by Jack Davis
JOE: You mean if I put me name on this, me and Mary can take off?
NEAL: That’s what I mean.
JOE: Right, give us the pen.
NEAL: Hold your horses. Billy! Billy!
BILLY: [off] Comin’, boss. Comin’.
BILLY enters the office.
NEAL: [to JOE] Witness.
JOE: Gawd, some witness.
BILLY: Yeah, boss?
NEAL: I want you to watch him sign this.
NEAL picks up the paper and shows it to BILLY.
You can understand this?
BILLY: No, boss.
NEAL: Good. [To JOE] Go on, sign it.
JOE: [signing] Gawd, you wetjalas funny fellas.
NEAL: Good, now get out. The sooner you leave, the better.
JOE: [leaving] I’ll see you one day, in hell. And you won’t have your cat-o’-nine-tails.
He laughs and walks out with BILLY.
BILLY: Hey, what that one milly milly?
JOE: Me an’ Mary clearin’ out, an’ that one say we not allowed to go to Northam.
BILLY: Augh, gudeeah, silly fella.
JOE: If I go back to Northam he put me this one.
He puts his fingers across his face, indicating gaol.
BILLY: That your country. You back sit down that place.
MARY enters with some baby clothes.
MARY: Everything all right?
JOE: Couldn’t be better.
MARY: What happened?
JOE: He told us to get outa the Settlement.
MARY: When?
JOE: Tomorrow, next day, soon as we like.
MARY: Why?
JOE: ’Coz the bastard’s scared of us.
BILLY: You watch this one, she go Kargudda but she still Oomboolgari girl.
JOE: She’ll be all right.
BILLY: You want this one?
He hands him his whip.
Kill rabbit, snake, bungarra.
JOE: No, Billy, that’s yours.
BILLY: Ne’mine, ne’mine.
MARY: Take it, it’s a gift.
JOE: Thanks, old man.
JOE walks off, leaving BILLY and MARY together.
MARY: Goodbye, dumbart.
JOE: [returning to BILLY] Here, gnummari.
He gives BILLY the rest of his packet of Luxor. BILLY breaks one up and puts it in his pipe. He gazes at them as they walk off.
NEAL: [off] Billy!
BILLY: Comin’ boss. Comin’.
He exits.
SCENE TEN
Long Pool Camp, Moore River, morning. The fire is burning. JOE rolls a swag. MILLY gives MARY a sugar bag. The others stand around.
MILLY: There’s enough flour there for three dampers, a fryin’ pan, billy can and two mugs. A bit of drippin’, too, and a spud and a couple a’ onions.
MARY: Thanks, Mum.
SAM: Where will you go, son?
JOE: Back to Northam.
GRAN: You wanna watch them manatj, they warrah there now.
JOE: Yeah, Gran. Don’t worry, if they git rough we just move on.
MARY straps the baby to her chest.
GRAN: Just as well you a good milker, girl. Least he won’t go ’ungry.
CISSIE: You got him right next to the tit.
DAVID: Eh, brother, you want my pocket knife? You might need it.
JOE: No, Brudge, I can use glass if I wanna gut a rabbit.
SAM hands JOE a home-made knife.
SAM: Here, son, take this one.
JOE: No, I’ll be all right.
SAM: Take it. I can git another bit of steel and make another one. Here, take it.
Magpies squawk. GRAN begins to sing. They farewell each member of the family, then walk off into the distance.
GRAN: [singing]
Weert miny, jinna koorling, weert miny.
Jinna koorling
Wayanna, wayanna, wayanna,
Weert, miny, weert miny, weert miny.
Jinna koorling
Jinna koorling
Jinna koorling
Yay, yay, yay
Coo-oo-ooo-ooh.
THE END
TRANSLATIONS OF SONGS
JIMMY’S SONG
Look, who is this coming?
Crabs, crabs, crabs, crabs
In the river mouth,
They are coming in the river mouth, river mouth,
Coming in the river mouth.
