BANGARRA DANCE THEATRE

STUDY GUIDE FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY pays respect and acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, create, and perform.

We also wish to acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples whose customs and cultures inspire our work.

INDIGENOUS CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (ICIP) Bangarra acknowledges the industry standards and protocols set by the Australia Council for the Arts Protocols for Working with Indigenous Artists (2007). Those protocols have been widely adopted in the Australian arts to respect ICIP and to develop practices and processes for working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and cultural heritage. Bangarra incorporates ICIP into the very heart of our projects, from storytelling, to dance, to set design, language and music. © Bangarra Dance Theatre 2019 Last updated September 2019

WARNING Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this Study Guide contains names and images of, and quotes from, deceased persons.

Photo Credits Front Cover: Bangarra ensemble, photo by Daniel Boud Back Cover: Yolanda Lowatta, photo by Daniel Boud

2 INTRODUCTION CONTENTS

Inspired by ’s award-winning book of the same name, explores the vital life force 03 of flora and fauna in a series of dance stories. Directed Introduction by , Dark Emu is a dramatic and evocative dance response to the assault on land, people and spirit. We celebrate this sharing of knowledge, the heritage 04 of careful custodianship, and the beauty that Bruce Using this Study Guide Pascoe’s vision urges us to leave to the children.

05 Contemporary Indigenous Dance Theatre

09 Bangarra Dance Theatre “The stain is deep in our chalk and until we can accept what the explorers 10 saw as part of the national story our The Power of Narrative debate of national origins, character and attributes is hobbled by ignorance.” 12 – Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu Urban Pre-History 13 Aboriginal 14 Aboriginal

15 The Economics of Collaborative Farming

16 Creating Dark Emu

18 Performing Dark Emu

19 Creative Team

20 Discussion Starters 21 Resources

3 USING THIS STUDY GUIDE

Bangarra Dancers in in Dark Emu, photo by Daniel Boud

The purpose of this Study Guide This Study Guide also proposes is to provide information and perspectives and provides CROSS CURRICULUM contextual background about the historical viewpoints sourced from PRIORITIES themes explored in Bangarra Dance a number of historians and writers Aboriginal & Torres Strait Theatre’s production of Dark Emu. about Aboriginal agriculture, Islander histories and cultures This Guide can assist teachers and aquaculture and land management. Sustainability students in thinking critically, and However, it is important to note in forming personal responses that Bangarra’s Dark Emu is a to the work. We encourage the creative interpretation of these GENERAL CAPABILITIES: audience to engage emotionally themes, breathing the essence of Intercultural understanding and imaginatively with Dark culture through the dance, design, Critical and creative thinking Emu, and to embrace the many music and sound aspects of the interrelated themes, stories and production. issues that are woven into this LEARNING AREAS: production. We hope you enjoy Dark Emu. The Arts English Humanities & Social Sciences Science

4 CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS DANCE THEATRE

form, and are able to celebrate the Artists and leaders like Carole Y. PERSPECTIVES, resilience of Australia’s First Nations Johnson, Stephen Page, Frances people and their ancestors through Rings, Raymond Blanco, Vicki van VOICES AND the sharing of works that depict Hout, Gary Lang, and Marilyn Miller, Indigenous stories, cultures and are some who have paved the way. CULTURES perspectives. More recently Elma Kris, Deborah The concept of contemporary Brown, Yolande Brown, Daniel Riley, Indigenous dance theatre cannot It is important to consider the Mariaa Randall, Sani Townsen, Jacob be understood as a categorised language we use when talking Boehme, Ghenoa Gela, Thomas genre or a particular form because and writing about Indigenous E. S. Kelly, Joel Bray, and Amrita it exists as part of a continuum that cultures in the context of art: Hepi are contributing to the ever- responds to a diversity of culture when it is made, how it is made and growing critical mass of Indigenous and developing perspectives. Any where the source material comes contemporary . contemporary Indigenous dance from. The general application production that incorporates and understandings of the terms Building a skills base has been music/sound, design and other ‘traditional’ and ‘contemporary’ both a challenge and a significant conventions of the theatre will can be problematic when critiquing contributor to the development of inevitably have a deep purpose Indigenous dance theatre. By fixing Indigenous contemporary dance and and an essential spirit that is, and the term ‘contemporary’ to the dance theatre. The establishment will always be, about Aboriginal form, it could be argued that we are of training institutions like and Torres Strait Islander cultures. implying ‘post-colonial’, ‘modern’ National Aboriginal Islander Skills While drawing on traditional or ‘non-traditional’. Yet with many Development Association (NAISDA) stories and cultural ways of new works sourcing their inspiration Dance College in Sydney, and being, Indigenous dance theatre from the Indigenous cultures that Aboriginal Centre for Performing provides an important platform for have existed since ancient times, Arts (ACPA) in Brisbane, have Indigenous people. It gives voice to what is ‘traditional’ and what is been fundamentally important the experience of living in a modern ‘new’ can exist simultaneously. to increasing technical skills to world that experiences constant This is often expressed by saying support the creation of new works. change, where the threat to cultural Indigenous Australian cultures are Market development initiatives, identityis relentlessly present. the oldest living, and continuous the growth of touring networks, cultures in the world. and a range of strategic programs The growth in availability of to address identified gaps in the technical resources, an increasing infrastructure, have been and number of performance venues, FORM, continue to be critical to the growth and the proliferation of new arts and sustainability of this work. festivals and digital platforms, has ACTIVATION greatly supported the development From the mid-20th Century, of new Indigenous dance theatre, AND PROCESS contemporary forms of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander expression as well as the careers of the many One way of exploring the creative artists involved. As more emerged across all art forms and development of Indigenous dance began to infiltrate mainstream arts new work is created, support for theatre over the last three or four the infrastructure and training that programs that largely drew on decades is to trace the journeys of western cultures and/or western underpins these forms has also some of the artists who have been grown, resulting in a critical mass forms of presentation. By the significant contributors to that 1960s, young black theatre makers, of professional artists involved in development. It should be noted producing high quality productions playwrights, writers and actors were that while many opportunities have creating works that reflected their that increase the demand we been opened up for Aboriginal and currently see from audiences in culture in both the pre-colonial and to develop post-settlement worlds. Writers Australia and internationally. One in their choreographic work and of the most important outcomes of Kevin Gilbert and Jack Davis, and their leadership roles, the true force actor/directors Bryan Syron and these developments is the fact that behind this development has been more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Bob Maza were among some of the commitment and determination the black theatre makers who islander people are able to see their of the individual artists themselves. cultures reflected in this unique lay the foundation for the strong

