Yanagai! Yanagai! Page 4
LESLEY: Right.
QC: I will repeat the question.
LESLEY: [blurting out] I do! Sorry. You have to give me the question first though, ay?
QC: Mr James, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Pause.
LESLEY: I…
Dramatic pause.
QC: Mr James?
LESLEY: … do! There you go. That was easy, ay? Ah, what was the question?
QC: Mr James!
LESLEY: Right. Carry on. Bloody hell.
QC: Mr James! This is a court of law. Unnecessary language will be classified as contempt of court.
LESLEY: Unnecessary language?
QC: You are required to answer all questions clearly and truthfully.
LESLEY: Unnecessary language.
QC: Thank you, Mr James, the court will be asking you a series of questions which will—
LESLEY: Manarraupna mutja!
The words ‘Thunder in your anus!’ are projected behind LESLEY.
QC: Excuse me?
LESLEY: Manarraupna mutja!
QC: I haven’t asked you a question.
LESLEY: That’s language. It means ‘You are my friend’. Did you get that down for the records? That’s M… A… N…
QC: Thank you, Mr James, we will refer to that term in due course. If I could just ask you one question?
LESLEY: Yep. Go on.
QC: Thank you. Mr James, can you please state—?
LESLEY: Woningenda dhanu minhe? Ngina gaka daya minhetguda? [‘You want what? You come here what for?’]
QC: You must wait for the question, before you speak!
LESLEY: Ngina beka muma molwa! Nyini Yorta Yorta wala maniga naika nyanuan. Yanagai! Yanagai! [‘You demon from grave! My mob water fish duck belong us.’]
QC: Mr James, you must answer me in English or this testimony will not stand in this court of law!
The QC is banging his hammer. The English translations are projected around the space.
LESLEY: Nga dhupan nyunu woningenda! Woningenda pekka! [‘I spit hate you! You ghost!’]
QC: Order in the court!
LESLEY: Woningenda pekka batima! Woningenda pekka batima! [‘You devil to spear! You devil to spear!’]
QC: Mr James! Order in the court!
LESLEY: Yorta Yorta woka deyawin! Ngunuk nga loatbaty! [‘Yorta Yorta land this one here! I am talking to you!’] Lotjpa Yorta Yorta! [‘Speak Yorta Yorta!’] Yanagai! Yanagai!
QC: Officers of the court, remove this gentleman from the stand! This court is adjourned!
The TELLERS enter.
TELLERS: [together] Always was, always will be Yorta Yorta land! Always was, always will be Yorta Yorta land! Always was, always will be Yorta Yorta land!
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
SCENE TWELVE: WHICH WAY?
It is night. The full moon is drawing big, long shadows.
MUNARRA enters, followed by the DINGOES, exhausted. They have been walking for hours and now find themselves surrounded by dead and dying trees.
MUNARRA enters first, charging ahead.
DINGO 1: Munarra. Wait! Garraba! [‘Wait a little!’] We’re exhausted. We can’t walk any longer.
MUNARRA: For once, will you stop ya whining!
DINGO 2: We can’t keep walking like this.
MUNARRA: I’m on a mission!
DINGO 1: [whining] But we’re tired!
DINGO 2: I’m hungry. Dungudja mulanwitj! [‘Hungry, very.’]
DINGO 1: We can’t fight when we’re starving.
DINGO 2: Please, Munarra. No more walking.
MUNARRA: Alright!
She stops suddenly. They bump into her.
Let’s stop here for a minute.
They look around.
DINGO 1: Where are we?
DINGO 2: You reckon that this was the way to get to Curr’s Homestead.
MUNARRA: [sadly] Everything’s different. I don’t recognise this place anymore. The landmarks have gone. The big tree? The meeting place?
DINGO 1: They stuffed it!
MUNARRA: Curr! Come on, let’s find him!
She threatens to walk again.
DINGO 1: No! No more walking.
DINGO 2: Please let’s rest.
DINGO 1: Nanyubak manu. [‘Let’s sleep in the camp.’]
MUNARRA: Okay! We’ll camp here for the night. Then we can keep looking in the morning.
She sets up her own bed for the night. The DINGOES snuggle up close to her.
Go away! Birra-ma! [‘Go!’] You two sleep over there!
She shoos the DINGOES off and they set up their own camp away from her. They all attempt to sleep. When they lay down, sounds come out of the bush. The DINGOES jump up startled.
