A young Aboriginal woman at the Moore River Settlement. She suffers horrific abuse from the superintendent but finds hope and love with Joe.
The central conflict ignites when the local white community and politicians decide to forcibly relocate the entire Aboriginal population of Northam to the Moore River Native Settlement. The official excuse is an outbreak of scabies, but the underlying motivation is political convenience ahead of an election. At Moore River, the Millimurras face even harsher conditions, institutional cruelty, and attempts to strip them of their language and traditions. Key Characters
– Milly’s husband, a steady and hard‑working man who does his best to provide for his family within an impossible system. jack davis no sugar pdf
, is a powerful exploration of the Millimurra-Munday family's struggle for dignity and survival during the Great Depression in Western Australia. As part of the First Born trilogy, it dramatises the forced relocation of Nyoongah people to the Moore River Native Settlement—a narrative that challenges official histories with the raw, resilient voices of those who lived through it. Core Themes: Why This Play Still Resonates
📖 How to Legally Access the No Sugar PDF and Digital Scripts A young Aboriginal woman at the Moore River Settlement
Davis employs several distinctive theatrical devices that deepen the play’s impact:
Through the use of language, humor, and cultural preservation, Davis demonstrates that Indigenous resistance is rooted in family unity rather than just physical defiance. Body Paragraph 1: The Illusion of "Protection" The official excuse is an outbreak of scabies,
No Sugar unfolds over four years (1929–1934) across four acts, moving between the Government Well Aboriginal Reserve in Northam, the Moore River Native Settlement, and the city of Perth.
Throughout the play, the characters consistently speak . This is a powerful act of defiance. The white authorities cannot understand it, allowing the family to maintain a private world of cultural pride, humor, and conspiracy right under the noses of their oppressors. 2. Institutional Racism vs. Human Dignity
– Despite the grim subject matter, the play is filled with dark humour and sharp‑witted banter among the family members. This humour is not escapism; it is a form of defiance, a refusal to be reduced to mere victims.
Represented as a bureaucratic character in the play, Neville believed in the policy of assimilation—essentially attempting to "breed out" Aboriginal culture and identity.