5 Indigenous theatre scene that exists and written information is usually The concept of Country and Land for today. Novelist Faith Bandler, and second hand. Indigenous Cultural & Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander poet/artist/educator Oodgeroo Intellectual Property (ICIP) rights are people is extremely different. Noonuccal (Kath Walker) were also variously enshrined both Australian strong voices in the new wave of and international conventions and The spiritual dimension of Country Indigenous writers whose works statements, and are an important cannot be detached from the now form part of Australia’s rich safety net that seeks to ensure physical. Country can mean a and diverse literary landscape. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait person’s Land where they were wave of contemporary Indigenous cultures survive and thrive. born, as well as the sea, sky, rivers, artists that followed in the wake of sacred sites, seasons, plants and the Papunya Tula art movement in animals. It can also be a place of the 1970s has seen Aboriginal and COUNTRY, heritage, belonging, and spirituality Torres Strait Islander work acquired that is inseparable from the land. for major collections around the RELATIONSHIP Hence, the impact of displacement world, which command impressive from Country, and the disruption prices in auction houses globally. AND to that sense of belonging to one’s Many, if not all, of these artists also Country, can be catastrophic for consider themselves activists, and CONNECTION Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander there is no doubt that their work has people and their cultural and had a significant impact on the way ‘Country’, as a western construct, economic wellbeing. Story, song, non-Indigenous people have learned is mostly understood as a defined dance, and ancestral lineage provide about Indigenous cultures and the place, marked by borders, (natural the foundation for an existence on ongoing political struggle of First and/or imposed), and operating this earth, and a passage to and Nations people in the context of on principles of sovereignty and from the worlds beyond life on earth post-settlement life. the governance of the nation – and those stories and songs all link by the state. Ethnicity, religion, to Country as a home for Culture. The creative processes of any artist environment, and histories tend to emerge through a range of of colonisation and conflict For Indigenous people, these influences, discovery and personal are signifiers that overlay the complex relationships are like experience. Yet for Indigenous artists, identification of a ‘country’. As threads in a tapestry of exploration these processes are more complex. history shows, these factors have that has no beginning and no end, Respect for cultural protocols, the often been the cause of conflict yet is founded on, and maintained need for community engagement, between groups who claim their through, specific information that is and a strong commitment to enforce right to a ‘land’ is justified. Land transmitted by ‘walking on Country’, care for traditional knowledge that ownership and other interests in oral transference and a range of is shared, and/or provided through land have been closely associated other traditional practices. a process of request, invitation, with human rights, where groups permission and transmission, are all can show a perpetual connection When artists draw from the concept things that need to be considered and to the land in order to justify their of Country, they are the bearers upheld as new expressions are created right to occupy. of Culture, illustrated and made by Indigenous artists. Navigating all meaningful in many ways to many these considerations is complicated At a community level, the concept different people. In this way, the and takes time. However, the of public, private, individual, or dance theatre worlds within this ongoing development of Indigenous collective ownership of property work provide the opportunity to dance (and other contemporary (e.g. land, a house, a business) has delve into the concept of Country art forms) is dependent on these developed over just a few thousand and all it holds in the way of protocols and practices being years. The right to own property knowledge, spirituality and observed and implemented to that has a capital value, possesses cultural meaning. ensure cultural continuity. Stories, certain features and resources, can songs, dances, and connection to be bought and sold for profit, and Place are sacred, and are passed on the protection of these interests through oral transmission, so there and capacities by law, is the is no central knowledge source, enduring assurance of the western capitalist system.

