Speakin' out Blak - An Examination of Finding an Urban Indigenous Voice Through Contemporary Australian Theatre

When the realisation sunk in that the play Buckley's Hope which was originally about three Australian Aboriginal women was fast be­coming a story about two Australian white men the playwright felt complelled to resist the 'colonising' pressure on his work and take control. This experience became the catalyst for change and in trying to establish the bona-fides of an urban Indigenous voice. The events that followed brought with them many complexities including a look at the trauma associated with those involved in the 'stolen generations' and the implications for children having been removed from family. These aspects set up the possibility of looking at a more contemporary story written for theatre in which the characters get to deal with separation and identity HIV/AIDS dislocation within families of mixed race and euthanasia.