Yanagai! Yanagai! Read online

  CURR: And again we float silently down our liquid road, between grand old gum trees, abundance of couch grass, and clumps of reeds, up which climbed convolvuli in vast luxuriance. Here and there crowds of ducks, and swans occasionally, take wing at our approach; the white crane, the blue crane, and the nankeen bird, with outstretched necks, look at us inquisitively from many a branch a hundred and fifty feet overhead. At times, too, wigilopka [‘the laughing jackass’] salutes us from his leafy arbour…

  MUNARRA: Curr!

  DINGO 1: Grrrrrrr!

  DINGO 2: Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

  MUNARRA: Where is he going?

  DINGO 1: He’s going to make his fortune.

  DINGO 2: He’s gonna tell all the others and they’ll come too.

  DINGO 1: With their sheep.

  DINGO 2: And their guns.

  MUNARRA: Curr…

  DINGO 1: You remember him?

  MUNARRA: I remember him well.

  DINGO 2: You were so little.

  MUNARRA: Looking down the barrel of his gun is as clear as day.

  DINGO 2: And his ghost still hangs on.

  DINGO 1: Like a leech!

  DINGO 1: Munarra, you gotta make him see!

  DINGO 2: This place is sick and so is he.

  MUNARRA: Curr. I wanna talk to him.

  MUNARRA and the DINGOES watch the ghost of CURR float down the river and disappear.

  The lights fade.

  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

  SCENE SIX: SINGING THE COURTROOM

  Three loud knocks sound out.

  QC: This session has commenced. The hearing for the native title claim, Yorta Yorta Community and Others versus State of Victoria and Others.

  The TELLERS enter. They whisper as if in a courtroom.

  TELLER 1: We are here.

  TELLER 4: We are here.

  TELLER 3: We are here.

  TELLER 4: We are here because we want freedom.

  TELLER 3: Land!

  TELLER 1: Justice!

  ALL: [together] Revenge!

  TELLER 1: Shiny floors.

  TELLER 4: Foot-clomping corridors.

  TELLER 3: Courtroom carpet.

  TELLER 4: Sickly green.

  TELLER 3: Wooden benches.

  TELLER 1: Wooden panels.

  TELLER 4: Shiny.

  TELLER 3: Oh, so shiny.

  Pause.

  TELLER 1: Dust!

  TELLER 3: In the cracks.

  TELLER 4: On the edges.

  TELLER 1: The hard-to-get-at places.

  TELLER 3: On the wood panels. That cannot be reached.

  TELLER 4: Wood from the bush.

  TELLER 1: Hauled into the city to make this dock.

  TELLER 3: Stenographers. Clerks.

  TELLER 1: Black gowns.

  TELLER 4: Wigs.

  TELLER 3: Where’s your war paint?

  TELLER 4: This courtroom ritual is but a baby. Crying in a cot. Compared to our traditions.

  TELLER 1: Judges that make you stand. And sit. Stand and sit. Stand and sit.

  TELLER 3: This judge’s bench.

  TELLER 4: This hammer.

  ALL: [together] Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Pause.

  TELLER 4: This isn’t real.

  TELLER 1: Not real life.

  TELLER 3: Bored clerks.

  TELLER 4: Powerful attorneys.

  TELLER 1: Rolling in it.

  TELLER 3: With their blank bodies.

  TELLER 1: Unreadable faces.

  TELLER 4: Dead-pan.

  TELLER 1: Death.

  TELLER 3: How do they sleep at night?

  TELLER 4: We know how to wait.

  TELLER 1: We are here.

  TELLER 3: We are here.

  TELLER 4: Because we want freedom.

  TELLER 1: Land!

  TELLER 4: Justice!

  ALL: [together] Revenge!

  The words ‘yapun ngutun wunun’ [revenge] are projected onto the space.

  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

  SCENE SEVEN: I AM YORTA YORTA!

  Three loud knocks sound out.

  QC: We call Mrs Lola Williams to the stand.

  LOLA walks onto the stand.

  State your name.

  LOLA: My name is Lola Margaret Williams.

  QC: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

  LOLA: Yes. I do.

  QC: Mrs Williams, what is your date of birth?

  LOLA: I was born on the twenty-ninth of August 1934 on the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Mission.