6 Beau Dean Riley Smith, Kaine Sultan-Babij, and Yolanda Lowatta in Dark Emu, photo by Daniel Boud

7 CULTURAL CONSULTATION RESOURCES INHERITANCE AND AND TRANSFERAL OBSERVANCE OF

OF KNOWLEDGE PROTOCOLS Burridge, Stephanie & Dyson, Storytelling in Aboriginal and For all of its productions, Julie (ed.). ‘Shaping the Landscape: Torres Strait Islander life is the the Bangarra Creative Team celebrating dance in Australia’. Routledge, New Delhi, India & means by which cultural systems, researches and explores the Abingdon, UK, 2012. values, and identity are preserved stories of Indigenous cultures in and transferred. Telling stories close consultation and collaboration Dunbar-Hall, Peter & Gibson, Chris. through song, music and dance, with their traditional custodians, ‘Deadly Sounds, deadly places: in order to connect people to land, before embarking on the process of Contemporary Aboriginal Music in and teach them about their culture creating the production. Each year, Australia’. UNSW Press, Sydney, 2004. and the traditions of their ancestors Bangarra spends time in specific is the way knowledge is passed Indigenous communities, meeting Thompson, Liz (Compiler). ‘Aboriginal Voices: Contemporary from generation to generation. with Elders and traditional owners Aboriginal artists, writers and Knowledge about Aboriginal and and living with the people of that performers’. Simon & Schuster Torres Strait Islander totemic community – learning about the Australia, Sydney 1990. systems, the histories of peoples, stories that connect the people, clans and tribal associations, the land, the language, and the language, land, and concepts creatures of the land. Everyone and connections of kinship, are who works at Bangarra feels very maintained though these stories. strongly about their role in the company’s work. They make sure The Deep Archive: Wesley Enoch Many of Bangarra’s productions that the stories they tell are true on Contemporary Indigenous Arts are based on or include stories from to the traditional owners of those Practice. Real Time Arts, 2017. the Dreaming, which are allegorical stories and uphold the integrity https://www.realtime.org.au/ representations of contemporary of the stories’ meanings. the-deep-archive-wesley-enoch- on-contemporary-indigenous-arts- existence and the future of practice/ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and people. Expressing EXPERIENCING Johnson, Carole Y. (1940-). and maintaining culture through National Library of Australia contemporary interpretations and DANCE IN A https://trove.nla.gov.au/ rich theatrical realisations enables people/1491391?c=people the world of Australian Indigenous THEATRICAL culture to be shared with the full diversity of today’s audiences. CONTEXT It is important to note that dance THE DREAMING theatre works are essentially artistic Carole Johnson — Delving into Dance invention, and are created to with Ausdance (2017) Indigenous spirituality exists in express a broad range of ideas and https://www.delvingintodance.com/ the concept of the ‘Dreaming’. thoughts. While some information podcast/carole-johnson?rq=carole%20 Dreaming connects Indigenous is provided in the program notes johnson people to the past, creates of each production, the viewer is relevance to the present, and free to interpret the work according guides them for the future. to their individual perspectives, Dreaming stories can illustrate emotional responses, and level the phenomena of creation, of experience in the viewing transformation, natural forces, of performing arts. Repeated Bangarra Dance Theatre YouTube Channel - interviews with Artistic and life principles. They are viewing of the work, along with Director Stephen Page and other specifically related to landforms, the cumulative process of learning Bangarra Creatives. places, creatures and communities. about the themes, source material, https://www.youtube.com/user/ The ancestral beings that populate cross-referencing of the range bangarradancetheatre the stories form the spiritual of subject matter and creative essence of the stories. Bangarra’s processes involved in the making portrayal of stories of the Dreaming of the work, contributes to personal through the contemporary dance and critical responses to the work. theatre form requires a diligent Bangarra invites its audiences to process of connecting and building share, learn, and appreciate the a relationship with the traditional critical importance of Aboriginal custodians of those stories so and Torres Strait Islander cultures that the integrity and authenticity in order to understand their own is respected. relationship with the cultures and the people of Australia’s First Nations.

8 BANGARRA DANCE THEATRE

Frances Rings, Djakapurra Bangarra Dancers, photo by Carole Y Johnson, Matthew Bangarra Dancers and Crew, Munyarryun, and Marilyn Miller, James Morgan Doyle, and Phillip Lanley, photo by Tiffany Parker photo by Greg Barrett photographer unknown

