Australia Theatre

Hipbone Sticking Out

Big hART

Part of Big hART Events series.

PRESENTED BY MELBOURNE FESTIVAL AND BIG HART

When 16-year-old Yindjibarndi man John Pat died in a Roebourne lockup in 1983, it was more than a singular tragedy – it was part of a longer story, one that for 150 years had denied Indigenous people in the Pilbara the power to speak.

“Hipbone Sticking Out attempts nothing less than the story of the collision of cultures over centuries - millennia - and it succeeds with dizzying brilliance.”

The West Australian

Set against a backdrop depicting Murujuga – the world’s largest outdoor rock art gallery – this stellar cast create a tour de force story that places the Pilbara at the centre of world history.

For two decades, Big hART have worked in the country’s most diverse communities, assisting them to give voice to their potent stories. Through Hipbone Sticking Out, the Pilbara’s Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi people bring their powerful voice to this cross-cultural story in a spellbinding whirl of performance, narrative, animation and vocal harmonies.

“A juxtaposition of dark humour and poignant honesty… perfectly balanced.”

CANBERRA TIMES

The Yijala Yala Project is sponsored by Woodside-operated Pluto LNG through its Conservation Agreement with the Australian Government.

Image: Greer Versteeg