Black Diggers: Study Notes Synopsis The broad story presented by ‘Black Diggers’ is one of Indigenous Australian men who fight
alongside non-Indigenous non-Indigenous soldiers in World War I. Its many scenes cover a long time period, from before they join the army, to episodes in the trenches on the Western Front, then to post-war scenes set back in Australia. While ‘Black Diggers’ portrays the widely differing experiences of the Indigenous soldiers, it also shows several common factors. For example, it depicts the desire of many young Aboriginal men to join up in order to participate in and receive recognition from a community which otherwise considers them second-class. It also shows the common experience felt by Indigenous soldiers of a return to a position of disadvantage and dispossession after the war.
Historical Context Historically, relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians have never been smooth, as ‘Black Diggers’ emphasises throughout. From the violence shown in the opening scene, the play de picts ongoing conflict through the characters’ experiences, as well as in the stories they have inherited from their families and forebears. Over time, the conflict between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians has taken many forms, several of which are illustrated in the play, including: -
Physical violence (e.g. The murders in the opening scene) Verbal abuse (e.g. When the Aggressive Private abuses Harry on the ship) Discrimination Discrimination and infringement of rights (e.g. The Indigenous men being denied entry to the pub, or the fact that land was taken away from Indigenous people and given to the returned servicemen – though not necessarily Indigenous ones)
Characters Nigel A taxidermist (somebody who preserves animal bodies by stuffing them in order to study them) adopted Nigel as a baby in 1887 when white men shot and killed his mother and other Aboriginals. White Australians Australians carried out this punitive action as a form of genocide as a way to remove Indigenous Australians Australians who were viewed as inferior human beings. While not explicitly stated in this scene, the violence portrayed and the lack of empathy displayed by the settlers suggests that Nigel’s people were massacred. The men refer to Nigel as “a bloody picaninny” (a derogatory term for a child with dark skin). As a child, Nigel visits the Australian Museum in Sydney with his adopted father, where they look at the exhibition of gorillas and discuss the history of human evolution. The taxidermist acknowledges to Nigel that “eons ago there were no apes and there were no men”, and that evolution occurred to a point where everyone has evolved to be who they are. This idea that everyone is equal due to their same beginning is juxtaposed throughout the play with multiple links to the racial stereotype of black people being in the same
league as monkeys and gorillas – “perfect specimen[s]” to be studied and looked down on by white people as inferior animals. Nigel and his adopted father appear to have a caring relationship (the taxidermist refers to him as “little man” and tries to avoid revealing the harsh realities of the world Nigel will grow up in as an Aboriginal). Aboriginal). However, the taxidermist refuses to assign any blame to the settlers who killed Nigel’s parents and who would have killed Nigel too, albeit for his own intervention, claiming they were simply in the “wrong place at the wrong time.” Once overseas and in the dugout with other soldiers, Nigel is quickly accepted, who were first “surprised…when they see Nigel’s black”, but soon have a joke about how the soldier nicknamed “Darky” may have to “reconsider his name” due to Nigel’s arrival. Nigel, by chance, survives a German attack that kills his fellow soldiers. He is confronted by German soldiers who are confused by Nigel’s skin colour, asking “Was auf “Was auf der Erde bist du?” (What on Earth are you?). Nigel is captured and detained with other non-white prisoners of war. At the Zossen POW Camp, Nigel’s Indigenous Australian identity has almost been erased:
the Germans see no difference between Australians Australians and Indians, I ndians, identifying them on as non-white. Nigel’s white upbringing is again highlighted when he states that he “copped more for going to a private school.” While at the Camp, Nigel is also examined by a German Professor, who views him as an “anthropological specimen”, in a similar way to how the Taxidermist viewed him as a baby. This encounter allows Nigel to help out his fellow Indian prisoners by standing up for their religious beliefs and asking for pork to not be served. Upon returning from war, Nigel writes articulate letters and has “been on the wireless” (radio), expressing his opinions and objections to events such as massacres that occur against aboriginal people, that he describes as “appalling brutality and savage butchery”. Journalists responding to his words show difficulty in accepting Nigel’s split identity as a “proud aboriginal Australian, and former soldier”, highlighting once again that although he may have been respected as a soldier, his opinions on the state of his own community and people are disregarded. Eventually, Nigel is reduced to “a sad figure, walking against the flow of a busy city footpath, wearing a sandwich board, which reads TARZAN THE APE MAN. He hands out reminiscent of his visit to the flyers but no-one no-one takes them.” This is a reminder and reminiscent museum previously with his father. The image of Nigel’s wretched employment state, his action of taking a “swig from a bottle” and his sad apology to his father (“Sorry Dad.” Dad.”) further highlights the sense of wasted opportunities and potential. Nigel ends the play in an asylum, talking to a psychiatric nurse. He seems disillusioned and disheartened with the way everything has turned out. ‘Black Diggers’ ends with Nigel thinking that he doesn’t belong in regards to a service being held for ex-servicemen. This reflects the play’s sustained exploration of ideas about race, discrimination, identity and self-evaluation.