culture in both its pre-colonial and post- Based in Sydney, Bangarra presents BANGARRA’S settlement states (see Form, Activation performance seasons in Australian and Process, p. 5) capital cities, regional towns and remote BEGINNINGS areas, and has also taken its productions By the 1980s, NAISDA had developed to many places around the world Bangarra Dance Theatre was founded a performance arm called the Aboriginal including Europe, Asia and the USA. due to the efforts of an American Islander Dance Theatre, which woman, Carole Y. Johnson, who toured to showcased the development of students Bangarra provides the opportunity Australia in the early 1970s with the Eleo into professional Dancers and also gave for people of all cultural backgrounds Pomare Dance Company from New York. opportunities for these Dancers to to share knowledge about, and have develop as Choreographers. Raymond a contemporary experience of, the Johnson had experienced the full Blanco, Marilyn Miller and Dujon Nuie world’s oldest living cultures. Bangarra impact of the civil rights movement were some of the artists who took on has nurtured the careers of hundreds in the 1960s, and been a part of the the role of Choreographer and paved of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander proliferation of new modern dance the way for many more to come. professional artists, including Dancers, exponents across America, who Choreographers, Composers and were focused on freeing dance from In 1989, Johnson founded a new Designers. its institutionalised bases and using company, Bangarra Dance Theatre. dance to make commentary on the Bangarra is a word meaning Since 1989, Bangarra has produced contemporary world. She studied at the ‘to make fire’. In 1991, the artistic dozens of original works for its prestigious Juilliard School in New York directorship was handed to Stephen repertoire, collaborated on the and was awarded scholarships to work Page and he premiered his first work, creation of new productions with other with communities in Africa. Johnson Up Until Now for the company in Australian performing arts companies knew the power of dance as a practice, October of the same year. such as The Australian Ballet and the and as a communication platform. Sydney Theatre Company, and played an integral role in opening ceremonies During her time in Australia in 1972, of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games she was asked to conduct dance BANGARRA and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. workshops. These were very successful In 2016, Bangarra created its first and resulted in a Johnson’s new dance TODAY feature film, SPEAR. production that depicted Australia’s Today, Bangarra is one of Australia’s own civil rights actions. The Challenge Bangarra’s Dancers and collaborating leading performing arts companies, – Embassy Dance was about the artists come from all over Australia, widely acclaimed nationally and around Moratorium for Black Rights initiated including the major groups in relation the world for its powerful dancing, by workers’ unions in 1972, and the to location, for example: Torres Strait distinctive theatrical voice and utterly challenge to uphold the presence of Islanders, (Murri), New unique soundscapes, music and design. the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. South Wales (), Victoria (Koorie), The company is recognised globally for South Australia (Anangu and Nunga), critically-acclaimed theatre productions Johnson quickly realised that there Arnhem Land, Northern Territory that combine the spirituality of was a lack of contemporary dance (Yolngu), Coast and Midwest Western traditional cultures with contemporary expression in the Australian sociocultural Australia (Yamatji), Southern Western forms of storytelling though dance. environment, and decided that she Australia (Nyoongar), Central Western Bangarra is supported with funding would do something about it. On the Australia (Wangai) and Tasmania through the Australia Council for the back of her workshops, she established (Palawah). Some of the Dancers are Arts (the federal Government’s arts the Aboriginal and Islander Skills graduates of NAISDA Dance College funding and advisory body), Create Development Scheme in 1976, which was (NSW), or Aboriginal College of NSW (NSW arts policy and funding to later become the National Aboriginal Performing Arts (QLD), and others are body) and a number of private Islander Skills Development Association graduates of dance courses delivered philanthropic organisations and donors. – known today as NAISDA Dance by universities around Australia. College. At the same time, black theatre The company also derives earnings makers, playwrights, writers, and actors from performance seasons, special were creating works that reflected their events and touring.

9 THE POWER OF NARRATIVE

Yolanda Lowatta in Dark Emu, photo by Daniel Boud

“Narrative is both about Since the first Europeans started Challenge and controversy over to visit the Australian continent Australian history has never been what we put into a story over 400 years ago, and the far from a political agenda and and what we leave out.” subsequent British settlement in politicians have used history in a the late 18th century, the Australian number of contexts to advocate for – GREG MELLEUISH, THE TEACHING OF AUSTRALIAN national narrative has been a fierce change, or for continuity. Historical HISTORY IN AUSTRALIAN and furious work in progress. The information and perspectives SCHOOLS: A NORMATIVE is a story that can consciously be manipulated VIEW (2006) is under constant revision as to support a political, social or evidence is revealed, considered economic policy, and can also and often contested. unconsciously be taken into the national narrative to become part Contradictions of accepted of the ‘story’ that either supports truths are frequently proposed or deconstructs positions of and examined, sometimes power. Primary source discovery causing a major shift in peoples’ can be exposed, camouflaged or understanding, sometimes blatantly denied. As society shifts changing nothing, and sometimes its compass, and seeks to know proving what everyone knew in the truth, knowledge barriers come the first place. down and new histories are written. In this respect, ‘official’ history is an interesting concept.

10 Is ‘unofficial’ history the voice barking in the background, unsettling mythologies and disrupting notions of national identity?