  QC: And who is your mother and father?

  LOLA: Albert and Jessie Wallace.

  QC: And your father’s parents?

  LOLA: Well, ah, my grandfather was Albert Wallace. They called him ‘Stubby’ ’cause of his short legs. He married Jessie Charles and they had four boys and a girl. They lived on the mission. Two doors down from our house in that little street. That’s right, and my great-grandmother was Lizzie.

  QC: Thank you, Mrs Williams.

  LOLA: We lived next to the Charleses and they painted their fence purple. That’s right. And on the other side to us was the Jacksons and they had a little peach tree. And then there were all the families that were on the river. I can name all them too.

  QC: Thank you, Lola.

  LOLA: Yep. The Briggses and Alva and Gerald Morgan, the Coopers, Ada Atkinson and Henry, the Days and the Clements family. And we had a big school. There was Prissy Thorpe, Hartley, Selwyn, Glennis, Mavis, Johnnie, Jack was there. Ah… Larry, Bae, Thelma, Edna (she was keen on Artie), Gladys Briggs—she married a Jackson—little Albert and Mae Wallace—

  QC: Thank you, Lola.

  LOLA: —and Edward.

  QC: Mrs Williams, can you tell us about your great-grandmother Lizzie?

  LOLA: Oooh, yeah. She was real old. Tribal. She lived down the river. She had four teeth missing and wore this big possum-skin cloak all sewn up with the kangaroo sinew. I saw that. When I was a very little girl.

  QC: Your great-grandmother Lizzie, does she have a surname?

  LOLA: Oooh, no. Well, the old ones didn’t have surnames in those days.

  QC: Mrs Williams, do you call yourself Yorta Yorta?

  LOLA: Of course! I was born and raised on the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Mission. Got married there.

  QC: Is it not true that your great-grandmother was from Corranderk?

  LOLA: Sorry?

  QC: It is recorded on early missionary records that your great-grandmother Lizzie was from Corranderk.

  LOLA: Ooh no, she’s Yorta Yorta, I’m Yorta Yorta. We’ve always lived there.

  QC: I’ll present to you a copy of the Maloga Missionary list recorded as exhibit 18A.

  LOLA: What’s that?

  The list is projected.

  QC: Is the woman recorded as Lizzi on this list your great-grandmother?

  LOLA: Yes, she is. She is my grandfather’s mother.

  QC: Can you verify for the court the recorded birth place written beside your great-grandmother Lizzie?

  Pause.

  LOLA: It says Corranderk.

  QC: And do you know where the Corranderk Aboriginal Mission is situated?

  LOLA: Yes, sir, I do.

  QC: And can you tell us where?

  LOLA: It’s at Healesville.

  QC: And is Healesville on Yorta Yorta land?

  LOLA: No, that’s Wurundjeri country.

  QC: Thank you, Mrs Williams, you can stand down.

  LOLA: We’re Yorta Yorta! I was born and raised on the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Mission.

  QC: Thank you, Mrs Williams.

  LOLA: We’re Yorta Yorta. Everyone knows that. I told you that!

  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

  SCENE EIGHT: SINGING UP COUNTRY

  At Uncle’s camp.

  UNCLE is very hungry and still fishing. Occasionally he looks at the bag of supermarket food beside him. He reels in a line. The fish have stolen the bait. He sits and fishes, until he succumbs and takes
out a can of tuna from the supermarket bag and considers it.

  UNCLE: See, old Harold! This is what happens to fish who aren’t smart like you. [He puts the can down beside his feet and picks up the fishing line.] I’m gonna catch you today, Harold! You big, ugly Murray cod. It’s ya old mate Galnya here. [He waves a grub at Harold.] Can you hear me? This was old Uncle Charcoal’s spot. He was after you too, you old dinosaur fish!

  A large shadow moves in the water.

  You’ve seen it all, haven’t ya? You heard the songs travelling down the river. Upstream there where them big sandhills are. That’s where the old river was, ay? Too much water coming up. Not enough feed so the old fullas they let it go. You saw ’em! Digging away at the bank with their bare hands. Their hands! They was engineers them fullas. Let the water go. Changed the course of this river forever. That was waaaay before I was born. I’m gonna go up there tomorra. Up past where the old fullas’ camp used to be. That’s where I seen them old fullas dance, up near where the big canoe tree is. That’s sacred that tree. Don’t you go telling anyone where it is, Harold! That’s our secret, ay? Everyone told stories about you, when I was a little boy. You saw me, didn’t ya? Up there at the lakes. When I first started hunting for you. I was seven year old.

