The Visitors

On a sweltering day, 26 January, 1788, on a bluff high above Sydney Cove, seven Aboriginal men stand looking out to sea. Moored off-shore is a huge nowee (boat) ... then there are two, then more. Who are these visitors? Where are they from? What do they want? Should they be turned away--by force--or welcomed to country? In The Visitors, Muruwari playwright Jane Harrison (Stolen, Rainbow's End) reimagines the arrival of the First Fleet from a First Nations' perspective. These senior men, carrying the weight of cultural responsibility in their very human hearts, must decide what action they'll take toward these unwanted arrivals. A decision, under pressure, that will have repercussions--unforeseeably and forever. Told with wit, charm, and a fierce intelligence, Harrison's story upends the dominant point of view of this pivotal event. Annotated and with an introduction by Wesley Enoch.