Important Quotes “What are you going to do with it?...Full-blood, too. Unusual. Perfect specimen.” (Page
14)
“The world – the bigger, grown-up world – is a complicated, difficult difficult place. You should enjoy every moment of your childhood. Plenty of time for the truth later.” (Page 20) “No one mentioned the colour of my skin from the day I enlisted.” (Page 55) “No…there’s been a mistake, I should be with my mates.” “We are your comrades now.”
(Page 56) “I can see the big world… I don’t want to join in. I don’t belong.” (Page 96)
Harry Harry is initially ignorant of the war or of how far away it is. He has no concept of anything outside his world, and can’t picture the war “in far distant lands, many days of over the horizon.” The Retired Schoolmaster’s attempt to scare Harry and his mates into a patriotic stance because they need to “think about” “where [their] duties might lie” backfires, as his imagined invasion of “creeping armies…imposing their foreign ways [and] interfering with [their] women” simply echoes the British settlement of Indigenous land that is reality for Harry and his friends. Harry claims that “no-one “no-one knows what [the war is] is] about.” This scene is a reminder that even though many people (including Harry and his mates) willingly go to risk their lives the war, many don’t understand what they are fighting for. Furthermore, Harry’s somewhat flippant remarks of what is meant by “far distant lands” shows the small scope of his world: Narrabri Narrabri and Coonabarabran are only a few hundred kilometres away. The war, so much more distant, is almost unimaginable for him. In 1916, Harry begins his crossing to Europe, and on the ship over, an Aggressive Private confronts him and objects to dining with him. The Aggressive Private is hostile and angry that “a coon thinks it’s all right to sit and look me in the eye and touch the same metal plate and finger the same spoon and drink the same bloody water as a white man.” However, the other soldiers purposefully misinterpret misinterpret the Aggressive Private’s comment that someone “NEEDS TO BE SHOWN WHAT’S WHAT”, and attack him rather than Harry. This begins to illustrate one of the underlying ideas of the play: that although Indigenous men were discriminated against at home, in the army many found an acceptance and camaraderie they had never before experienced with non-Indigenous men. After the war, in 1949, Harry is a homeless and penniless “derro” begging for money. He encounters Stan (a fellow white soldier he met while serving overseas) dressed in a “suit and all.” This again highlights the disparity between the experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous servicemen servicemen after the war. Harry acknowledges to Stan that compared to where he is now, his time in the army and the war “were great days.”