Bruce Pascoe’s book Dark Emu, The start of that journey is to allow the knowledge BLACK SEEDS: agriculture or that Aboriginals did build houses, did cultivate accident? was published in 2014. It challenges some of the most crops, did sew clothes and were not hapless accepted ‘truths’ in regard to wanderers across the soil, mere hunter-gatherers. Aboriginal people and their ways of Aboriginals were intervening in the productivity life prior to European settlement. Armed with compelling evidence of the country and what they learnt during that from an impressive body of process over many thousands of years will be historiographical research, the useful to us today. To deny Aboriginal agricultural book shatters the myth that refers to Aboriginal society as being and spiritual achievement is the single greatest primarily (if not exclusively) a impediment to inter-cultural understanding and, hunter-gatherer society, foraging perhaps, Australian moral and economic prosperity. for food, killing wild game and not engaging in agriculture or – BRUCE PASCOE, DARK EMU BLACK SEEDS: AGRICULTURE OR sedentism. ACCIDENT? (2014)

Building on the work of contemporary historians Rupert Gerritson and , as well as earlier history writers, Pascoe Nations people understood the Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Dark Emu also sourced first-hand writings of land as a living, breathing entity, invites audiences to experience the explorers of the late 18th and colonisers saw the land as an object the spirit of Baiame, and all it early 19th centuries, and spoke to be used; that could be exploited represents, and think about the with a number of Elders and senior and modified for raw materials in knowledge barriers that have Indigenous community members. order to achieve economic return. clouded Western perspectives The result is a book that illustrates They did not see what was already since European occupation. Dark a world of highly sophisticated there, and they chose not to learn. Emu presents an opportunity to be agricultural systems, land and water interested to know more about the management strategies, sustainable Seeing the southern continental ways Aboriginal people have cared fishing practices, construction land as empty of productive use, for, and drawn life from this land methods and domestic living and the Aboriginal people as not for over 60,000 years, and how the arrangements. part of the ‘civilised’ world was deep and enduring connection to analogous to not seeing the spirit land through ancestry and culture The title Dark Emu refers to Baiame of the land, the owners of the land, is fundamentally critical to the – the dark shape between stars in and the care and management of future of this land. the Milky Way that resembles the the land over thousands of years. spirit emu who left the earth after And this blinkered perception was creation. This practice of looking not innocent ignorance in any way. at the space between echoes It supported the British settlement throughout Dark Emu, and sets up a project in line with imperialist key dichotomy between Indigenous claims, appropriating a right to and colonial approaches to land colonise and assuming the right and land management. While First to govern.

11 URBAN PRE-HISTORY

Many people would claim that “… (The dwellings) were Australia’s urban history began made of strong boughs DISCUSSION with the first European settlement. STARTER In the late 18th century, Europeans with a thick coating of clay saw Australia as a land without over leaves and grass. They large buildings or recognisable What can be learned infrastructure, and a people who did were entirely impervious from knowing more not present in the look, language to wind and rain, and were about precolonial and behaviours of Europeans. really comfortable, being Australia was proclaimed by Aboriginal urban the British as being terra nullius evidently erections of a settlements, (‘nobody’s land’ in Latin). It took permanent kind to which architecture and until 1993, when the Federal the inhabitants frequently Government handed down the land management? Mabo Decision, for the doctrine returned.” of terra nullius to be overruled in – CHARLES STURT, TWO law. This delay demonstrates the EXPEDITIONS INTO THE INTERIOR overwhelming strength of a socio- OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA (1833) political agenda that sought to bypass any acknowledgement of The building of houses for groups Australia’s Indigenous people as of people to live as a functioning the First Nations of this country, community is purpose-related to by way of ignoring their complex, producing sustenance and shelter scientific and successful traditions on a permanent or rotational that enabled them to live basis. Locations that support food sustainably. supply, access to water, and other resources, enable the practices One of the signifiers of urban and aquaculture to is the construction of settlements develop. The precolonial Aboriginal and housing, and one of the most agricultural economy was not enduring mythologies in Australian based on individual or company history is that Aboriginal people ownership or competition and were exclusively a hunter-gather profit; this economy was developed society. However, in the diaries from the land – not imposed upon of the early explorers there are it. It was sustainable, collectively numerous descriptions of clusters managed, and environmentally of huts and permanent settlements sensitive. As European forms of across many areas of Australia, both farming took over the land, the coastal and inland. Large villages land suffered. Hard-hooved grazing consisting of permanent dwellings animals destroyed the soil, blowflies that would have supported around came with the animals and brought 800 to 1000 people were reported disease, fertilisers contaminated by British explorer Charles Sturt, and the waterways. Aboriginal farming other similar housing is documented collapsed under this assault, and the in the journals and reports of villages that the explorers described explorers Thomas Mitchell, Willem in their journals were abandoned. de Vlamingh, Nicolas Baudin, Daniel Brock and Lawrence Well.

