Jake Māra uncovers the story of First Nations freedom fighter Arawarra in his theatre debut. Photo: Anthony Rigby-Smith.
Gammea-Dharawal man and Dharawal language teacher Jake Māra was about 12 years old when his uncle first told him the story of Arawarra, the legendary “Ngandah” (Shoalhaven Blackman) who was a Yuin freedom fighter and protector at the time of colonisation.
“I was lucky to have my uncle as my teacher – he taught me everything he knew,” he says. “This story was always told around the kitchen table over a cuppa.”
Now, audiences are invited to sit at Jake’s table as he uncovers this chapter of the NSW South Coast’s history in his debut theatre production Arawarra.
Supported by the MerrigongX artist development program, Arawarra offers a glimpse into the dark past of the exploitation of First Nations people at the hands of celebrated colonial hero, Alexander Berry, who is believed to have privately traded Aboriginal human remains to museums, including the skull of Arawarra himself in 1827.
Now the South Coast town of Berry bears his name.
“The story of Arawarra continued to grow as I grew, as my uncle passed down more and I did my own research as well. I recently found out that Alexander Berry was the 37th richest man in Australian history,” Jake says.
“He has received a lot of accolades for being a charitable person, but he was not charitable to First Nations people.
“Arawarra was somewhat erased from the history books, but he was not a nobody. As head warrior, he was an authority in the tribe, someone to be respected and remembered.”
Arawarra is a one-man show co-written and performed by Jake. Part first-person “kitchen table style” yarn, part performance, it uses projected visuals, First Nations dancing and music to bring truth to light.
Jake has never produced theatre before and reckons that feeds into the beauty of production unlike anything else.
“One day I saw Uncle Patrick Churnside in a one-man show called Tjaabi. Before that, I thought theatre was all Shakespeare,” he says.
“Then I see this show in this format that I recognise – storytelling. I thought ‘I can do that’.
“I figure if I don’t know the rules, I can’t know I’m breaking them. So audiences are guaranteed something original.”
Arawarra co-writer and director Lincoln Smith says the play presents an opportunity for audiences to revisit truth-telling in a post-Voice era.
“You have two leaders from different sides of the colonial experience and to be able to sit with the truth and reckon with it, it’s the perfect illustration of what our country needs to do more broadly,” he says.
Jake and Lincoln have also entered talks with St Andrew’s College in Scotland, where Alexander Berry went to school and where it’s rumoured the colonist brought Arawarra’s skull after taking it from his grave.
Academics have invited them to stage a two-night show at The Byre Theatre.
“I think it would be amazing to take this show about the Illawarra-Shoalhaven onto the international stage,” Lincoln says.
Jake hopes the show challenges Australians and perhaps the world to interrogate how they view history through a modern lens.
“I’m not saying we need to knock down Alexander Berry’s statue and rename the town. But I think Arawarra deserves a spot on the same pedestal,” he says.
“Arawarra’s might be an Australian story, but it’s one anybody can connect to. At the end of the day, he was a warrior and a leader, but also a father, a son and a grandson.
“And if I can respect Che Guevara as a revolutionary and a guerrilla leader in the Cuban revolution, Arawarra deserves the same.”
Arawarra shows at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre from Thursday 26 to Saturday 28 March.
