How does Tom Wright use multiple text types to give Black Diggers a sense of historical

accuracy?

As Tom Wright states in the introduction to the play, the aim of Black Diggers is about putting
black faces back into all our history. Hence Black Diggers is written with reference to real
Australian history. Its historical accuracy is improved by Wrights usage of multiple text types,
which serve to integrate a sense of realism into the play, reflecting the social, military and
religious contexts of the times. The varied text types in the play place the audience in a position
to view the historical events through different lenses, reflecting the complex and multi-layered
nature of history itself. Furthermore, as a realist drama, Wright explores tensions within and
between people through the use of appropriate costumes and props that accompany speeches,
eulogies and dialogues. The real-life interviews and research conducted by Wright, Williams and
Enoch are reflected also in the use of historical artefacts to tell the story, providing evidence of
Black Diggers historical accuracy.

The adoption of multi-text format serves to integrate a sense of realism into the play. Different
text types including songs, poems, and prayers are extracts from real-life sources. Hence they
reflect the social, military and religious contexts of Black Diggers. For example, the song Sons of
The Southern Cross is performed in an Australian folk style that the audience is familiar with,
thereby absorbing them into the war-time historical atmosphere. The line Australian boys dont
shirk or fear epitomises the patriotic Australian ideals: only those who participate in the war and
sacrifice for the country can be considered as great Australian men. This will remind the
audience, especially those who have lived through war, of the prevalent nationalism in Australian
society during the Great War and the World War II. Hence the songs enhance the military context
of the play. This helps the audience to understand why the Indigenous soldiers long to participate
in the war, assisting them in empathising with the characters. Wright also reveals the social and
religious contexts of the play through the usage of prayers. In Black Diggers, both Aboriginal and
White soldiers share the same Christian religion. This is seen when Archie says prayers regularly;
Laurie and the British Captain read out the same Biblical verse; and Bertie only knows the
Christian way to commemorate his dead Aboriginal mate. This illustrates White Religions
invasive role in eroding and destroying Aboriginal traditions and beliefs. This dominant role of
Christian religion epitomises the social context of White Australia Policy, that white settlers
impose(d) their foreign way on Aborigines, forcing them to abandon their original identities and
grow up without the knowledge of their own history. By doing so, Wright is able to remind the
audience about the darkest period of Australian history, evoking a sense of guilt and anger in
them. In these many ways, the multiple text types contribute to the substantial contexts of the
play.
The varied text types in the play position the audience to view the historical event from different
lenses, reflecting the complex and multi-layered nature of history itself. Each text type in the play
symbolises a different view. Some text types, such as radio broadcasting and the Prime
Ministers speech give the audience an official account of the war. Other text types, such as
personal correspondences and individual dialogues, reveal the personal interpretations of the
history. This is known as historiography. Even though the past itself never changes, history,
which tries to form an understanding of the past, is always shifting and evolving. People
approach the same event with their own methods, priorities and values. They develop new
theories and conclusions that may change the way we see and understand the past. This is
exemplified in Black Diggers: For Indigenous soldiers, their participation in the war is significant
and this should earn them the privilege of being recognised as naturalised British subjects.
However, the Australian government chooses to ignore Aboriginal narratives in the process of
founding the nation, as it only praises fair men who are clear of eye as the finest of
Australians. Hence the various text types expose the audience to different aspects of the same
event, so that by the end of the play it no longer seems simple or isolated but is complex. In
doing so, Wright is able to convey the idea that absoluteness does not exist in historical accounts,
and this is why the play delivers a combination of multiple perspectives. The audience is not
forced to agree with Wrights interpretation of the historical events, instead they are encouraged
to evaluate different perspectives, and thus forming a full understanding of history. Wright also
reveals the contradictory views of the war through different text types. Wright illustrates the
sanitised and romanticised view Australian government had through the voice recording, where it
describes white Australian soldiers as extraordinary specimens and gallant figures who has
toughness and the ingenuity of the land of their birth. This epitomises the prevalent jingoism in
Australian society, that Australian soldiers are always heroic and they achieve victories in all the
battles. However, these myths are challenged and dispelled by the Ghosts soliloquy later in the
play. and the dirt can go back to being just dirt, a cynical take on the futility of war. For the
soldiers, their participation is the cause of their personal tragedies, which render them
traumatised and depressed. Hence the Ghosts monologue reflects a personal experience of the
war, indicating that reality on the battlefield is not as glorious as the official account makes it out
to be. The audience is thus positioned to view the historical events through various perspectives,
and by contrasting them they are required to piece the evidence together and question who really
owns history.