Bran Nue Dae

Bran Nue Dae took Australia by storm when it premiered at the Perth International Arts Festival in 1990, followed by national tours. It won the prestigious Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award and was highly commended in the Human Rights awards the same year. In 1991, the book won the Special Award in the WA Premier’s Book Awards. A film adaptation was released in 2009.

Set in the 1960s—the era of assimilation, the Vietnam war, Land Rights, the White Australia policy, and the 1967 Referendum—it is a partly autobiographical story, one shared by many of Chi’s era. Homesick Willy is expelled from his Catholic boarding school in Perth and embarks on the long road-trip home to Broome and Djarindjin, with a crew of irreverent, larger-than-life characters. He is in search of identity, love, and belonging.

On the surface, a simple story, Bran Nue Dae explores darker truths of the era from an Aboriginal perspective. As Jimmy Chi once said, "The naked truth is ugly, but when he’s dressed in the fine clothes of the parable, then he becomes acceptable."