Important Quotes “Imagine the horrors of what it would be like if we were to lose, and you wake up one morning and find us all under occupation.” “Yeah. Imagine.” (Page 16) “I can’t even imagine what it will look like. All I hope is that it’s changed.” (Page 41) “The world’s turned upside down.” (Page 30)
Ern, Bob and Norm In 1915, Ern, Bob and Norm attempt to enlist. This scene (Page 22) demonstrates the lack of understanding (at least in regional recruiting halls) of the regulations and procedures for enlisting Indigenous men. Although soldiers are supposed to be of “Substantially European” European ” heritage, nobody really knows how to interpret this, nor do they particularly care. The boys, rejected on the grounds of race on their first effort to enlist, quickly see through the administrative bluster, go to another recruiting hall, and show how easy it is to get past such rules. The names and dates of birth they provide on their second attempt are comically unconcealed lies, and they are welcomed into the army straight away. Some of the recruiting officers even help in the deception – “Your father was white, wasn’t he? Let’s say ‘yes’.” Once recruited and waiting to sent to the frontline, the boys walk down Queen Street and begin to feel part of a larger group that is no longer defined by their race or colour. During the war, all three men end up in hospital in 1918 with injuries sustained from being in battle. Norm has damaged ears, Ern’s arm is injured and Bob loses his sight. Altho ugh traumatised and injured, Ern still holds on to the idea that when they return they will “be contribution to somebody” – that they will be respected and valued because of their contribution protecting Australia. Years later, when they have returned home, Ern and Norm experience familiar difficulties of any returning soldier: the psychological and physical legacies of war. Ern’s hand has “started to shake in the last few years” and Norm only has one “good ear”. Their suffering is heightened however, by the additional trauma of returning to a life once again filled with racial discrimination. Ern also leaves his war medals with a chemist, who is a fellow returned soldier, because his own family are “not interested” in looking after them. This shows that it was not only non-Indigenous communities communities who failed to celebrate, respect or honour Indigenous soldiers on their return from war; even their own families may not have valued their contributions, contributions, or understood the significance of the medals. Ern can only turn to a fellow ex-soldier, illustrating the post-war isolation of many soldiers. This echoes some of the mateship seen in the trenches: though they share little, the two men have a strong bond formed in the army.
Important Quotes “Deficient Physique…Reason: Physique…Reason: Of Strongly Aboriginal Appearance…Flat feet (Aboriginal)… No White Parentage… They’re just making this up. No-one has any bloody idea.” (Page 23) “If they’re willing to get up off their backsides and show a bit of pluck then they’re white enough for me.” (Page 24) “You notice something? Once we started wearing this clobber, suddenly we’re, dunno how you explain it-” “They look at you different, don’t they?” “Yeah, can’t put my finger on it. Like they’ve forgotten you’re-” (Page 27) “Have we ever met?” “Passed in the road. Your old man took his belt to mine a few times, when he went for a drink .” “Why would he do that…Strewth. Righto…If we both get home, you’ll be walking into the front bar, mate. Don’t worry about that.” (Page 35)
“They won’t forget you mate. You’ve fought for the King for Country. For our country. For Australia.” (Page 58) “Wonder what it will be like? When we get back? You sort of want it all to be different. But you also want it all to have stayed the same.” (Page 59) “They painted my colour back on the day I got off that boat. I still don’t have the faintest
bloody idea what we were fighting for. But I thought I won something over there. And then I lost it back here.” (Page 79)
Archie We are first introduced to Archie in 1915 via a letter he is writing to his Aunty May as he waits to cross to France. The letter reflects Archie’s young and naïve self, having little concept of what he is sailing into. He talks about saying his “prayers” and informing his aunty that him and the men “read scripture”, highlighting the white religious indoctrination that has occurred in his youth. His second letter in 1917 is in direct contrast with the contents of the first letter. While the first letter contains peaceful images of home, this letter contains violence and the terror of war. The repetition of “he hasn’t got a face” in reference to his fellow Indigenous soldier’s failed suicide attempt helps to convey Archie’s distress and his inability to comprehend the psychological horrors of the war. In the third very short letter, Archie seems to have nothing left to say to his aunty, but to question religion, and simultaneously question what is going on around him. We also see Archie “fighting an enemy soldier hand to hand”, and while Archie is wounded, he “stabs his opponent” and “squats and watches him die. It die. It takes a long time.” The Austrian soldier’s final words are “Schwarer teufel. Schwarer teufel mit weiBe Augen. Schwarer teufel. Schwarer…lezte, was ich sehe.” This translates to: Black devil. Black devil with white eyes. Black Devil. Black… last thing I see. Upon returning to Australia after the war, Archie doesn’t seem surprised that they haven’t rolled out the “red carpet” for them, as that is done when you leave, not when you
return home. In 1920, Archie attempts to negotiate better conditions for himself and his fellow Indigenous station workers, but his manger doesn’t “give a rat’s arse” about Archie’s contribution to the war effort. Archie has come to see a different possible reality for himself because of his wartime experiences, yet on his return home he finds his new perspective brings him into conflict with others and he no longer belongs where he did before. His fellow indigenous workmates, workmates, who did not go to war and therefore have remained at home in the unchanging mist of racial inequality, se e Archie’s new views as “stirrin’ things up.” Archie also encounters further issues of racial inequality inequality in 1932 when he tries to enter a pub in a country town on ANZAC Day, at which point he is denied entry, before being allowed to enter. This illustrates the different responses to Indigenous servicemen after the war. Some, like the Cellarman, still regard them as inferior human beings. Others, like the RSL Secretary, value the men’s contributions to the army and therefore the community, and treat them with more respect than before the war.
