This section is about storytelling. It focuses on the development of an important strand of the play: how William Cooper (1861-1941), an Aboriginal man of Yorta Yorta descent, became an Indigenous rights activist.
Scene
This montage of scenes begins with William Cooper’s political awakening on the Cummeragunja mission. It moves on to show him giving a political speech about conditions on Cummeragunja, and then the formation of the Australian Aborigines League and a 1938 plan to protest celebrations 150 years of British settlement with a ‘Day of Mourning.’
As you watch the scene and the interviews, think about the following questions:
In the interview, Andrea notes that a challenge of these scenes is that they involve giving a lot of information, and could be ‘didactic’ (meaning preachy and teachy). What information do the scenes deliver, and do you think they are staged successfully?
What perspectives and information do the interviews add that is not clearly apparent from the scenes themselves, and how, if at all, does that change your understanding of the scenes?