Ilbijerri Theatre Company, formerly Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Cooperative and also known simply as Ilbijerri, styled ILBIJERRI, is an Australian theatre company based in Melbourne that creates theatre creatively controlled by Indigenous artists.
Ilbijerri was founded in 1990 as Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Cooperative by a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists galvanised to tell Indigenous stories from an Indigenous perspective. [1] Ilbijerri, pronounced il BIDGE er ree, is a Woiwurrung language word meaning "coming together for ceremony". [2]
Warumpi Band were an Australian country and Aboriginal rock group which formed in the outback settlement of Papunya, Northern Territory, in 1980. The original line-up was George Burarrwanga on vocals and didgeridoo, Gordon Butcher Tjapanangka on drums, his brother Sammy Butcher Tjapanangka on guitar and bass guitar, and Neil Murray on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. Their songs are in English, Luritja and Gumatj. Their key singles are "Blackfella/Whitefella" (1985), "Sit Down Money" (1986), "My Island Home" (1987) and "No Fear" (1987). The group released three albums, Big Name, No Blankets (1985), Go Bush! (1987) and Too Much Humbug (1996). From late 1987 to mid-1995 the group rarely performed as Murray focused on his solo career. In early 1995, Christine Anu, issued a cover version of "My Island Home". Warumpi Band regrouped before disbanding in 2000. Burarrwanga died on 10 June 2007 of lung cancer, and Gordon Butcher died in early 2020 of unreleased causes.
James Oswald Little, AO was an Australian Aboriginal musician, actor and teacher, who was a member of the Yorta Yorta tribe and was raised on the Cummeragunja Reserve, New South Wales.
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, publishing, and research institute and is considered to be Australia's premier resource for information about the cultures and societies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher is an Pitjantjatjara–Warlpiri musician who formed the Warumpi Band.
Coranderrk was an Aboriginal reserve run by the Victorian government between 1863 and 1924, located around 50 kilometres (31 mi) north-east of Melbourne. The residents were mainly of the Woiwurrung, Bunurong and Taungurung peoples, and the first inhabitants chose the site of the reserve.
Kylie Belling is an Australian stage, film and television actress and voice artist, who has also worked in other occupations. As of 2019 she works as Senior Manager, First Peoples, for Creative Victoria.
Wesley James Enoch is an Australian playwright and artistic director. He is especially known for The 7 Stages of Grieving, co-written with Deborah Mailman. He was artistic director of the Queensland Theatre Company from mid-2010 until October 2015, and completed a five-year stint as director of the Sydney Festival in February 2021.
Stephen George Page is an Australian choreographer, film director and former dancer. He is the former artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Indigenous Australian dance company. Page is descended from the Nunukul people and the Munaldjali of the Yugambeh people from southeast Queensland, Australia.
Ceremonial dancing has a very important place in the Indigenous cultures of Australia. They vary from place to place, but most ceremonies combine dance, song, rituals and often elaborate body decorations and costumes. The different body paintings indicate the type of ceremony being performed. They play an important role in marriage ceremonies, in the education of Indigenous children, as well as storytelling and oral history. The term corroboree is commonly used to refer to Australian Aboriginal dances, although this term has its origins among the people of the Sydney region. In some places, Aboriginal people perform corroborees for tourists. In the latter part of the 20th century the influence of Indigenous Australian dance traditions has been seen with the development of concert dance, with the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) providing training in contemporary dance.
Robert Lewis Maza, known as Bob Maza, was an Aboriginal Australian actor, playwright and activist.
Black Arm Band is an Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander music theatre organisation.
The Sapphires is an Australian play written by Tony Briggs and directed by Wesley Enoch. It is set in 1968 and it tells the story of The Sapphires, a singing group of four Yorta Yorta women who tour Vietnam during the war.
Rachael Zoa Maza, also credited as Rachael Maza Long, is an Indigenous Australian television and film actress, and stage director. She is known for her role in the 1998 film Radiance, and worked with Company B and Wesley Enoch in Sydney for many years. She has been artistic director and of Ilbijerri Theatre Company since 2008.
"Blackfella/Whitefella" is an Australian rock song written by Neil Murray and George Rrurrambu, recorded by their Aboriginal rock group, Warumpi Band, and released as the second single from their 1985 album, Big Name, No Blankets on Parole Records and Powderworks Records. While not a chart success, the song drew attention to issues of racism in Australia through lyrics that encourage harmony and co-operation by people of all races. The song received national airplay and attention in 1986 when politically charged rockers and Powderworks Records founders Midnight Oil accompanied the band on a free concert tour of remote Aboriginal communities as the Blackfella/Whitefella Tour.
Jack Charles, also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Australian stage and screen actor and activist, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous theatre in Australia, co-founding Nindethana Theatre with Bob Maza in Melbourne in 1971. His film credits include the Australian film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), among others, and more recently appeared in TV series Cleverman (2016) and Preppers (2021).
Dhauwurd Wurrung is a term used for a group of languages spoken by various groups of the Gunditjmara people of the Western District of Victoria, Australia. Keerray Woorroong is regarded by some as a separate language, by others as a dialect. The dialect continuum consisted of various lects such as Kuurn Kopan Noot, Big Wurrung, Gai Wurrung, and others. There was no traditional name for the entire dialect continuum and it has been classified and labelled differently by different linguists and researchers. The group of languages is also referred to as Gunditjmara language and the Warrnambool language.
Tony Briggs is an Aboriginal Australian actor. He is best known for creating the stage play The Sapphires, which tells the true story of an Aboriginal singing girl group who toured Vietnam during the war. Briggs is also a former track and field athlete.
Mark Coles Smith, also known by his musical identity as Kalaji, is an Aboriginal Australian actor of stage and screen, sound designer, field recordist, writer, and composer. He is known for his roles in the feature films Last Cab to Darwin (2015), Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018), and Occupation: Rainfall (2020), as well as the television series Mystery Road: Origin (2022), and the Canadian series Hard Rock Medical (2013–18).
Nindethana Theatre was Australia's first Aboriginal theatre company, founded in Melbourne in 1971, with its last performance in Adelaide in 1974.
Andrea James is an Aboriginal Australian playwright and theatre director, best known for her plays Yangali Yangali and Sunshine Super Girl, the latter about tennis star Evonne Goolagong Cawley.