Kullark (Home) / The Dreamers

by Jack Davis

Genres: Drama

146 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Jack Davis is better known as a poet and a playwright than as a writer of short stories. He has had four volumes of poems published and has written eight plays. His plays have toured both in Australia and overseas In 1991 his memoir, A Boy's Life, was published. He has been awarded several times for his contribution to the arts and for his welfare work among his own people.

Reviews

[Mandy Partridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read 'Kullark' and 'The Dreamers' as a university student, I've never seen either of Jack Davis' plays performed. 'Kullark' (1979), which means 'Home' in Nyoongah (WA Aboriginal) language, tells the story of European invasion, and the poisoned flour they traded to massacre his people, at the Pinjara massacre in 1834. Ernie Dingo made his first ever acting appearance in this play.
'The Dreamers', from 1981, follows three men from the Moore River Aboriginal settlement, one of whom, Uncle Worru, has returned home from the city, to die. The men talk about their alcoholism, dislike of work, and mistreatment of women, as they reminisce about their lives as part of the stolen generation. Davis reaches back to the Dreamtime, when Aboriginal families lived more in harmony, before the Europeans brought and imposed their values. A hard read, I recall. Unrelenting and true.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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