'Palm Island. An Aboriginal man is arrested, allegedly for insulting a police officer. Within 90 minutes, he lies dead on the watchhouse floor, his liver cleaved in two. The community protests, the police station is torched. A Senior Sergeant stands trial for manslaughter but is acquitted. Questions are raised about manipulation of evidence and a court suppression order. A protestor, jailed for inciting a riot, is out on parole on condition that he speaks to no-one.
"Beautiful One Day" is a theatrical documentary made by a group of Australians (black and white) seeking to interpret these events against the full sweep of the island's history. It seeks to grasp the ordinariness of brutality, charting the course of repression, resistance and racism but also the astonishing resilience of the people who call Palm Island home.' Source: www.belvoir.com.au/ (Sighted 12/10/2011).
A co-production with Ilbijerri Theatre Company and version 1.0. at the Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir Street Theatre, 25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills, New South Wales, 17 November - 23 December, 2011. Also produced in Melbourne, London, and in 2015 in Brisbane, and Palm Island.
Devisor/Performers: Magdalena Blackley, Kylie Doomadgee, Paul Dwyer, Eamon Flack, Rachel Maza, Jane Phegan, Harry Reuben and David Williams.
Set and Costume Designer: Ruby Langton-Batty.
Lighting Designer: Frank Mainoo.
Composer and Sound Designer: Paul Prestipino.
See also AusStage entry: https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/105474
The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island
Camberwell
:
Hamish Hamilton
,
2008
Z1483259
2008
single work
prose
(taught in 11 units)
In November 2004, in the small township of Palm Island in the far north of Queensland, Detective Hurley arrested Cameron Doomadgee for swearing at him. Doomadgee was drunk. A few hours later he died in a watch-house cell. According to the inquest, his liver was so badly damaged it was almost severed. (Source: Trove)
The Tall Man
( dir. Tony Krawitz
)
Sydney
:
Blackfella Films
,
2011
Z1762237
2011
single work
film/TV
'When Cameron Doomadgee was found dead in the Palm Island police station, his injuries were like those of someone who’d been in a fatal car crash. The police claimed he had tripped on a step. The Palm Islanders rioted and burnt down the police station. The subsequent trial of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley – who had been decorated for his work in Aboriginal communities – made headlines day after day, shadowed by Queensland police threatening to strike.'
'The Tall Man tells the gripping story of the trial, of the complex Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, and of the Doomadgee family as they struggle to understand what happened to their brother. ' (Source: Madman.com.au)
'Rachel Maza counts Beautiful One Day, a play about events surrounding the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee on Palm Island, as one of the most powerful works she's been involved with...'