Important Quotes “In John’s Gospel it says ‘And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehend it not.’ What does that mean?” (Page 62) “All that stuff is the past, time for the future.” (Page 69) “Back in France, back in the mud. Blokes like you shook my hand. We dragged blokes like
you through the shit and the blood. We saw each other when we were babies. Like animals.” (Page 71) “We don’t see the skin, we see the service.” (Page 72) “I thought things would change after the war.” “Why? Why would things change? The only thing that’s changed round here is you.” (Page 77)
Laurie We are first introduced to Laurie in 1915 as the boats land on the shore at Dardanelles (coastal Turkey). Laurie’s comment about the absurdity of arriving “in boats uninvited on someone’s beach” recalls the British arrival, uninvited, on the beaches of an Australia inhabited by Indigenous people. He finds the black humour in this situation that connects his present with his past. Laurie also demonstrates the religious upbringing he has had with the influence of white intervention by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Laurie is the subject of cliché stereotypes that highlight the lack of understanding understanding white men have on Indigenous people and the lives they live. The soldier asks Laurie if he “could see in the dark”, dark”, assuming that Laurie has “tracking skills” just because he is of Aboriginal descent. Laurie informs them that he “grew up in bloody Erskineville” , a suburb in Sydney. However, there is no conflict between the soldiers and Laurie. Instead, I nstead, Laurie lightens the mood with some black humour, joking with the men that the captain keeps sending him out on these patrols because he has “better camouflage in the dark.” Laurie ends up in Palestine, and the day before the attack of Beersheba in 1917, he has a friendly conversation with a British Captain. Religion links these two men though little else in their lives does. Though both are far from home, they share a connection to this land through their knowledge of the Bible, and this, like military mateship, overcomes any racial difference. Upon returning from the war after being demobbed (discharged) Laurie is weak and “pretty wretched.” Although Laurie seems to also be affected by the trauma of war through his reluctance to acknowledge the past, (“Just put it all behind you, yes?”) he seems to find a type of peace post-war, with the help of religion.
Important Quotes “You know, ‘cause you fellers all have a fifth sense or something.” “Picked up special skills from your wise old blokes.” (Page 32) “This broken, weak, sad world. I like to think of another world. A better one. I like to stay in the light, don’t want to wander back into the dark.” (Page 87)
Mick Mick is an Indigenous man who is subjected to racism and prejudice attitudes and behaviour while fighting overseas. Although Mick has a comfortable relationship relationship with his fellow non-Indigenous soldiers, the British don’t have the same relationship with the nonwhites in their ranks. In reference to the Trinidadian soldiers, “the poms won’t let them fight, just lug things to and fro.” In turn, the Trinidadians are racist towards Mick and Indigenous Australians, referring to them as “Australian “Australian niggers [that] live on the creek bank [and] never wash.” The whole racial conflict turns violent, with Mick punching the Trinidadian’s out. Mick seems to be enlivened by the violence of the war, celebrating when he has achieved killing “ten little sauerkrauts” in reference to German soldiers. Upon returning, Mick makes a “promise” that it “wasn’t all for nothing.” Mick thinks it is “ridiculous” that with “a stroke of a pen”, “aboriginal land” is “just swept…off the map” under the “Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act of 1917”. This Act allowed the authorities “to acquire land to be divided as soldier settlement plots.” What this meant was that aboriginal land was taken and divided up and given to return servicemen. However, very few indigenous soldiers were granted one of these settlement plots. So Indigenous soldiers went to war to fight for their country and their land, only to return to have that land taken away from them.