DINGO 1: What was that?
MUNARRA: Nothing! Sshhhh. Now sleep!
The DINGOES settle back down again until they hear another sound.
DINGO 2: I heard something!
MUNARRA: Sshhhh! Quiet!
She throws a stick at them. The DINGOES cower and rest until another sound makes them jolt up.
DINGO 1: Did you hear that?
DINGO 2: Where?!
DINGO 1: I heard something!
DINGOES 1 & 2: [together] Gukai!
MUNARRA: Aaaah! Come on then. Sleep over here. Nanyu-bak. [‘We will sleep.’] Then we can get some rest!
The DINGOES rush over to MUNARRA’s side and snuggle up to her, whimpering and fidgeting until they finally sleep. MUNARRA stays awake on high alert and slowly rises to investigate. We hear the gentle sound of droplets, together with bush and night sounds, intensifying, calling her. The DINGOES are restless in their sleep, but do not wake up.
[Whispering] Dhoma nyinyi gutapka. [‘My dear baby.’] Dhamala! [‘Grandfather!’] Bakinal! [‘Cousin!’] Wanhal yenbena? [‘Where are the people?’] Wanhal yenbena? [‘Where are the people?’] Winyanboga bapu! [‘Several woman, aunt!’] Djiyaman gathagana. [‘Don’t fear.’] Yitja ngangwurra. [‘Heartache.’] Dangalatj-djamitj. [‘Sorrow.’] Dangalatj-djamitj. [‘Sorrow.’]
MUNARRA wakes the DINGOES and they quietly exit.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
SCENE THIRTEEN: NO TRESPASSING
Uncle’s camp.
UNCLE sits by his fire and picks up the can of tuna. He’s starving. He stares at the can for a long time until he gives up and opens it. He eats hungrily. LYALL enters with a brand new fishing rod, bucket and net.
LYALL: Morning, Uncle. Thought I’d come by and do a spot of fishing.
UNCLE: [hiding the can of tuna] Oh, yeah?
LYALL: I can’t go back to the city without a fish. Mum’ll kill me.
UNCLE: [eyeing off LYALL’s fishing gear suspiciously] Do a bit of fishing, do ya?
LYALL: Not as much as I’d like to.
UNCLE: That’s a pretty flash rod you got there, lad?
LYALL: Yeah, it’s a Super Fine Aurora Trillium IM8 Pro Muskie rod.
UNCLE: I bet you catch a lot of flash fish with that flash rod?
LYALL: They told me at the shop that it’s made from graphite. It’s got these gold titanium guides, a reinforced fore and aft with a cork-grade handle.
UNCLE: Oh, yeah?
LYALL: You see, it’s real lightweight.
He demonstrates.
UNCLE: [checking out LYALL’s small net] What, you got a net there too, ay lad?
LYALL: Ohh, yeah. Don’t wanna let him get away.
UNCLE: You’ll need a bigger net to catch the fish I’m after! In my day you needed a horse and cart to get your fish up onto the bank!
LYALL: True!
UNCLE: Well, lad, [pointing to his handline] this here is the Yorta Yorta ‘Series Three’. All you need is a beer bottle, some line and a hook. It has to be a VB beer bottle though, ay? Oh, and don’t forget, you need a carefully selected gum tree twig to balance ya line on.
LYALL: I don’t do much fishing these days. It’s hard for me to get out bush when I’ve got so much work on.
He is having trouble baiting his hook and pricks his finger.
UNCLE: What bait you using there, lad?
LYALL: Worms. Got ’em at the store.
UNCLE: You won’t do no good with worms. You’ve gotta use grubs. Here.
He hands LYALL a tin of grubs.
LYALL: Geez! I haven’t seen one of these since my grandfather took me out fishing when I was a kid.
UNCLE: Who your grandfather?
LYALL: Garfield Jackson. Everyone called him Gundi.
UNCLE: Gundi! He was a good footballer your grandfather.
LYALL: Yeah.
UNCLE: Good shearer too.
LYALL: I miss him, ay?
UNCLE: He was a good man. Smart too. He helped the mob get a petition together. Sent it to the king. That must be where you get your brains from.
LYALL: I dunno. Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing in that court.
UNCLE: Hmph.
LYALL: I tell ya, some days I’d like to just sit on this river all day!
UNCLE is silent.
[Looking into the river] So, you reckon there’s a one-hundred-year-old Murray cod down there, ay?