12 ABORIGINAL AGRICULTURE

It is a commonly held view that weak. They came across a large village of Aboriginal people in traditional circumstances never engaged in food who immediately offered them production, specifically in terms of developing of water (from underground water adopting agriculture. Based on this assumption there holes), roast ducks and cake had been extended debate on the supposed reasons (Sturt, in Pascoe, p.75). for this. Such debates are meaningless if the initial We do not know exactly how long premise is incorrect. And it may well be. Furthermore, Aboriginal people were roasting ducks and baking bread and cake, if that assumption is incorrect it has significant but we can speculate that perhaps implications for theories on the origins of agriculture. these were the first people to do so. Aboriginal prehistory presents – RUPERT GERRITSON, AUSTRALIA AND THE ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE (2008) not only the challenge of sourcing evidence, but the willingness for history writers to see past embedded bias and trust the voice The practice of agriculture before As the colonists spread across of those who hold the knowledge. the time of white settlement is the grasslands and brought rarely noted in historical narratives grazing animals onto the land, about Australia, despite there the ground that supported these being considerable evidence found highly nutritious crops was lain in colonial journals and reports, fallow and the soil structure DISCUSSION and the fact that many preserved was irrevocably altered. STARTER traditional practices exist to this day in a number of Aboriginal “(at the time of There is a growing communities. colonisation), at least 19 body of evidence that One of the most popular crops different species of plant challenges the broadly was Murnong (also known as the were being cultivated accepted view that yam daisy). Murnong resembles the contemporary sweet potato with by at least 21 different Australian Aboriginal the texture of a water chestnut. It identifiable Indigenous people were essentially was grown and harvested in many groups. These included a nomadic hunter- of the wetter areas of the country, and is still enjoyed today in some species of yam, sweet gatherer society, living parts of Australia. The tuber/root is potato and its relatives off the meat of wild full of nutrition, and the leaves and (such as “bush potato”) animals and fish and flowers are also edible. “native millet”, ngardu, native pants. Grain production was carried out “bush tomatoes” and What are some of the drier areas. The Panara (grass “bush onions”. people) collected and propagated the reasons that this seed, redirected water to the crop, – RUPERT GERRITSON, mythology was allowed and harvested the grains which AUSTRALASIAN SCIENCE included sub-species of millet and (JULY/AUGUST 2010) to become so generally barley. Grains were crushed and accepted? used to make paste or baked to In 1844, Charles Sturt led an produce bread. Surpluses were expedition party onto the Stony stored in specially constructed desert, reaching the point which storage buildings and traded with is now called Cooper’s Creek. The other groups. creek was completely dry and the party was dangerously fatigued and

13 ABORIGINAL AQUACULTURE

Tyrel Dulvarie in Dark Emu, photo by Daniel Boud

Evidence of Indigenous peoples’ Other forms of fish traps consisted fishing practices can be seen today of platforms built into the riverbank DISCUSSION in many places throughout the and connected to a series of STARTER country. One of the most famous gates and tunnels where fish of these is at Brewarrina in New were corralled for easy extraction. South Wales, where there are fish Again, the amounts were controlled Have a look at some traps said to be over 40,000 years to take into account changing images of Aboriginal old. Brewarrina is located on the seasons and periods of drought. fish traps, and research Barwon River about 800 kilometres northwest of Sydney. In the Eden area of southern New the technology that South Wales, Elders talk enabled their function. There were hundreds of traps such about the abalone fishing, and Could this technology as these throughout the Australian special cooking methods employed river systems and their capacity to avoid the meat being tough. be used today? How to harvest fish to feed thousands In Victoria, Aboriginal people could Western culture of people is not disputed. The employed some very innovative make this technology technology involved an intricate ways to net and spear crayfish, construction of river stones that and stories of automatic fishing work in a market would drive the fish into shallow machines further reveal the vast economy? waters for easy capture. Part amount of knowledge that has of this practice was the careful been lost as Europeans choose to consideration of remaining fish ignore Aboriginal ingenuity. As we populations, in order to ensure look at the current issues around spawning and maintenance for overfishing, land degradation and future harvests. salinity, we realise how much poorer we are for the lost knowledge.

