Yandy
Written by Jolly Read
Directed by Rachael Maza
October 9-22, Octagon Theatre, University of Western Australia
Presented by Black Swan Theatre Company
Tickets available through BOCS (08) 9484 1133.
REVIEW BY FEDERICO FUENTES
Yandy is the story of the heroic struggle of Aboriginal workers in the Pilbara and their pride, endurance and determination. It is the story of the first Aboriginal strike in Australia, the 1946 Pilbara pastoral workers' strike, referred to as the "blackfellas Eureka".
Fremantle-based writer Jolly Read wrote the script in collaboration with the last remaining strike leader, Peter Coppin. Indigenous director Rachael Maza has long hoped to bring to the stage this amazing story of those who were "virtual slaves in their own land — until they staged the first Aboriginal workers' strike in Australia, and changed the course of history".
The movement for the strike began at Skulls Springs in 1942 when 200 representatives from 23 different Aboriginal language groups met to discuss what to do about the working conditions and wages of Aboriginal people. It was decided a strike would be held, beginning on May 1 after the second world war had ended. This would coincide with both the international workers' day and the beginning of the shearing season.
The demands they would present to their white bosses were for a 30 shilling a week minimum wage, the right to elect their own representatives and freedom of movement. Some of the Aboriginal pastoral workers had previously been receiving food and clothing but no pay; others had been paid up to 12 shillings a week.
The strike itself began on May 1, 1946, and initially involved 600 Aboriginal workers. It had an immediate effect with some employers offering better wages if the workers returned to work. Other employers attempted to call in the police and have the strike leaders arrested, assuming that if Don McLeod — a feisty white fencing contractor and Communist Party sympathiser who had helped devise the strike plan— was removed the strike would collapse. The tactic failed as support and commitment for the strike was widespread.
One demonstration of this was the march of 200 Aboriginal workers to the Port Hedland police station when news arrived that McLeod had been arrested. Surrounding the building and taking two constables hostage, the protesters were told that McLeod had already been released. He was found at the local hospital, visiting a friend.
The striking Aboriginal workers found support among local white shopkeepers, who were prepared to give them rationed goods, despite the strikers not having the necessary coupons. In response to the strike, employers had refused to distribute coupons.
Strikers were repeatedly arrested, chained by hands and necks and tried by local JP's, most of whom were pastoralists. The strike continued for a year before the workers won their demands.
In Perth, the Communist Party played a vital role in providing a voice for the striking workers, as well as collecting much need funds. CPA members helped establish the Committee for the Defence of Native Rights at a 300-strong public meeting in the Perth Town Hall.
In contrast to the West Australian, whose board was dominated by pastoralists, and which gave very little and highly distorted coverage of the strike, the paper of the CPA, Workers' Star, had regular coverage and openly sided with the strikers. It printed speeches by McLeod and others in support of the Aboriginal workers along with well-researched articles on the background to the strike.
Union support for the strikers was also strong. They were backed by, among others, the Sheet Metal Workers Union, the Brick Layers Union, the Seamen's Union, two branches of the Australian Education Union as well as the South Australian and Queensland Trades and Labour Councils. The University of Western Australia Guild and a number of women's organisations also expressed support for the striking workers.
The Fremantle branch of the Seamen's Union was one of the more prominent unions in its support for the strikers. It imposed a ban on the transportation from the Pilbara of wool shorn on stations that refused to meet the Aboriginal workers' pay demands.
Not long after the Pilbara strike, wages were introduced for Aboriginal workers in the Kimberley and in the Northern Territory.
Many of the strikers did not return to the white-owned pastoral stations. Their dream was to own their own station — a dream realised in 1972, when Peter Coppin was able to negotiate the hand-over of Yandeyarra station. Yandeyarra still supports a community of 250-300 people via its cattle enterprises.
The Yandy cast features Heath Bergerson, Isaac Drandich, Trevor Jamieson, Geoff Kelso, Ningali Lawford, Melodie Reynolds, Dennis Simmons, Phil Thomson and two members of the Yandeyarra community in the Pilbara, Doris Eaton and Stephen Stuart.
The play will be performed first in the Pilbara, before being staged from October 9 to October 22 at the University of Western Australia's Octagon Theatre.
From Green Left Weekly, October 13, 2004.
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