The play critiques the Australian government's subsistence and "protection" policies of the 1930s. The forced relocation of the Millimurras from Northam to the Moore River Native Settlement is presented not as a health measure, but as a political tool to segregate and control Aboriginal voices. Body Paragraph 2: Language as a Weapon
itself refers to a protest song from the era, highlighting how basic sustenance was used as a tool of biopolitical control Forced Relocation jack davis no sugar pdf
She speaks almost exclusively in Noongar (translated via stage directions). She represents the unbroken spiritual connection to the land. When she is forcibly bathed and deloused at Moore River, it is a violation of the soul. Her death in Act Four is the symbolic death of the old, free world. She represents the unbroken spiritual connection to the land