14 THE ECONOMICS OF COLLABORATIVE FARMING

In his book The Biggest Estate on burning regenerates the bush to Earth (2011), Bill Gammage dissects produce more food – for both DISCUSSION the idea that Aboriginal people game and people; it reduces fuel to STARTER were not farmers, and shows prevent widespread and dangerous evidence that Aboriginal people fires; and is tailored to the knew this country in ways that seasonal patterns of a given area, Ngarrindjeri Elder Europeans have never understood. rather than commercial demand. Tom Trevorrow With diametrically opposed Aboriginal farming is framed as an remarked in Murrundi policies about land use and land economic paradigm that is based care, a great deal of fundamental on the needs of the community, as Ruwe Pangari Ringbalin knowledge has been lost, and the opposed to the needs of individuals ‘River Country Spirit environmental impact has been or businesses. Aboriginal farming Ceremony: Aboriginal significant. was practiced collaboratively, to maintain balance and abundance. Perspectives on River If we look very hard, and listen to Country’ (2010) that Elders and other Aboriginal and While it is difficult for mainstream “…our traditional Torres Strait Islander community contemporary society to see the management plan was members, we can see and vast so-called ‘uninhabitable’ areas appreciate the value of Aboriginal of Australia as being able to sustain don’t be greedy, don’t land care and management, and large numbers of people, this is take any more than learn from the very sophisticated exactly what did occur. Knowing you need and respect practices that were developed Country, respecting Country and over tens of thousands of years. living collectively in harmony with everything around you. These practices were based on a Country is a policy for land and That’s the management deep knowledge of plants, soils, resource management that cared plan – it’s such a simple seasons, natural resources, river for Country. Floodwaters were systems and populations. What stored and dispersed, crops were management plan, but one group of people had in surplus sewn and harvested according so hard for people to could be shared with another to the natural climate patterns, carry out.” group who were in need; water, and an economy of sharing and feeding grounds, fishing nets and trading operated effectively and Why do you think traps operated with efficiency and sustainably. sustainability as priorities. Trevorrow suggests this “… more than the physical is ‘so hard for people “They shaped Australia management of a geographical carry out’? area it encompasses looking after to ensure continuity, all of the values, places, resources, balance, abundance stories, and cultural obligations and predictability. associated with that area, as well as associated processes of spiritual All are now in doubt” renewal, connecting with ancestors, – BILL GAMMAGE, food provision and maintaining THE CONVERSATION kin relations”. (DECEMBER 8, 2011) – ALTMAN, BUCHANAN, AND LARSEN, THE ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE Using the land by changing it and INDIGENOUS ESTATE: NATURAL using the land by managing it are RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AS different. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN REMOTE AUSTRALIA (2007) ‘Fire-stick farming’ works in Australia, but not in Europe, so to the early colonists the concept of burning to regenerate was unknown. In Australia, controlled

15 CREATING

Bangarra Dancers in Dark Emu, photo by Daniel Boud

The creative process of Bangarra’s Drawing up fragments of ideas how can we relate that to our own production of Dark Emu is inspired and weaving them into sound, individual place in the world? and motivated by stories and issues design, and dance is a delicate and Gradually the creative process of Indigenous Australia. Making highly focused process. Words enables the work to take on a force a new Bangarra work is always are important. They can become of its own. The artists start to listen complex and challenging, due to banners in the mind, and drive to the spirit of the dance and trust the sheer breadth of material that abstract ideas into more substantial that spirit. It is an organic process is being explored in the process of concepts. These ideas and concepts and there are often surprises along research and discussion. To create start to gain traction, building the way. a new work is to find and awaken in strength as more layers are the unique spirit of the story, and uncovered. Textures, sound, and Bangarra’s Dark Emu presents to share it with the utmost care light are imagined and the creative a world that has been mostly and respect. threads start to weave into the extinguished from history; a world fabric of the work as a whole. where this land was cared for and Bruce Pascoe’s book Dark Emu managed well by Aboriginal and BLACK SEEDS: agriculture or Some ideas are quite specific, Torres Strait Islander people, and accident? (2014) provides a deep such as the story about Bogong where the economy of the land and inspiring well of information Moth season, when people would was based on reciprocity, balance for Bangarra’s Dark Emu. Fuelled capture thousands of moths in and deep knowledge. The audience further by information passed down caves, harvest them, use the oil on is offered the chance to think through Aboriginal communities, their skin, eat the highly nutritious about this world, and learn and and discussions with a number of meat or ground it into a paste to value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Cultural Consultants, Bangarra’s be preserved as cakes. Other ideas Islander cultures for their ingenuity, Creative Team start their creative were more abstract, for example the resilience, beauty and hope. process by examining themes and idea of the sky looking at the earth ideas that represent the stories that and the earth being reflected in The Creative Team for Dark Emu are needing to be told, at the same the sky. What would that look like? consists of an Artistic Director/ time embedding their own personal What would it mean? What is the Choreographer, two additional responses in the work. energy that passes between, and Choreographers, a Dramaturg, a 16 I’ve enjoyed exploring the ways of reawakening these cultural practices physically through dance and movement and the challenge of telling a story, smartly and cleverly, and with respect to the stories, traditions, and history. – DANIEL RILEY, CHOREOGRAPHER 2008

Music/Sound Composer, and Set, Costume, and Lighting Designers. As well, there are a number of Cultural Consultants, the author of the book Dark Emu, a Rehearsal Director and eighteen Dancers, all contributing to the creative process. It is a difficult process and there are no short cuts. There are deadlines to reach and there is limited time to make the work. In the early stages, a great deal of discussion and experimentation occurs among the Creative Team. The Director offers ideas, the Dramaturg brings information from research and Luke Currie-Richardson and Dancers in rehearsals reflection, and the Designers for Dark Emu, photo by Daniel Boud try various illustrations and experiments based on the ideas that emerge and develop.

Once in the studio, the physical language enters the process and the Dancers and Choreographers play with movement responses to the ideas. As each movement motif develops into a sequence and takes on a structure, the arc of the production starts to form; the design elements begin to coalesce with the choreographic and audio elements. The final version of the production is usually complete just before the premiere. This is not unusual, as every moment Stephen Page speaks to Dancers is important, so every moment about Dark Emu, photo by Daniel Boud is used.

After the premiere, the new work will continue to grow and mature, and the artists will discover new layers to their interpretations. The life of a work is not over when the performance season is over, because the impact for audiences and artists will live on and move with them into their next experience.

