Learning from history - Jack Davis' No Sugar

Hello everyone! Welcome to Part 3️⃣ (and the finale) of the No Sugar 🍭 series, wherein we'll explore how the post-colonial 🥷 ideas Davis explored in the play have only become increasingly pertinent in modern Australia 🦘.

Specifically, this post will explore how Davis urges 🚨 us to acknowledge Indigenous voices in our contemporary society by exposing the controversial neglect of 1930s White Australia 🦘🇦🇺 towards Indigenous voices that still resonates today.

Preliminary notes 📝

The Western Mail is the most circulated newspaper in Western Australia targeted towards White society during 1855-1950.

Acknowledging resonances

Vignettes into the daily lives of the Millimurras are littered throughout the play. with opens with a scene of Joe reading the Western Mail newspaper aloud. In a hesitant tone and with a solemn look, he reads,

"Commemorating then the pioneers ... steadfast performance of duty in the face of danger ... in the shape of three lorries ... carrying Aborigines dancing to a brass band."

This newspaper, a prop, is a tool the dominant culture in Australia operates to perpetuate colonial myths. In the play, the newspaper proudly depicts the bravery of the White pioneers in overcoming the dangers posed by Indigenous peoples – and that this triumph is even celebrated by Indigenous peoples.

Yet this triumphalist narrative is fragmented, signified first by Joe's hesitant tone when reading the newspaper, then more forcefully by Jimmy's outburst:

"You fellas, you know why them wetjalas marchin' down the street, eh? Cause them bastards took away our country and them blackfellas dancin' for 'em."

The contrast between true Indigenous responses and the way Indigenous responses are portrayed in the Western Mail is mimetic of how Indigenous voices are still neglected in wider Australia.

In our time where Indigenous matters are of growing relevance – especially in light of the recent referendum of 'Voice to Parliament' – the issues explored in No Sugar have only become increasingly valuable and ever-pertinent. By exposing the controversial, historical neglect of Indigenous thought, Davis urges us to acknowledge – and lift up – Indigenous voices in modern Australia.

The imagined worlds of drama can make the audience feel deeply about issues that characters in these dramas are faced with. No Sugar, by Jack Daris, uses various dramatic techniques to condemn the harsh treatment of Indigenous Australians by White officials in the 1930s, to celebrate the resilience of Indigenous peoples as they embrace brutality, and to acknowledge the need to listen to Indigenous voices in today's society. Though Davis' play is set in another time, the issues presented in No Sugar have only become more relevant today!

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