The formation of Australian national identity: The contribution of modern women's, immigrant and Aboriginal theatre and drama

This study examines the issue of Australian national identity, paying particular attention to the period from 1975--1995. It draws upon historical documents and analyses of theatre productions and notable plays from the modern Australian canon. Both literary and performance texts are sited in historical context. Categories for analysis include indigenous, women's and immigrant theatre. Feminist and post-colonial critical methodologies are applied to the analyses. Semiotic readings of the play and performance texts are also made.;The study contends that Australian national identity, especially as embodied in its drama and theatre, continues its process of development in a metaphorical frontier, a continuation of the material frontier where the first icons of identity were created. These were exclusive: white and male. The centralist/marginalist discourse, the tension between the old icons and the creation of newer can be found in Australian drama and theatre throughout the twentieth century. The tension is expressed in the playing out of previously suppressed or buried voices and in diversification in theatre form and practice.;In the period under consideration, significant gains were made in human rights and social justice legislation. Immigration patterns changed with a diversification of former migrant homelands, and multiculturalism became national policy. Despite steadily falling levels, government funding continued, although policies were diversified with attention being paid to second-tier or special interest fringe groups. These gains had an impact upon and are reflected in Australian theatre and drama.;The study calls upon the quest motif and the metaphor of the frontier. Figures embodied in this landscape are on a journey to find psychic integration and "home." These figures are lone wanderers, often damaged in some way, and adrift between cultures. This figure can be seen as a descendant of the bushman and the nativist tradition of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Whilst this solitary figure from the Legend is widespread across modern drama the marginal theatres have produced a counter impetus: there identification is most often indicated through communality.