No Sugar

No Sugar

by

Jack Davis

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on No Sugar makes teaching easy.
Sam and Milly’s teenaged son. Joe takes after his uncle, Jimmy, more than he takes after his father. Joe, like Jimmy, is rebellious, and challenges the authority of the white Australian law enforcement officials and bureaucrats. However, Joe isn’t opposed to the idea of authority figures; instead, he recognizes that he and his Aboriginal family members have been systematically mistreated by white Australians who are supposed to be protecting them, and he refuses to accept this kind of disrespect and abuse. Joe and Mary meet at the Moore River Native Settlement and fall in love. Knowing that Neal will never grant him permission to marry his lover, Joe elopes with Mary. He is eventually recaptured and sent to jail, but upon his release he is as committed as ever to leaving Moore River with Mary and finding a better, freer life somewhere else.

Joe Millimurra Quotes in No Sugar

The No Sugar quotes below are all either spoken by Joe Millimurra or refer to Joe Millimurra. 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:
Racism, Discrimination, and Colonial Violence  Theme Icon
).
Act 1, Scene 1 Quotes

JOE: ‘The—blood—was stirred…as if by a trumpet… by the history-ical…Headed by a tab-leau… […] ‘…Commemorating the pioneers whose lives…’ […] ‘…Were a steadfast performance of duty in the face of difficulty and danger. With them was a reminder of the dangers they faced, in the shape of three lorries…carrying Aborigines.

[They all stop what they are doing and listen.]

[…]

JOE: All right! ‘…Dancing…to a brass-band.’

SAM: Koorawoorung! Nyoongahs corrobereein’ to a wetjala’s brass band!
JIMMY: Ah! That beats everythin’: stupid bloody blackfellas…You fellas, you know why them wetjalas marchin’ down the street, eh? I’ll tell youse why. ‘Cause them bastards took our country and them blackfellas dancin’ for ‘em. Bastards!

[…]

JOE: ‘The pag…page…page-ant pre-sented a picture of Western Australia’s pre-sent condition of hopeful optimum-optimis-tic prosperity, and gave some idea of what men mean when they talk about the soul of the nation.’

SAM: Sounds like bullshit to me.

Related Characters: James “Jimmy” Munday (speaker), Sam Millimurra (speaker), Joe Millimurra (speaker)
Page Number: 15-16
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

MILLY: Whose idea was it to stop the soap?

SERGEANT: The idea, as you call it, came from the Aboriginal Department in Perth.

GRAN: Mister Neville?

MILLY: I just can’t believe it: no soap!

SERGEANT: Your trouble, Milly, is you got three healthy men bludging off you, too lazy to work.

MILLY: Where they gonna get work?

SERGEANT: They’re afraid to look for it in case they find it.

MILLY: Cockies want ’em to work for nothin’.

GRAN: They not slaves, Chergeant!

SERGEANT: Well, they’ll have to work if you want luxury items like soap.

MILLY: Look, last week my Joe cut a hundred posts for old Skinny Martin and you know what he got? A pair of second-hand boots and a piece of stag ram so tough even the dawgs couldn’t eat it; skinnier than old Martin ’imself.

Related Characters: Gran Munday (speaker), Milly Millimurra (speaker), Sergeant Carrol (speaker), Joe Millimurra, Skinny Martin
Page Number: 22-23
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 6 Quotes

CISSIE: [holding her throat] Hurts, Mum, here; hurts when I cough.

MILLY: Well, no school for you today, my girl. [To SAM] You ain’t goin’ post cuttin’ today, and David, you walk to school.

DAVID: Aw, Mum!

MILLY: Don’t, ‘Aw Mum’ me. Joe, you git on that bike and go and ask Uncle Herbie for a lend of his horse and cart. We takin’ her to the doctor straight away.

[JOE takes the bike from DAVID.]

SAM: Aw Mill, can’t you and Mum take her? I only want another hundred posts and I’ll have enough boondah to pay me fine.

Related Characters: Milly Millimurra (speaker), Sam Millimurra (speaker), Cissie Millimurra (speaker), David Millimurra (speaker), Joe Millimurra
Page Number: 37-38
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 4 Quotes

Mary: I don’t like the way [Mr. Neal] looks at me.

Joe: Well, you got me now, for what I’m worth.

Mary: He’s always hangin’ around where the girls are workin’; in the cookhouse, in the sewin’ room. And he’s always carryin’ that cat-o’-nine tails and he’ll use it, too.