Dancers in rehearsals for Dark Emu, photo by Daniel Boud

17 PERFORMING

Dark Emu is a collection of 14 interlinked sections inspired by stories of respect and connection. Each section illustrates lines of cultural lineage and traditional knowledge relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander relationships with Country.

Dark Spirit of the Sky Ceremony of Seed Forged by Fire Bogong Moth Harvest/ Looking into the void Working with the Fertilised by ash Moth Oil Ritual cycle of life Oiling and feasting

Crushed by Ignorance Escape Through Dust Bowls of Mourning Trampled by Indifference The calamity of disregard A resilient lone spirit Tears mix with the earth in A scourge of hooves, of prevails, moving onwards caps of clay flies and disease

Rebirth Ritual Rocks of Knowledge Whales of Fortune Smashed by Colonisation Carefully we are restored Weaving traps with stone The pinnacle of reciprocity, A final, climatic massacre, and skill trust is shared with the an uncomprehending cetaceans destruction

THANK YOU MY COUNTRY I am the rock that holds the hear, after the sun has set Thank you, my Country I am the grain that takes the oil, after the pouring is done Thank you, my Country I am the stone soaking up water, long since retrieved from the pool Thank you, my Country Resilience of Culture Baiame A wonder and power that The spirit of resilience and I am the spirit of Country, still giving all life to the land nurtures earth, sea and sky hope, singing up the land Thank you my Country © Alana Valentine, 2018 Photos by Daniel Boud

18 CREATIVE TEAM

Artistic Director Lighting Designer Stephen Page Sian James-Holland

Choreographers Dramaturg Stephen Page Alana Valentine Daniel Riley Yolande Brown Cultural Consultant Dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre Yuin/Biripi Nation Woman Lynne Thomas Composer Steve Francis Language Consultant Yuin Knowledge Holder Costume Designer Warren Foster Jennifer Irwin Author of Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Set Designer Agriculture or Accident? Jacob Nash Bruce Pascoe

19 Tyrel Dulvarie backstage, Bangarra Dancers at curtain call for Bennelong, photo by Tiffany Parker photo by Tiffany Parker

PRE-PERFORMANCE POST-PERFORMANCE DISCUSSION DISCUSSION

Refer to the list of Resources provided on page 21, Consider the themes and stories in the production which relate to Indigenous agriculture, aquaculture and and think about how they make you feel. farming, Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives, land care and environmental science. If you are able 1. How does dance theatre form tell a story that is to access a copy of Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu BLACK complex and largely based on historical record, SEEDS: Agriculture or accident?, familiarise yourself but is abstract in presentation? with some of the main themes. 2. Is this a powerful form of storytelling? If so, why? Discuss the evolution of Australia’s national historic 3. How do the dance, design and audio elements narrative, examining how it has been revised over time. complement each other? 4. Were there any specific sections that made a Use the following a guide. particular impact on how you felt about something, 1. Since colonisation, what are some of the mythologies stimulating a response that you weren’t expecting? have been created and challenged?

2. Are there continuing tensions (economic, cultural, social, and political) between western capitalist society and levels of awareness and respect for First Nation communities and their culture? If so, how are these tensions manifested? 3. How is history often a contested practice that requires thorough research as well as a level of objectivity and sensitivity? 4. How can we investigate and re-investigate our history from multiple perspectives? 5. Build the discussion to incorporate a range of perspectives be aware of the stories within the stories.

20 RESOURCES

Not hunter-gatherers: Pascoe, Bruce. Bruce Pascoe on storytelling, ‘Dark Emu BLACK SEEDS: history and cultural pride. agriculture or accident?’. NITV, 2016. Magabala Books, Broome, 2014. https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/arti- cle/2016/05/17/bruce-pascoe-story- Gammage, Bill. telling-history-and-cultural-pride ‘The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia’. Allen & Unwin, Sydney (2012).

Gerritson, Rupert. ‘Australia and the Origins Bruce Pascoe - Conversations of Agriculture’. with Richard Fidler. Archaeopress, Oxford (2008). Radio National, 2016. http://www.abc.net.au/radio- national/programs/conversations/ bruce-pascoe/7134452

Dark Emu: Bruce Pascoe and Tony Birch in Conversation. The Wheeler Centre, 2017. https://www.wheelercentre.com/ broadcasts/podcasts/the-wheel- er-centre/dark-emu-bruce-pascoe- and-tony-birch-in-conversation

Word Up: Bruce Pascoe - AWAYWE. Radio National, 2018. http://www.abc.net.au/radionation- al/programs/awaye/features/word- up/word-up/9591844

Bruce Pascoe and ‘Dark Emu’. The Paper Tracker, 2017. http://www.papertracker.com.au/ radio/bruce-pascoe-and-dark-emu/

21 BANGARRA DANCE THEATRE AUSTRALIA

ABN 96 003 814 006

Tower Three, International Towers 300 Barangaroo Avenue Barangaroo NSW 2000

Phone +61 2 9251 5333 Email [email protected]

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