Steve Hawke – July 2 2017

NAIDOC Week – July 2-9 2017

This year’s theme, ‘Our Languages Matter’, aims to emphasise and celebrate the unique and essential role that Indigenous languages play in cultural identity and the transmission of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, spirituality and rites. Some 250 distinct Indigenous language groups covered the continent at first (significant) European contact in the late 18th century. Most of these languages would have had several dialects, so that the total number of named varieties would have run to many hundreds. Today only around 120 of those languages are still spoken and many are at risk of being lost as Elders pass on.

Steve has written history, biographies, plays and scripts. The son of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Steve grew up in Melbourne and as a teenager headed for northern Australia, settling in the Kimberley. At 19 he had fallen in love with the country, the people and its stories and he went to work with Aboriginal communities. His first novel, Barefoot Kids, was inspired by the famous Broome-based Pigram brothers. His other works include A Town is Born: The Fitzroy Crossing Story, Noonkanbah: Whose Land, Whose Law, Kimberley Christmas, and Polly Farmer: A Biography.

Jandamarra
Currency Press, 2008; ISBN 9780868199733
Full length play; 4 female, 12 male (doubling possible)

Jandamarra is a legend of the Bunuba people. He led one of the longest and most successful campaigns to defend Aboriginal country in Australian history before being gunned down while still in his twenties. This is his story, as told by Steve Hawke and developed from the stories of the Bunuba people and from the book, Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance by Howard Pedersen and Banjo Woorunmurra. Following his journey into manhood and his attempts to escape his family and culture before becoming a leader for his people, Jandamarra seamlessly combines traditional storytelling, dance and song in a culturally illuminating, emotionally stirring and linguistically captivating reimagining of his story. From child to mystic resistance leader, this is a superb portrayal of the rebellion leader and his spiritual awakening.
THE PLAY: In 2005 the Black Swan State Theatre Company commissioned Bunuba Films (Now BCE) to adapt their existing film script for the theatre. Steve had been working with the Bunuba people on developing the film script since 1994. Early in the play’s development it was decided to stage those elements of the play that take place in the Bunuba world in the Bunuba language. Mona Oscar, a senior Bunuba woman with a passion for her first language, was the main informant and authority in the translation of the Bunuba elements of the play assisted by June Oscar, director of Bunuba Films, CEO of Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre in Fitzroy Crossing, and Chairperson of the Kimberley Language Resource Centre, amongst other positions; and Patsy Bedford and Selina Middleton who both grew up in Fitzroy Crossing and have spoken Bunuba all their lives.

Jandamarra: Sing for the Country (Ngalanybarra Muwayi)
Music by Paul Stanhope; text by Steve Hawke, with the Bunuba People
Score & CD – www.australianmusiccentre.com.au

This dramatic cantata is an epic tale set in the dramatic landscape of the central Kimberley recounting the story of flawed hero, Jandamarra, one time tracker turned guerrilla leader and hero. The true story relates how in 1894, Jandamarra and some followers attacked five white men who were driving cattle to set up a large station in the heart of Bunuba land. This was the first time that guns were used against European settlers in an organised fashion and began what became known as “The Bunuba War”. For three years, Jandamarra led a guerrilla war against police and European settlers and his hit and run tactics and vanishing tricks became almost mythical. The Jandamarra story is owned by the Bunuba people from Western Australia and the cantata was dedicated to three much loved elders: Adam Andrews, the creator of the Yilimbirri Junba; Hazel Hawke, a patron of the SSO and mother of librettist Steve Hawke; and Molly Jalakbiya, the creator of the Dirrari Lament.