Important Quotes “And now, let’s make sure things don’t go back to the way they were eh?” (Page 69) “For you the war’s over. What’s starting to dawn on me is that, for us, it’s never going to end.” (Page 75)
Bertie As a 15 year old, Bertie is a naïve, optimistic and idealistic young man, desperate to get into the army. He begs his mother to lie about his age so he can enlist. Bertie hopes to be accepted by his non-Indigenous peers and to contribute to a more unified Australia; he wants to fight not just for his own people but also for “a bigger world.” Both his mum and grandad criticises his naivety of becoming “their dearest little black mate” and his thoughts that “doors will open” for him. Bertie’s mum’s analogy about the Show accurately predicts many of what the soldiers will
experience on the return from the war. From afar, and for the naïve and uneducated, the war seems like the showground, “a big show of light and excitement.” excitement.” For Bertie, it is another part of the white world he can “never get in.” The imagery of the showground provides a poignant sketch of childhood innocence, and is followed by Bertie’s blunt answer to his mother’s question of what the showground is like after the Show is over: foreshadowing link to what occurs to Bertie. “Nothing. Nobody.” This is a foreshadowing Bertie’s mental instability begins to occur on the battlefield when he sees the body of an indigenous soldier named Frank. Although he has “seen hundreds of bodies”, “this is the first one that looks like [him].” Bertie is upset over the thought that Frank’s “soul will be stuck here.” He is distressed that he can’t do what he believes is right and must content himself with a lock of Frank’s hair and reciting a Christian prayer. During a battle,
Bertie breaks down completely, screaming that he is “fifteen” and that he “shouldn’t be here.” here.” Later in a field hospital, Bertie writes a letter to his mother cleverly using her analogy about the Show to secretly communicate to her the extent of his distress and his desperate requirement requirement for her to “get in touch with the protector’s office [and] tell them what [his] real age is”. This illustrates Bertie’s transition from the innocence of a fifteen year old to a person who has experienced experienced the terror and hardships of the “grown“grownup world”. When Bertie is discharged and informed that he will be sent home, he stands “dumbly to attention” and is “unable to speak.” This silent Bertie is in direct contrast with the previously young and talkative Bertie from before the war – highlighting a fundamental change that has occurred within him from the experience of war. He returns home to his mother, still with the lock of hair, but is so traumatised he can’t respond to his mother’s gushing welcome. “His eyes are aware but his body is still.”
Years later, at the age of 25, Bertie is still traumatised and trapped by his experiences of war. His mum acknowledges that “he’s still there. Not coming back. Not coming back from the world of the grown-ups.” grown-ups.”
Important Quotes “That’s what war will be like for you. There’s no fancy land at the end.” (Page 40) “All these blokes, you’re going off to lick their boots. Same blokes, same boots that have kicked us for years. And you can’t wait.” (Page 40) “I am in the Show. I have got through the fence, I have seen what the grown-up world is like.” (Page 57)
Tommy We first meet Tommy on the battlefield with Bertie. He is portrayed as a young indigenous man. He is just as unaware of Aboriginal customs as Bertie, especially especially burial rites, stating that, “I don’t know any of that old people stuff.” During a battle, there is a “massive explosion” and “tons of soil rain down on him.” Tommy “is trapped in a pocket of air. Just enough space for him to move a little.” Tommy screams for Bertie to, “get him out!” but Bertie thinks “he’s gone.” Tommy is eventually found after three days in his “living grave”. Obviously traumatised, Tommy was “shaking and crying so much” that he couldn’t hold or light the cigarette offered to him by the men who found him. They refer to him as “Lazarus” (God has helped). In the Bible, Lazarus was a man who was resurrected by Jesus. Returning to Australia, like the other indigenous characters in the play, Tommy was unable to fit into a society after army life, and we find out in the eulogy read by the Minster at his funeral he became a traumatised, homeless alcoholic. He became “a shadow in a blanket under the tank”, a man who “cried” and spoke “a torrent of profanity [while] taking refuge in a bottle” and the locals could “smell him before [they] saw him.” Sadly, the Minister is the only person present at Tommy’s funeral, and his efforts in the war have gone unrecognised and unknown to the locals.