UNCLE: You ever seen a Murray cod, lad?
LYALL: Nah, never.
UNCLE: We call that one ‘burnanga’. Murray cod. I’ve been after this big old fish for fifty years. Yep. Harold I call him.
LYALL: Harold?
UNCLE: Named him after me dad’s old shearing boss. Harold bloody Whithers. I’ve got a bone to pick with him.
LYALL: Whithers?
UNCLE: Old Harold Whithers. Didn’t like my father ’cause he was a better shearer than him.
LYALL: Me and Uncle Jim tried to get onto the Whithers’ property the other day.
UNCLE: Did you?
LYALL: Over near Maloga. We were looking for that tree.
UNCLE: [suspiciously] What tree?
LYALL: You know, the big canoe tree out bush Uncle Jim told me about?
UNCLE: [lying] I’ve never seen it.
LYALL: When we went to check the place out the farmer wouldn’t let us on there.
UNCLE: What? Who this fulla?!
LYALL: Whithers! When we got to the gate he came up in his four-wheel drive. He had a huge mongrel-looking dog in the back. Said we couldn’t come onto the property.
UNCLE: Harold bloody Whithers. Come back to haunt me.
LYALL: His grandson. Said we had to have a permit! He locked that gate right then and there. Right in front of us! The gate had a sign on it: ‘No trespassing. Trespassers will be prosecuted’. Then he drove off and left us in a cloud of dust.
UNCLE: No trespassing?!
LYALL: That’s what it said.
UNCLE: Down near Maloga?
LYALL: Yep.
Silence. UNCLE contemplates.
UNCLE: Pack up ya gear, lad! We’re going for a walk.
They exit.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
SCENE FOURTEEN: MUNARRA AND THE COW
Sunrise.
MUNARRA and the DINGOES have been searching for CURR all night. She is having a child-like tantrum—sobbing and crying, big, long. pitiful wails.
MUNARRA: I’m lost. I don’t know this place anymore. [Yelling up to Biami] I can’t save this place!
More pitiful wailing.
DINGO 2: Munarra, please. Don’t give up. You’re our only hope.
MUNARRA continues to wail.
DINGO 1: Don’t despair.
DINGO 2: Stand tall.
MUNARRA: No! It’s bloody hopeless. Where the bloody hell are we?
MUNARRA looks around, trying to find their bearings.
DINGO 1: I don’t know.
DINGO 2: No good.
MUNARRA wails even louder and starts to bang her legs, having a tantrum.
DINGO 1: Munarra, please don’t cry.
DINGO 2: Please stop.
MUNARRA: No! It’s terrible!
DINGO 1: No, Munarra, no.
MUNARRA: The trees are gone.
DINGO 2: They’ll grow back.
MUNARRA: The river’s stuffed.
DINGO 1: You’ve got to have hope!
MUNARRA: What for? I haven’t eaten for days! I wanna go home.
DINGO 2: You are home.
MUNARRA wails even louder.
DINGO 1: Munarra, don’t despair. Sshhhh. Sshhhh now.
DINGO 2: Sshhhh.
DINGO 1: It’s alright.
DINGO 2: Sshhhh now. Sshhhh.
DINGO 1: Sshhhh.
A cow wanders into their space and mooos.
MUNARRA: What the bloody hell is that?!
The DINGOES tentatively guard MUNARRA.
DINGO 1: It’s okay, Munarra.
DINGO 2: We’ve been sent to protect you.
DINGO 1: Your faithful companions.
DINGOES 1 & 2: [together] Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
MUNARRA: What is this animal?
The DINGOES sniff.
DINGO 1: Strange.
DINGO 2: Very.
MUNARRA: It’s not from here.
DINGO 2 sneaks cautiously up to the cow’s arse to sniff at it.
DINGO 2: Look here! This fulla’s got the biggest boobles I’ve ever seen!
He pokes at them and they wobble profusely.
MUNARRA: Ayyy! Shame!
She waves her stick at DINGO 2.
DINGO 1: Do you reckon this fella would make for good eating?
DINGO 2: Oooh, yeah.
The cow lifts its tail and does a loud, runny shit.
ALL: [together] Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!
MUNARRA: I reckon this one belongs to Curr. [To the cow] Take me to your leader!
The cow wanders off. MUNARRA and the DINGOES follow it.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
SCENE FIFTEEN: STUMPED!
In the bush.
