Black Diggers
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Foreword Introduction Act One Act Two End Matter
Themes
All Themes Australian Nationhood and Indigenous Dispossession Racism War, Violence, and Shell Shock History, Memory, and the Archive
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Nigel Harry Ern Archie Laurie Mick Bertie Tommy Norm Bob Taxidermist A Ghost Bertie’s Mom Bertie’s Grandad Stan
Terms
All Terms Abbeville Aborigines’ Protection Boards ADF AIF Allied Forces Amiens ANZAC Anzac Day Australian Museum, Sydney Barambah Beersheba, Palestine Bellender Ker, Queensland Boundary Hotel, Brisbane Bullecourt Callan Park Canaan Castlereagh Street Cherbourg Coniston Massacre Dardanelles Diggers Erskineville Forest Lodge, Sydney Frying Pan Creek, NSW Glebe George Street Gwyndir River Half-Caste Iron Cove Jordan River The Light Horse Maranoa Maori – Messines Mount Gambier Murgon Murrumbidgee New South Wales No Man’s Land Palarver Passchendaele Petrie Terrace Picaninny Polygon Wood Pozieres PTSD Queen Street Queensland Red Cross RSL Soldier Settlement Commission South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission Southern Cross Torres Strait Islanders Villers-Bretonneux Western District, Victoria Woolloomooloo Ypres Zössen POW Camp
Symbols
All Symbols Bertie’s Circus Show The Lock of Frank’s Hair Ern’s Bullet Shards Letters
Upgrade to LitCharts A+
Instant downloads of all 1916 LitChart PDFs (including Black Diggers).
LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does.
Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts.
The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play.
Literature
Guides Poetry
Guides Literary
Terms Shakespeare
Translations
Ask
LitCharts AI
Ask
AI
Literature
Lit
Poetry
Lit Terms
Terms
Shakescleare Ask AI

Black Diggers

by

Tom Wright
Download this LitChart! (PDF)
Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Black Diggers makes teaching easy.

Harry Character Analysis

At the beginning of the play, Harry listens to an old Retired Schoolmaster and some of his friends discuss the coming war, but does not seem to pay it much attention. Later, however, he ends up fighting in it. He gets into an argument with a white soldier on his transit over to Europe, but the other white soldiers intervene on Harry’s behalf. Later, he and Stan grow close at the battle of Polygon Wood, while another soldier calls Harry “as good as a white man.” Both these episodes show how white soldiers have deeply ingrained prejudices but are also able to revise and look past them when fighting alongside their Indigenous countrymen. However, Harry and Stan’s final meeting at the end of the play demonstrates how any progress made toward social integration during the war got easily reversed back in segregated Australia: Harry is begging on Castlereagh Street because he is unable to find work, and Stan, who works for the Department of Lands charged with giving Indigenous land to white soldiers, walks by and gives him some cash.

Harry Quotes in Black Diggers

The Black Diggers quotes below are all either spoken by Harry or refer to Harry. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Australian Nationhood and Indigenous Dispossession Theme Icon
).
Act One Quotes

RETIRED SCHOOLMASTER: Think about what it might mean, if swathes of Mahommedan Turks or creeping armies of sausage-breathed Huns over-ran our country, imposing their foreign ways, interfering with our women. Imagine the horrors of what it would be like if we were to lose, and you wake up one morning and find us all under occupation.

HARRY: Yeah. Imagine.

They laugh. The old bloke moves on muttering under his breath. They join him, mimicking him at first, but one of them has a bass-drum, their parade of mimicry becomes a rallying march.

Related Characters: Harry (speaker), Retired Schoolmaster (speaker), Ern, Norm, Bob
Australian Nationhood and Indigenous Dispossession Theme Icon
Racism Theme Icon
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:

Listen to us and you shall hear, news that’s been coming for a hundred years: Since Captain Cook, and many more, you’ve never seen the like before.

The white man needs us coloured boys now
Here in the shit every face is brown
You see the world’s turned upside down
See the world’s turned upside down.
Fellers — You see the world’s turned upside down
See the world’s turned upside down

Related Characters: Harry
Racism Theme Icon
War, Violence, and Shell Shock Theme Icon
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Unlock with LitCharts A+

HARRY: If you blokes have a beer with me then that’s a start.

STAN: What are you on about? We’d always have a beer with you.

FIRST WHITE SOLDIER: You’re as good as a white man, Harry.

Related Characters: Harry (speaker), Stan (speaker)
Racism Theme Icon
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Unlock with LitCharts A+
Get the entire Black Diggers LitChart as a printable PDF.
Download
Black Diggers PDF

Harry Quotes in Black Diggers

The Black Diggers quotes below are all either spoken by Harry or refer to Harry. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Australian Nationhood and Indigenous Dispossession Theme Icon
).
Act One Quotes

RETIRED SCHOOLMASTER: Think about what it might mean, if swathes of Mahommedan Turks or creeping armies of sausage-breathed Huns over-ran our country, imposing their foreign ways, interfering with our women. Imagine the horrors of what it would be like if we were to lose, and you wake up one morning and find us all under occupation.

HARRY: Yeah. Imagine.

They laugh. The old bloke moves on muttering under his breath. They join him, mimicking him at first, but one of them has a bass-drum, their parade of mimicry becomes a rallying march.

Related Characters: Harry (speaker), Retired Schoolmaster (speaker), Ern, Norm, Bob
Australian Nationhood and Indigenous Dispossession Theme Icon
Racism Theme Icon
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:

Listen to us and you shall hear, news that’s been coming for a hundred years: Since Captain Cook, and many more, you’ve never seen the like before.

The white man needs us coloured boys now
Here in the shit every face is brown
You see the world’s turned upside down
See the world’s turned upside down.
Fellers — You see the world’s turned upside down
See the world’s turned upside down

Related Characters: Harry
Racism Theme Icon
War, Violence, and Shell Shock Theme Icon
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Unlock with LitCharts A+

HARRY: If you blokes have a beer with me then that’s a start.

STAN: What are you on about? We’d always have a beer with you.

FIRST WHITE SOLDIER: You’re as good as a white man, Harry.

Related Characters: Harry (speaker), Stan (speaker)
Racism Theme Icon
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Unlock with LitCharts A+
Home About Contact Help
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Terms Privacy Privacy Request
The LitCharts.com logo.
Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account
You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to request a guide
Already have an account? Sign in
The LitCharts.com logo.
Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account.
You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to access notes and highlights
Already have an account? Sign in
The LitCharts.com logo.
Saving guides requires a free LitCharts account
Easily access your saved guides anytime.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to save guides
Already have an account? Sign in