Important Quote “For three days he lay in his tomb. He was acquainted with death, he had glimpsed the
darkness. Is it any wonder when he was returned to us he found himself unable to sleep within walls?” (Page 81)
Stan Stan only appears in three scenes, and is the only non-Indigenous soldier given a proper name. His part is only minor to keep the focus on the black diggers themselves. Stan is affable both during and after the war. He is friendly towards Harry in the trenches and later makes an effort to support him by offering to find him work. When he sees Harry begging on the street, Stan gives him money and says, “it would be good to catch up, talk about the old days.” However, his kindness is not enough to change Harr y’s post-war experience. The character of Stan suggests that even if non-Indigenous men individually did not treat returned Indigenous soldiers poorly, poorly, society as a whole did not welcome them back into a community they had fought for. The play argues that racism and discrimination discrimination are complex, and avoids portraying all non-Indigenous people as villains.
Important Quote “What are you on about? We’d always have a beer with you.” (Page 41)
Black Diggers – Songs, Hymns, Poems and Speeches Sons of the Southern Cross (page 17)
This song provides images of the patriotic Australian ideals ( “Australian boys don’t shirk or fear…We’ll be there!”), illustrating a world that the Retired Schoolmaster is aspiring to protect. The song’s simple sentiments contrast with the complexities of the international politics and diplomacy of war.
The World’s Turned Upside Down (Page 31)
This song reiterates the idea of the previous scene where the men on the ship stand up for Harry against the Aggressive Private. In I n war, the Indigenous men were accepted. The idea is that in “the shit” of war, everyone is equal. The image of the world being turned upside down was not just that the “white man” suddenly needed the “coloured boys now”, but also there were now Australians on the other side of the world, and that Indigenous men were invading a country in Europe.
Sandy Maranoa (Page 34)
These are the first two verses in a folk song based on a poem by Australian poet AB ‘Banjo’ Paterson. They conjure up images of the Australia familiar to the soldiers: a home they are far away from and homesick for.
Our God, Our Help in Ages Past (Page 51) The hymn ‘Our God, Our Help in Ages Past’ continues the image of chaotic fighting, with the words “busy tribes of flesh and blood”. It also reiterates the idea that religion is a source of solace in the soldiers’ lives, as God will be their “guard while life shall last”.
Lazarus (Page 64) The name Lazarus means “God has helped” and is in reference to the biblical story where
Lazarus was a man who was resurrected from a tomb after four days by Jesus. This mirrors the event that happened to Tommy.
Tattooed Lady (Page 68)
This Australian version or parody of an old song (usually including English references and locations) illustrates how Australian soldiers – Indigenous or non-Indigenous – made army traditions their own. The references once again serve to link the men to the home they are fighting to protect.
On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand (Page 80)
This hymn speaks of a spiritual promised land, just like the social promised land these old wounded soldiers cannot find – a land where racial discrimination does not exist.
Recessional (Page 94) ‘Recessional’ is the first two stanzas of the poem of the same name, written by Rudyard
Kipling in 1897. A recessional recessional traditionally concludes a religious service, so the inclusion of this piece signals that the end of the play is approaching, as well as reinforcing the importance of religion within the play. Kipling incorporated biblical passages and ideas, including the phrase “Lest we forget”, which is now strongly associated with war remembrance services, especially ANZAC-related events.
The Unknown Soldier (Page 95) The speech is an extract from Paul Keating’s real eulogy at the 1993 Remembrance Day service for the Unknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial. Keating stated that “we will never know who this Australian was.” This highlights that while nothing is known about this soldier – his race, age, height, family, religion – his contribution to the
protection of the country in wartime earnt him the respect and right to be honoured as an “Australian” . In the context of the play, this is a reminder that those who fight, regardless of their race, should be treated equally when they return. It is also serves as a reminder that in war, death can take anybody, death does not discriminate, discriminate, and death leaves nothing behind.
