Woollarawarre Bennelong (Bennilong, Baneelon) (c1764-1813), was a Wangul man of the Eora nation. Today, his name is on the peninsula carrying Sydney Opera House, and its restaurant, 'a truly unique event venue; a pinnacle of Sydney's premier dining experiences'. according to its website. Hardly the lived experience of its namesake, who happened to be in the Port Jackson area at the time of the first British settlement and became a symbol of the meeting of the cultures..
When Bangarra Dance told the story of Bennelong at the Opera House in 2017, it was a milestone in Australian drama. 'Bennelong is an extraordinarily powerful work, a benchmark in Australian dance creativity,' wrote the SMH reviewer. 'It sums up yesterday, today and perhaps tomorrow in a swirling series of storytelling episodes that explore Indigenous lives in an Australia colonised by Europeans... Bangarra Dance Theatre has gone beyond the broad-brush recall of these events to invest them with Indigenous cultural context and emotions – above all, to link them with Indigenous life in Australia today and how it might be in the future.' Limelight went further. 'Dauntingly iconic, profoundly sad, Bennelong is beautifully realised by a sensitive and experienced creative team, a phalanx of dancers at the top of their game, and features a career-defining central performance of enormous strength and grace from Beau Dean Riley Smith.'
It wasn't a new story. History books had drawn on a heap of primary source material, including notebooks and diaries of first fleet officers. (Details in Wikipedia here.)
More recently, historians have revisited and reworked the accounts of Bennelong's capture - first physically and then culturally - by the invading British, and his noble role in bringing the cultures together and then disintegration and demise. That story persisted over two centuries, first emphasizing his disintegration, later his heroic sacrifice. Thus celebrated and mythologised he became a symbol in our account of the treatment of First Nations people.
Now, it's less clear, as Paul Daley recounts in this fascinating essay. And you can read this careful account of the issues by one of the historian participants in the debate.
The inscription on this 1789 image reads: 'Portrait of Bennilong a native of New Holland, who after experiencing for two years the Luxuries of England, returned to his own Country and resumed all his savage Habits c1800s'
Bangarra's dance drama has revived only one part of the debate, and if you wish to explore this version, the company's own resource pages provide rich materials including a detailed account of Bennelong's history and also of the making of this dance drama.
And the making of this story.
For those watching the performance this week, check out the Limelight review for a picture of the shape of this piece and the interplay of music, movement, costume, light and drama. And it's worth reading this review for a description of the ways Bangarra has presented the man's history. It describes the use of imagery and sound as well as movement, to tell a life not so much in episodes as in reflections.
'Was Bennelong a victim? A collaborator? A realist? Looking back centuries later, it is impossible to guess his motives and feelings. What is certain is that Bennelong navigated a cultural clash that few, if any, Aboriginal men of his era had ever had to confront. Danced with dignity, strength, and self-possession by Beau Dean Riley Smith, Bennelong is shown as a man who is, above all, conflicted.'
