Black Diggers: Foreword Summary & Analysis

Wesley Enoch, director of the first production of Black Diggers, writes that Indigenous theatre’s purpose is to turn private stories passed down orally into public records of a people’s history. Despite their lack of political rights, Enoch explains, Indigenous men signed up in droves to fight for Australia in World War One. Their motives were varied, but they were treated as equals in the Australian Imperial Force and “forged bonds [with whites] that would sow the seeds of the modern reconciliation movement.”

In their extensive research, Enoch and author Tom Wright took after the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s “four-part definition of truth,” encompassing personal, social, forensic, and public experiences and interests. Their play is an attempt to honor Indigenous World War One soldiers by translating real-life histories they encountered in archives into a number of fragmented “archetypal character journeys.” They ended up with 60 scenes organized into five sections: Indigenous experiences before Australian nationhood, Indigenous men’s enlistment in the war, their experiences in the war, their return to Australia, and the legacy they have left behind. Enoch describes the “great honour” he felt to be included in the project and encourages readers to send in any records or information they have about Indigenous service in World War One.