Joe: Bastard, better not use it on you or any of my lot.

Mary: He reckoned he was gunna belt me once.

Joe: What for?

Mary: ‘Coz I said I wasn’t gunna go and work for guddeah on a farm.

Joe: Why not? Be better than this place.

Mary: No! Some of them guddeahs real bad. My friend went last Christmas and then she came back boodjarri. She reckons the boss’s sons used to belt her up and, you know, force her. Then they kicked her out. And when she had that baby them trackers choked it dead and buried it in the pine plantation.

Related Characters: Joe Millimurra (speaker), Mary Daragurru (speaker), Mr N. S. Neal, Matron Neal, Sister Eileen
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 6 Quotes

[He picks up inji sticks. The Nyoongahs, SAM, JIMMY and JOE, dance with them. BILLY joins in. They dance with increasing speed and energy, stamping their feet, whirling in front of the fire, their bodies appearing and disappearing as the paint catches the firelight. The dance becomes faster and more frantic until finally SAM lets out a yell and they collapse, dropping back to their positions around the fire. JIMMY coughs and pants painfully.]

[…]

BILLY: This country got plenty good dance, eh?

BLUEY: Wee-ah!

JIMMY: Ah, yuart, not too many left now. Nearly all finish.

BILLY: No, no, no. You song man, you fella dance men. This still your country. [Flinging his arms wide] You, you, you, you listen! Gudeeah make ’em fences, windmill, make ’em road for motor car, big house, cut ’em down trees. Still your country! Not like my country, finish… finish.

[He sits in silence. They watch him intently. JOE puts wood on the fire. He speaks slowly.]

BILLY: Kuliyah. [Miming pulling a trigger, grunting] Gudeeah bin kill ’em. Finish, kill ’em. Big mob, 1926, kill ’em big mob my country.

Related Characters: James “Jimmy” Munday (speaker), Billy Kimberley (speaker), Bluey (speaker), Sam Millimurra, Joe Millimurra
Page Number: 66-67
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4, Scene 10 Quotes

DAVID: Eh, brother, you want my pocket knife? You might need it.

JOE: No, Brudge, I can use glass if I wanna gut a rabbit.

[SAM hands JOE a home-made knife.]

SAM: Here, son, take this one.

JOE: No, I’ll be all right.

SAM: Take it. I can git another bit of steel and make another one. Here, take it.

[Magpies squawk. GRAN begins to sing. They farewell each member of the family, then walk off into the distance.]

Related Characters: Sam Millimurra (speaker), Joe Millimurra (speaker), David Millimurra (speaker), Gran Munday, Mary Daragurru
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:
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Joe Millimurra Quotes in No Sugar

The No Sugar quotes below are all either spoken by Joe Millimurra or refer to Joe Millimurra. 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:
Racism, Discrimination, and Colonial Violence  Theme Icon
).
Act 1, Scene 1 Quotes

JOE: ‘The—blood—was stirred…as if by a trumpet… by the history-ical…Headed by a tab-leau… […] ‘…Commemorating the pioneers whose lives…’ […] ‘…Were a steadfast performance of duty in the face of difficulty and danger. With them was a reminder of the dangers they faced, in the shape of three lorries…carrying Aborigines.

[They all stop what they are doing and listen.]

[…]

JOE: All right! ‘…Dancing…to a brass-band.’

SAM: Koorawoorung! Nyoongahs corrobereein’ to a wetjala’s brass band!
JIMMY: Ah! That beats everythin’: stupid bloody blackfellas…You fellas, you know why them wetjalas marchin’ down the street, eh? I’ll tell youse why. ‘Cause them bastards took our country and them blackfellas dancin’ for ‘em. Bastards!

[…]

JOE: ‘The pag…page…page-ant pre-sented a picture of Western Australia’s pre-sent condition of hopeful optimum-optimis-tic prosperity, and gave some idea of what men mean when they talk about the soul of the nation.’

SAM: Sounds like bullshit to me.

Related Characters: James “Jimmy” Munday (speaker), Sam Millimurra (speaker), Joe Millimurra (speaker)
Page Number: 15-16
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

MILLY: Whose idea was it to stop the soap?

SERGEANT: The idea, as you call it, came from the Aboriginal Department in Perth.

GRAN: Mister Neville?

MILLY: I just can’t believe it: no soap!

SERGEANT: Your trouble, Milly, is you got three healthy men bludging off you, too lazy to work.