Fish coming up the river,
Up the river, up the river,
Fish in the river mouth,
Fish in the river mouth,
Coming up, coming up, coming up,
Fish and crabs, fish and crabs, fish and crabs,
Shout of praise!
GRAN’S SONG
Woe, woe, woe.
My boy and girl and baby
Going a long way walking,
That way walking,
That way walking.
Pity, pity, pity,
Hungry, walking, hungry,
Pity, pity, pity,
Hungry, hungry,
Walking, walking, walking,
Yay, yay, yay,
Cooo-ooo-ooo-oooh.
NOTES AND GLOSSARY OF ABORIGINAL TERMS
The Aboriginal language used in these plays is usually called Nyoongah but occasionally referred to as Bibbulumun. Nyoongah literally means ‘man’, but has become a general term denoting Aboriginality in the South-West of Western Australia. Bibbulumun is one of the fourteen South-West languages that have combined over the last 152 years to create the modern Nyoongah spoken in the play.
Nyoongah words here are spelled phonetically, however the pronunciations of certain sounds are as follows:
NG has a silent ‘g’, as in ‘sing’
Y is always short, as in yet
A is always long, as in ‘raft’
R is rolled, as with a Scottish burr
TJ is pronounced ‘ch’, as in ‘change’
B is pronounced ‘p’, as in ‘pit’
ALLEWAH, watch out
BAAL NOONINY BARMINY, he’ll hit you
BARKINY, bite
BARMINY, strike
BILBARL, black goanna
BOOLYADUK, magic man
BOONDAH, money
BOOTJARRI, pregnant
BRIDAIRA, boss
BRUDGE, brother (from the English)
BUNGARRU, goanna
CHOO, shame
CHUBEL, spear
CLAPSTICKS, two short sticks which, when struck together give a musical beat for the corroborree
DAITJ, meat
DAWARRA, bad mouth
DAWARRA, NITJA WETJALA, bad mouth, this is a white man
DING, Italian (W.A. slang)
DOAK, throwing stick
DOOTHOO, dogs
DUBAKIENY, steady, slowly
DUBAKIENY WAHNGINY, talk steady
DUGAITJ, dugite snake
DUMBART, people of the same tribe
FREED, Fremantle, Fremantle Gaol (W.A. slang)
GNEEAN BAAL?, Who’s he?
GNEEAN NITJA KOORLING?, Who’s coming there? GNUNY, me, I
GNUNY TJENNA MINDITJ, my feet hurt
GNOOLYA, brother-in-law
GNOON, brother
GNUMMARRI, tobacco
GUDEEAH, white people, white person
GUGJA, lilyroot (North-West language)
INJI STICKS, decorated sticks used in the corroborree
JEERUNG MEEAR, medicinal leaves
KAAL, fire
KAEP, water
KARGUDDA, south
KIA, yes
KIENYA, shame
KILLARLA, tobacco (North-West language)
KONGI, uncle
KOODJIE, bony, the Sister and Matron’s nickname
KOOLANGAH, children
KOOLBARDI, magpie
KOOMP, urine
KOORAWOOROONG, an expression of disbelief
KOORIES, women (North-West language)
KOORT, weak
KOORT MINDI
TJ, weak heart
KULIYA, yes, (North-West language)
KUNARN, true
KWOMBINYARN, excellent
KWON, arse
KWONNA TJUELLARA, bony arse
MANATJ, police, black cockatoo
MEEOWL, eyes
MERRANG, flour, bread
MINDITJ, sick
MIRRI-UP, hurry
MIRRI-UP, MIRRI-UP. ALLEWAH KOORKANJERRI GNUNY NOONINY WOORT DININY, WOORT DININY, hurry, hurry. Watch out sheep, I’m going to cut your throat
MOORDITJ, good
MUMMARI, little spirit beings
NEMINE, corruption of ‘never mind’
NIETJUK, why
NITJA BRIDAIR YORGAH KOORLING, the boss’s woman is coming
NYOONGAH, Aboriginal, literally ‘man’ in the languages of the South West. Some time after 1829 it entered common usage as a term denoting Aboriginality, similar to Wongai in the eastern goldfields, Yamatji in the Murchison and Koori and Murri in the eastern states.
NYORN, pity
NYORN, WINYARN, pity, poor fellow
NYUMMI, slow learner
RIZLA’S, a brand of cigarette papers
SHOO-I, a shout or warning of evil
TJENNA, feet
TJENNA GUBBI, an Aboriginal secret executioner
TJEURIPINY, glad
TJINUNG, look
TJIRRUNG, fat
TJUELLARA, bony
UNNA?, Isn’t it?
WADDI, club
WAH, where
WAHNGING, talk
WANBRU, blankets
WANMULLA, cannibals
WARRAH, WARRAHMUT, bad
WAYARNINY, frightened
WEE-AH, cry of grief, yes
WEERNY, weak
WETJALA, white person, a corruption of the English ‘white fellow’
WILBRA, rabbit
WILGI, specially prepared paint for ceremonies
WINJAR, where, which way
WINJAR KAEP?, Where’s water
WINYARN, poor fellow, weak-willed person
WOGGA, (coll.) a blanket made up of four or six wheat sacks sewn together.
WOOLAH, shout of praise
YAHLLARAH, group dance
YOKKI, shout of praise
YONGA, YONGARAH, kangaroo
YORGAH, woman, girl
YUART, nothing, no
YUMBAH, children (North-West language)
BACKGROUND READING
Moore River Native Settlement
One of the most vivid accounts of Aboriginal life at the time of No Sugar is to be found in Not Slaves Not Citizens by Peter Biskup, University of Queensland Press, 1973. Here is part of his account of the Settlement:
The land was unsuitable for cultivation. In summer there was an acute shortage of water, alleviated only by the fact that the inmates were “content to drink the river water which is slightly brackish”. The settlement was constructed to house 200 inmates; after the transfer of the Carrolup Aborigines, in June 1922, it had a population of almost 400. In the customary official jargon, the inmates were “perfectly happy and contented”, but anyone with eyes to see would have found little to substantiate this claim. Fenced compound, camp police and the settlement “boob” were a part of daily life. Compound inmates were not allowed to leave the compound without written permission from the superintendent or the matron, and outside visitors had to have similar approval. Association of adults and children was prohibited, even in the dining room, where there were separate sittings for women and children. Female inmates were subjected to particularly strict discipline. Girls under the age of fifteen were segregated from older girls who in turn were kept apart from women with young children. Children’s dormitories were locked and bolted from the outside at six o’clock in the evening, even in summer. For the “camp” aborigines (those not housed in the compound) institutional care meant little more than a weekly ration of 1½ pounds of sugar, 8 pounds of flour, 4 ounces of tea, 1 stick of tobacco, and 3½ pounds of meat, mainly kangaroo or brush flesh caught by the aborigines themselves. Wages for work performed were nominal. The inmates were also allowed to buy, through the superintendent, such items as books, magazines, sewing material or “anything of improving nature”. The education of the one hundred-odd settlement children was entrusted to one teacher. Boys who were not “likely to improve further” were put to work on the farm before they reached school-leaving age, while girls were sent to work in the sewing room or in the kitchen. The spiritual welfare of the inmates was entrusted to a resident Church of England missionary but her work was hampered by recurring clashes with the superintendent who objected to her “familiarity subversive of discipline” and the “lack of dignity which is so essential in one making an attempt to uplift, control and bless this childish race”.