  The image of UNCLE as a little boy appears, fishing in a little tin boat. He is in the exact same fishing pose UNCLE is in. He has been fishing for hours and has a hard look of determination on his face. Suddenly, he feels an enormous tug on the fishing line.

  LITTLE ALBERT: Wooo! I got something, I got something!

  The line pulls ferociously, nearly pulling him into the water.

  Woooo, watch out! I’ve got a fish, I’ve got a fish, I’ve got a fish! I’ve got ya. Ooooh, he’s a big one. Hang on!

  He struggles with the line, being careful not to tip his boat.

  Hey, Dad! I got me a fish! A big one! I got him, I got him, I got him. He’s a big fulla! I’ve got ya. Hang on, ya big fish!

  He pulls the fish up to the surface and a giant cod’s mouth appears.

  Ooooooh! I got him, I got him, I got him. I got him. I got him.

  At the other end of the boat a huge tail is splashing in the water. LITTLE ALBERT turns to see the tail.

  What’s that? Oh, my God, it’s the giant fish!

  He drops the line in fright, grabs his paint tin lids and paddles his boat away at one hundred miles an hour.

  I saw the big fish! I saw the big fish! I saw the big fish! I saw the big fish!

  He paddles away until exhausted and then lays in the boat, slowly floating and looking up at the sky. UNCLE holds out his arms as if floating too.

  I love it here. I’m gonna live here forever. Right here.

  UNCLE: Yeah. Right here.

  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

  SCENE NINE: UNCLE COLIN IN COURT

  Three loud knocks and the words ‘All rise’ sound out. UNCLE COLIN and the QC stand at a sacred site.

  QC: This out-of-court hearing will now commence. It is 11.23 a.m. and we are now standing [looking at his compass] due south-east at thirty-three kilometres from the Barmah Post Office. We call Colin Walker.

  COLIN steps forward.

  Thank you. Colin, if I may call you Colin?

  COLIN: Yep.

  QC: Colin, you mentioned you are a senior site officer?

  COLIN: Senior Aboriginal Sites Officer.

  QC: And we are standing at what is known as an oven mound?

  COLIN: That’s correct.

  QC: Right. And um, this oven mound is the subject of an investigation. And is the purpose of the investigation to determine whether it’s a significant site or not?

  COLIN: Yes, it would be, ah, looking to see.

  QC: If this site is significant?

  COLIN: It’s sacred to us. This is an oven mound. It can be dated back to many, many thousands of years. People ate and camped here. We can tell by the food scraps and the old clay balls which was used to cook the food. This is a special place for us now. It’s been handed down.

  QC: Has the significance of this site been determined and recorded?

  COLIN: We as Aboriginal people didn’t have to go to colleges to get our degrees. Here’s our university, [pointing to the land around] this is where we got our degrees from. And this here was handed down. Yep.

  QC: Understand that, but um, the purpose of the investigation is to determine whether it’s a significant site, is that right?

  COLIN: Well, we know it is, because it’s been handed down.

  QC: And if it is decided that it is a significant site then it is registered and if it’s registered it’s then protected under the Aboriginal and Archaeological Relics Act. Is that correct?

  COLIN: Yep.

  QC: And if it is decided that it is not significant then it’s not registered.

  COLIN: This site has been here for thousands and thousands of years.

  QC: But is this oven mound registered as a significant site?

  COLIN: We know it is! My grandfather showed it to me when I was a kid.

  QC: But is it registered under the Aboriginal and Relics Act?

  COLIN: Look! Whether it’s registered or not, this is a special place for us.

  QC: Is it registered as a significant site under the Act?

  COLIN: Everyone here knows what it is. Its importance!

  QC: But is it registered under the Act?

  COLIN: Not that I know of.

  QC: Thank you, Colin. You can stand down now.

  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

  SCENE TEN: A CAN OF FISH

  Early morning at Uncle’s camp. The sun is rising and bird calls ring out.