UNCLE and LYALL are at a fence. UNCLE has some wire cutters. LYALL is on the lookout. UNCLE cuts the fence and we hear the wire release and reverberate into the distance.
UNCLE: Harold bloody Whithers. Come on, lad, it’s over here. I remember now.
LYALL: How old do you reckon that tree is, Unc?
UNCLE: Oooooh, he’s real proper old that one. Older than your great-great-grandfather!
LYALL: True!
UNCLE: Yep, this is the place, lad. I remember! This is where my dad and my uncles took me. You look over there! That tree, he’s here somewhere.
LYALL and UNCLE look for the tree. Faintly the projections of old Yorta Yorta spirits are seen and heard in the trees.
LYALL: Uncle, how will I know which one is the canoe tree?
UNCLE: Ooh, you’ll know.
LYALL: How?
UNCLE: He’s a big old tree. Really tall, with a big canoe cut out up high.
LYALL: [looking at a tree] Nup, not here.
UNCLE: Keep looking.
LYALL: [looking at a tree] Nup, not this one.
UNCLE: Keep looking.
LYALL: [looking at a tree] Nope.
UNCLE: Ahhhhh. I can feel him now. He’s singing to me.
Very faintly the wailing of the river is heard.
LYALL: [looking at a tree] Where, Uncle?
UNCLE: Come on, old fulla. Keep singing.
LYALL: Uncle?
UNCLE: Yep. He’s here alright.
LYALL: Uncle?!
UNCLE: [shouting] I told you I could find this place!
LYALL: [shouting now] Uncle! Come here!
UNCLE: What you got there, lad? You found my tree!
He walks expectantly towards LYALL.
Let me see now!
LYALL steps aside to reveal a tree stump and fresh sawdust on the earth. UNCLE and LYALL stare at it for a long time.
Silence.
LYALL: Ever since Mabo they’ve been doing this stuff to our sacred sites! Burying them. Not telling anyone, when they see our bones. Sacred objects! They can’t do this! Uncle?
UNCLE remains staring at the tree. Silence. LYALL begins to walk away.
> UNCLE: Hey, lad!
LYALL: I’m sorry, Uncle.
UNCLE: You going to that court tomorrow?
LYALL: Yep.
UNCLE: Pick me up. Early. When the sun comes up. I’ll be waiting for you.
END OF ACT ONE
ACT TWO
SCENE SIXTEEN: WE KNOW HOW TO WAIT
The STORYTELLERS are in a courtroom. Images of ancestors are projected into the trees. They wait. Silence.
TELLER 1: We are here.
TELLER 2: We are here.
TELLER 4: We’re waiting.
TELLER 2: Waiting!
TELLER 3: Waiting!
TELLER 4: Waiting!
TELLER 3: For the judge.
TELLER 4: He’s late.
TELLER 2: There’s nothing we can do about it.
TELLER 4: Silence.
TELLER 3: Deathly silence.
TELLER 4: How much longer do we have to wait?
TELLER 2: For those men to make their decision.
An ancestor’s image fades from a tree.
TELLER 1: Another death. Stories gone.
TELLER 3: How much longer do we have to wait?!
TELLER 4: What are they doing in there?
TELLER 2: Behind that door.
TELLERS 2, 3 & 4: [together] Come on!
TELLER 2: Don’t worry about us.
TELLER 4: We know how to wait.
TELLER 3: Months, years, a decade.
TELLER 4: Waiting since 1881!
TELLER 2: And the men in the chambers mumble.
TELLER 4: Their tummies rumble.
TELLER 2: ‘Let’s do lunch!’
TELLER 4: We’re waiting.
TELLER 3: For our justice.
TELLER 1: Another death.
TELLER 3: Stories gone.
TELLER 2: Is today the day for justice?
TELLERS 2, 3 & 4: [together] Waiting! Waiting! Waiting!
TELLER 3: Three knocks on the door.
TELLER 2: ‘All rise.’
TELLER 4: Stand.
TELLER 3: Bow to the judge.
TELLER 1: Another death. Stories gone.
TELLER 4: Is today the day for justice?
TELLER 3: The stenographer!
TELLER 4: Bored shitless.
TELLER 3: The clerk!
TELLER 4: Looks like he’s done something wrong.
TELLER 2: Is today the day for justice?
TELLER 1: Another death. Stories gone.
ALL: [together] Give us our land!
Three knocks of the hammer.