It is hardly surprising that the southern part-Aborigines should have come to regard Moore River as a prison. Recaptured absconders were invariably sentenced to fourteen days of solitary confinement in the “boob”. Habitual absconders were occasionally sentenced to imprisonment in the Fremantle gaol. Girls who became pregnant after being sent to service were sent back under warrant, together with the child—in some cases almost white. Still, it would be wrong to regard the settlement as a concentration camp, or even as a place of permanent segregation. The administration was genuinely convinced that the harsh measures, and in particular the separation of the children from the parents, were absolutely necessary if the young generation was to be uplifted and weaned away from its Aboriginal background. (pp.156–57)
This book also contains an account of the character and career of A.O. Neville, including his antipathy towards missionaries and his book Australia’s Coloured Minority which he wrote after his retirement. Biskup quotes Neville’s conclusion:
The native must be helped in spite of himself! Even if a measure of discipline is necessary it must be applied, but it can be applied in such a way as to appear to be a gentle persuasion… the end in view will justify the means employed. (p.70)
There is also an account of his attempt in 1927 to establish in the Kimberleys a Home for Criminally Minded Natives; and the protest in 1930 by the Road Boards Association of W.A. against the re-opening of property for reserves where indigent Aborigines could live under the supervision of the Police. The scheme was abandoned, leading to incidents like the transfer of natives from Northam in 1933; and severe overcrowding at Moore River. (p.164)
A fuller comment on A.O. Neville and his work may be found in G.C. Bolton’s essay, ‘Black and White After 1897’ in A New History of Western Australia edited by C.T. Stannage, University of W.A. Press, 1981. In it Professor Bolton writes:
A considerably abler man than his predecessors, Neville dominated the working out of Aboriginal policy for a generation. As an administrator he was astute, gentlemanly and fully aware of the limitations on manoeuvre in a government department of lowly status and funding. His assessment of Aboriginal capacity reflected the conventional wisdom of his day, perceiving the Aborigines as most attractive when most remote from the mainstream of Australian society: “The uncivilized natives have a code of their own which is in a way superior to ours but which seems to disintegrate as soon as they get in touch with civilization.” (pp.137–38)
The 1933 Election and the Secession Vote
A description of the secession movement which led to a referendum at the electoral ballot in 1933; and of the election itself which ‘turned with equal decisiveness against the State’s foremost local patriot’, may be found in A Fine Country to Starve In by G.C. Bolton, University of W.A. Press, 1972. He writes:
Not only was Sir James Mitchell’s government beaten by the biggest election landslide in twenty years, but he himself and half his cabinet were thrust out of their seats in Parliament.
Sir James Mitchell was apparently amazed at this result, but Lady Mitchell was not. Going the rounds among the housewives of Northam, canvassing for her husband as she always did, she kept coming across old acquaintances who told h
er apologetically that this time they were giving Labor a go, because of the Depression . A.R.G. Hawke, the young Labor organizer contesting the seat… was a relative new-comer to the district, only five years over from South Australia, but he found the Northam voters tremendously eager for a change of government. “You could get a thousand to a meeting if you just stood in the street and rang a bell.” (p.256)
The Oombulgarri Massacre (Act Two Scene Six)
Billy’s account of the massacre of his people in the Kimberley region is adapted from a report of such a massacre by Daniel Evans, taken down verbatim by the novelist Randolph Stow and quoted in full in his book To the Islands, Picador, 1983.
Western Australian Historical Society (Act Three Scene Five)
Mr Neville’s paper to the society is adapted from a paper delivered by him in 1936, in the possession of the society.
Mary’s Punishment (Act Four Scene Two)
The origin of the incident of Mary’s whipping is from evidence to the Moseley Royal Commission of 1934 by Annie Morrison:
Sir, i have six children three boys three girls at moore river. they haven’t enough to eat. Water soup no meat and bread and fat for breakfast and tea no green vegetables and fruit. they haven’t Warm clothes for Winter my children have only one blanket between three of them Winter and summer i have been there and seen it. i hear some girls screaming in the office and the teachers said two trackers held the Girls feet over a sack of flour and Mr Neal Gave them a hiding and till tha wet them self we had to eat the flour after.
Further reading
Ronald M. and Catherine H. Berndt (eds.), Aborigines of the West, University of W.A. Press, 1979.
Adam Shoemaker, ‘An Interview with Jack Davis’ in Westerly No.4, December 1982.
Copyright Page
CURRENCY PLAYS
First published in 1986 by
Currency Press Pty Ltd
PO Box 2287
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
www.currency.com.au
[email protected]
Reprinted 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 (twice), 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013
First digital edition published in 2014 by Currency Press Pty Ltd.
Copyright © Jack Davis, 1986
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