MILLY: Where they gonna get work?

SERGEANT: They’re afraid to look for it in case they find it.

MILLY: Cockies want ’em to work for nothin’.

GRAN: They not slaves, Chergeant!

SERGEANT: Well, they’ll have to work if you want luxury items like soap.

MILLY: Look, last week my Joe cut a hundred posts for old Skinny Martin and you know what he got? A pair of second-hand boots and a piece of stag ram so tough even the dawgs couldn’t eat it; skinnier than old Martin ’imself.

Related Characters: Gran Munday (speaker), Milly Millimurra (speaker), Sergeant Carrol (speaker), Joe Millimurra, Skinny Martin
Page Number: 22-23
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 6 Quotes

CISSIE: [holding her throat] Hurts, Mum, here; hurts when I cough.

MILLY: Well, no school for you today, my girl. [To SAM] You ain’t goin’ post cuttin’ today, and David, you walk to school.

DAVID: Aw, Mum!

MILLY: Don’t, ‘Aw Mum’ me. Joe, you git on that bike and go and ask Uncle Herbie for a lend of his horse and cart. We takin’ her to the doctor straight away.

[JOE takes the bike from DAVID.]

SAM: Aw Mill, can’t you and Mum take her? I only want another hundred posts and I’ll have enough boondah to pay me fine.

Related Characters: Milly Millimurra (speaker), Sam Millimurra (speaker), Cissie Millimurra (speaker), David Millimurra (speaker), Joe Millimurra
Page Number: 37-38
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 4 Quotes

Mary: I don’t like the way [Mr. Neal] looks at me.

Joe: Well, you got me now, for what I’m worth.

Mary: He’s always hangin’ around where the girls are workin’; in the cookhouse, in the sewin’ room. And he’s always carryin’ that cat-o’-nine tails and he’ll use it, too.

Joe: Bastard, better not use it on you or any of my lot.

Mary: He reckoned he was gunna belt me once.

Joe: What for?

Mary: ‘Coz I said I wasn’t gunna go and work for guddeah on a farm.

Joe: Why not? Be better than this place.

Mary: No! Some of them guddeahs real bad. My friend went last Christmas and then she came back boodjarri. She reckons the boss’s sons used to belt her up and, you know, force her. Then they kicked her out. And when she had that baby them trackers choked it dead and buried it in the pine plantation.

Related Characters: Joe Millimurra (speaker), Mary Daragurru (speaker), Mr N. S. Neal, Matron Neal, Sister Eileen
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 6 Quotes

[He picks up inji sticks. The Nyoongahs, SAM, JIMMY and JOE, dance with them. BILLY joins in. They dance with increasing speed and energy, stamping their feet, whirling in front of the fire, their bodies appearing and disappearing as the paint catches the firelight. The dance becomes faster and more frantic until finally SAM lets out a yell and they collapse, dropping back to their positions around the fire. JIMMY coughs and pants painfully.]

[…]

BILLY: This country got plenty good dance, eh?

BLUEY: Wee-ah!

JIMMY: Ah, yuart, not too many left now. Nearly all finish.

BILLY: No, no, no. You song man, you fella dance men. This still your country. [Flinging his arms wide] You, you, you, you listen! Gudeeah make ’em fences, windmill, make ’em road for motor car, big house, cut ’em down trees. Still your country! Not like my country, finish… finish.

[He sits in silence. They watch him intently. JOE puts wood on the fire. He speaks slowly.]

BILLY: Kuliyah. [Miming pulling a trigger, grunting] Gudeeah bin kill ’em. Finish, kill ’em. Big mob, 1926, kill ’em big mob my country.

Related Characters: James “Jimmy” Munday (speaker), Billy Kimberley (speaker), Bluey (speaker), Sam Millimurra, Joe Millimurra
Page Number: 66-67
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4, Scene 10 Quotes

DAVID: Eh, brother, you want my pocket knife? You might need it.

JOE: No, Brudge, I can use glass if I wanna gut a rabbit.

[SAM hands JOE a home-made knife.]

SAM: Here, son, take this one.

JOE: No, I’ll be all right.

SAM: Take it. I can git another bit of steel and make another one. Here, take it.

[Magpies squawk. GRAN begins to sing. They farewell each member of the family, then walk off into the distance.]

Related Characters: Sam Millimurra (speaker), Joe Millimurra (speaker), David Millimurra (speaker), Gran Munday, Mary Daragurru
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis: