Artist: Thomas Bock
Warwickshire, England 1790/93 – Hobart, Tasmania 1855
“Mathinna”, 1842, watercolour, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Pictured: Elma Kris as Mathinna
“Mathinna” is choreographed by Bangarra’s Artistic Director, Stephen Page.
Previewed on ninemsn’s Sunday programme, May 25, 2008, interviews with Stephen and David Page, and principal dancer Elma Kris in the role of Mathinna, one of the earliest stolen generation stories.
Tour dates and information avaiable online at The Sydney Opera House
Info below courtesy of Queensland Performing Arts Centre and Bangarra Dance Theatre
“Mathinna”:
Inspired by a young girl’s journey between two cultures, Mathinna traces the fragmented history of a young Aboriginal girl removed from her traditional life, adopted into Western Colonial society to be ultimately returned to the fragments of her original heritage.
Young Mary was born on Flinders Island, Tasmania in 1835 to the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, Towgerer, and his wife Wongerneep. As a young girl, Mary captured the hearts of Governor Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin and was adopted into their household at Government House in Hobart. Mary was renamed Mathinna. Somewhat an educational and charitable project, Mathinna was raised with the Governor’s daughter Eleanor and was described as a ‘very nice, intelligent child’.
When Governor Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin returned to England, Mathinna was sent to the Queen’s Orphan School in Hobart where she struggled to adjust. When Mathinna was sixteen she left the School to rejoin the last remaining of her people at an Aboriginal station at Oyster Cove, south of Hobart. At this settlement Mathinna’s life came to a disheartening end.
Mathinna became the archetype of the ‘stolen child’ and, in this brand new work, Bangarra Dance Theatre recreates her powerful story of vulnerability and searching in an era of confusion and intolerance.
As a prominent Australian Indigenous arts leader and following his recent honour as NSW Australian of the Year, Bangarra Dance Theatre Artistic Director Stephen Page evokes the traditional Indigenous spirit in this latest full-length work.
