Winyanboga Yurringa

Andrea James

• Publisher: Currency Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781760623074
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Six Indigenous women gather on country for what seems like a fun camping trip by the river, a chance to get away from the daily grind, a time to natter and laugh. %##CHAR13##%A photographer, a museum curator, a community leader, a young and troubled niece, a besieged mother and a park ranger — these strikingly different contemporary Aboriginal women joke and bicker, rile each other one minute and comfort each other the next. And when the peace of the campsite is upended, they band together to make it right. %##CHAR13##%Winyanboga Yurringa weaves through questions about place and trauma, blackness and community, responsibility and ownership. %##CHAR13##%Inspired by the iconic TV show Women of the Sun, Andrea James's moving and gently provocative play celebrates the power of kinship and acceptance, and what it really means to be connected to country. %##CHAR13##%Winyanboga Yurringa is a work of great feeling, fraught with tension, leavened with laughter and racked with gut-felt anger. — Keith Gallasch, RealTime

PROLOGUE: WINYANBOGA YURRINGA

The land stretches out before us like a blank canvas. There is a sense of timelessness.

NEECY has come from a great distance.

She listens to country. She is seeking permission. She looks to a flock of birds that pass overhead. She listens some more. She feels. She waits. She calls out to the old ones.

NEECY: Dhama Yenbena [Old People].

Dhama Winya [Old Woman].

Dhama Yiyirr [Old Man].

Dhama Mulana [Old Spirit].

Permission is granted.

She pulls a digging stick from her bag.

Boondi [A girl’s best friend].

Nanyirr [Stick].

Winyarrin nanyirr [Women’s digging stick].

She begins to dig in the sand.

Bunburra djikurra. To Dig. Dig, dig. Get in there. Dig deep. Open up.

Dive in. Opening up the eyes of the earth. Grub about. Get dirty. Get in. We dig. We reveal that which does not want to be seen. Bunburra.

NEECY digs a large hole in the sand. Lights reveal NEECY’s niece, CHANTELLE, sitting off to the side with iPod and wearing headphones, sulking.

CHANTELLE: Can we go now?

SCENE ONE

The sound of an approaching minibus and the twang of loud country ’n’ western music. The bus screeches to a halt and the women alight from it noisily. Dust travels into the space, quickly followed by WANDA, MARGIE and CAROL. The language comes hard and fast and overlaps, disturbing the peace.

WANDA: My moom is killing me?

CAROL: There musta been about …

MARGIE: We’re here!

CAROL: … one thousand potholes …

MARGIE: At last!

CAROL: … in that road.

MARGIE: Not that many.

CAROL: There was!

MARGIE: The road’s not that bad.

CAROL: I counted every one of them.

WANDA: We woulda got here sooner …

MARGIE: … if we didn’t have to pick up Carol …

WANDA: … who was an hour late!

CAROL: I had a few things at work I had to finish off.

MARGIE: We waited for ages …

CAROL: Don’t blame me for being late! We spent nearly two hours in the supermarket buying food.

WANDA: Tim Tams are very important!

CAROL: Why did we have to have a conference in aisle three about what brand of baked beans we should get … ?

WANDA: I like yellow and gold!

MARGIE: I told you! It’s Heinz or nothing.

WANDA: Yellow and gold! You save at least fifty cents!

MARGIE: They don’t say ‘Heinz Meanz Beanzzzz’ for nothing!

WANDA: It’s ‘Beanz Meanz Heinz’.

MARGIE: Whatever.

CAROL: Then we waited for an hour at the butchers!

MARGIE: Why didn’t w...