache, sir.
SAM nudges him.
SERGEANT: The two accused were apprehended in Bernard Park yesterday at approximately nine-twenty p.m. They were both under the influence of liquor. Munday was in possession of one bottle of wine, three parts empty. [Indicating] That is the bottle there, sir. Upon being placed in separate cells, Munday became noisy and abusive. At one stage he damaged a toilet bucket. He threatened me and used indecent language. He threatened to ‘blow my head off.’
JIMMY: I did not.
SERGEANT: Silence in the court.
JIMMY: [to the JP] What I said was that if I had a—
SERGEANT: [interrupting] Silence!
JIMMY: [to the JP] But he’s telling it wrong. What I said was, that—
JP: [interrupting] Order, order. Now you be quiet, Munday, you’ll get your chance shortly.
JIMMY: But all I was gunna say was that what—
JP: [interrupting] Shut up, you bloody idiot, or I’ll charge you with contempt of court.
SAM: Yes, sir.
JP: [indicating JIMMY] Not you, him. [To the SERGEANT] Are there any previous records?
SERGEANT: Munday has several previous convictions for the same offence and one of unlawful disposal of government rations.
JP: And Millimurra?
SERGEANT: One, drinking, when in the company of Munday.
JP: Are they related?
SAM: He’s my gnoolya, sir.
JP: He’s your what?
SERGEANT: They’re brothers-in-law. Millimurra’s married to—
JP: [interrupting] All right. I see this is your sixth offence related to alcohol. On the last occasion you were sentenced to fourteen days imprisonment. This time your sentence is three months imprisonment with hard labour.
He stands.
All right…
SERGEANT: What about Millimurra, sir?
JP: Ah, fine of twenty-five shillings. Any costs?
SERGEANT: Two and sixpence.
JP: And two and six costs, in default seven days imprisonment.
SERGEANT: He’ll need time to pay.
JP: All right, fourteen days. Stand down.
The JP hurries out.
SCENE SIX
Government well, Northam, early morning. It is winter, GRAN builds a fire. SAM carries water and DAVID gets ready for school. CISSIE huddles near the fire, wrapped in a blanket. MILLY fries fat in a camp oven.
MILLY: Cissie, I want you to write that letter to Uncle Jimmy ’fore you go.
SAM: What’s to eat?
CISSIE: Oh, Mumma.
MILLY: [to SAM] Damper there, dip in the camp oven.
SAM: Me gnoolya’s better off than I am, bet he’s not eating bread ’n fat for breakfast.
GRAN: Joe be back directly with a wilbra.
DAVID: [to CISSIE] You want to hurry up. I ain’t waitin’ for you.
CISSIE doesn’t move. JOE appears, wet and dejected, with empty rabbit traps.
GRAN: Rabbits wah?
JOE: Open. These ain’t worth settin’. Bloody rabbits only look at ’em and they snap off.
SAM: Well, grab a bit of breakfast, I want you to help me cut the rest of them posts today.
JOE eats damper and dip. GRAN gives him a cup of tea.
MILLY: Cissie, come on, hurry up.
CISSIE: [weakly] Mum, I feel worse.
She coughs. DAVID stuffs a piece of damper in his pocket and grabs his bike.
MILLY: You wait for your sister.
DAVID: Come on, Cissie.
GRAN: What’s wrong with you?
MILLY: What’s the matter, you minditj?
She feels CISSIE’s forehead. CISSIE coughs and her mother rubs her back. They all gather around her with increasing concern.
God, she’s burnin’ up.
CISSIE: [holding her throat] Hurts, Mum, here; hurts when I cough.
MILLY: Well, no school for you today, my girl. [To SAM] You ain’t goin’ post cuttin’ today, and David, you walk to school.
DAVID: Aw, Mum!
MILLY: Don’t, ‘Aw Mum’ me. Joe, you git on that bike and go and ask Uncle Herbie for a lend of his horse and cart. We takin’ her to the doctor straight away.
JOE takes the bike from DAVID.
SAM:
Aw Mill, can’t you and Mum take her? I only want another hundred posts and I’ll have enough boondah to pay me fine.
GRAN grabs JOE before he rides off.
GRAN: Ask him for some gnummarri for me.
MILLY: You can go this afternoon.
JOE: Okay, Gran.
SAM: What doctor you takin’ her to?
DAVID gets on the bike behind JOE and they ride off together towards the main street.
GRAN: More better take her straight to the hospital.
SAM: [calling after JOE and DAVID] We’ll wait down the road for you.
JOE: Okay!
JOE and DAVID exit.
MILLY: [to SAM] You better ask Skinny for a couple of dozen bags.
SAM: He’ll want me to cut an extra one hundred and fifty posts for that.
MILLY: Well, cut ’em then, and get a lend of some bag needles and don’t forget binder twine.
SAM: Another twenty posts.
MILLY: You an’ Joe can patch up the sides, then go down the dump an’ see if you can find more tin for the roof. Bloody place is colder than the North Pole. And that old baldy had better cough up with some more blankets.
SAM: Come on girlie, I’ll carry you.
SAM picks up CISSIE and they all leave. The dogs bark.
SCENE SEVEN
The Police Station, Northam, winter’s morning, 1932. SERGEANT CARROL walks into the station and sits down to read the local newspaper, the Northam Advertiser. Outside the Chief Protector’s office, JIMMY waits around. MR NEVILLE briskly approaches his office.
JIMMY: Mr Neville, Mr Neville! I wanna see you.
NEVILLE: The office opens at nine o’clock.
JIMMY: Can’t wait, gotta train to catch.
NEVILLE: The native’s entrance is around the back.
JIMMY: I’m not waitin ’round there all day.
NEVILLE: [affronted] I beg your pardon?
JIMMY: I only wanna train fare to Northam.
NEVILLE: You can wait around the back and you’ll be attended to in due course.
JIMMY: I’m not sittin’ down there all bloody day.
NEVILLE: What’s your name?
JIMMY: Jimmy Munday.
NEVILLE: Munday, Northam… Oh yes, I’ve got a good fat file of police reports on you. What are you doing in Perth?
JIMMY: Mindin’ me own bloody business.
NEVILLE: Munday, let me give you a piece of advice: sugar catches more flies than vinegar.
NEVILLE storms into his office, sits at his desk, and starts to read his mail as CONSTABLE KERR limps into the police station.