  UNCLE steps over the can of tuna, baits one of his lines and throws it in the river. As he looks into the river, MAE’s spirit slowly appears. She is picking flowers on the distant shore.

  As LYALL enters, MAE’s image fades…

  Silence.

  LYALL: I was just driving by. Thought I’d drop in. See how you’re going. [Pause.] I’ve been driving around all day.

  Silence.

  Catching anything?

  UNCLE: Nup!

  There is an awkward silence.

  LYALL: You got a house somewhere around here?

  UNCLE: This is where I live.

  LYALL: It’s quiet around here, ay? [Pause.] The land claim’s going well. Nearly everyone’s gone up to testify. Auntie Betty went up. She’s seventy-two now. She told ’em everything she knew. She made us proud, ay? She even sang them a song.

  ‘Bura Fera’ is sung in the distance.

  Right there in the court! The QC was asking her a question and next minute she stood up and sang right into that microphone. A Yorta Yorta song. Sang every verse right through to the end. There’s only two songs left in language that we know of. [Pause .] Uncle, we wondered if you knew any songs you could tell the court about?

  UNCLE is silent.

  Auntie Betty told us you saw the old ones dance. Can you remember the songs? Any of the words. Even just one or two?

  UNCLE is silent.

  We went to the big midden near the junction yesterday. The whole court was there. You wanna see them with all their gear, traipsing through the bush with their microphones and all that. Bush court. They reckon those middens are like a timeline. Solid proof. Just like the scar tree.

  UNCLE: [suddenly interested] What scar tree?

  LYALL: They reckon there’s a big canoe tree in the bush around here somewhere.

  UNCLE: Who told you that?!

  LYALL: Uncle Jim.

  UNCLE: Well, he should know better!

  LYALL: Do you reckon you could find it again?

  UNCLE: I don’t know what you’re talking about!

  LYALL: It’s good evidence. For the claim. We thought you might know.

  UNCLE: I’ve never heard of it.

  LYALL: Will you take me there to see it? Just you and me.

  UNCLE: I don’t know where it is.

  LYALL: That tree will be solid proof
that we’ve been here forever.

  UNCLE: Those trees are sacred!

  LYALL: Uncle, I swear on my grandmother’s grave—

  UNCLE: I told you! You don’t go mucking around with that stuff!

  LYALL: Uncle, you have to help us. You’re the only eyewitness to stuff that nobody’s ever seen. That’s gotta stand up in court!

  UNCLE: Don’t come here talking all legal again. We’ve been fighting ever since whitefullas come here. And still nothing. This isn’t the first claim we’ve made. Do you know how many claims we’ve made since whitefullas have been here? Huh? Eighteen! Eighteen bloody claims. You know what they did to our farm lots up at the mish? Mmm? Give us some land, then they take it away and give it to the farmers!

  LYALL: That was back then! We’ve got native title now!

  UNCLE: Nah, no good. You’re not gonna get anywhere in those courts!

  LYALL: It’s our only hope!

  UNCLE is silent.

  Will you take me to the tree?

  UNCLE is silent.

  Uncle?

  Silence. UNCLE fishes. LYALL waits.

  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

  SCENE ELEVEN: LANGUAGE IN THE COURTROOM—TAKE THAT!

  Three loud knocks sound out.

  QC: All rise! I call Lesley James to the stand.

  LESLEY takes the stand.

  Please state your full name for the court.

  LESLEY: [tapping the microphone loudly] Testing! Testing! One! Two! Three!

  QC: Thank you, Mr James, please state your full name for the court.

  LESLEY: Ahem! Lesley Shadrach James.

  QC: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

  LESLEY: The truth?

  QC: Yes, Mr James, do you swear—?

  LESLEY: The truth is in the trees.

  QC: Do you swear to—?

  LESLEY: The truth is in the water, in the bush! That’s where it is!

  QC: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

  LESLEY: That’s all I have left.

  QC: Mr James, you must answer, clearly, ‘I do’.

  LESLEY: Bloody hell, I feel like I’m getting married—Alright, ‘I do’ as long as I can get a divorce later. Nah, only gammon. What was the question?

  QC: Mr James, you must swear ‘I do’, clearly, before the testimony can begin.