JOURNEY THROUGH COUNTRY

Journey Through Country by Jennifer Lamb
World premiere
performed outside on the banks of the Mulwaree River
Cast: Muffy Hedges, Ryan Paranthoiene, David Rayner, Martin Sanders, Shane Daly, Brian Hill, Blake Selmes, Jock McLean, Jack Bell, Fred Walshe, Jessikah Cornale, Victoria Crawford, Izach Harry, Savannah Lehman, Toriana Lehman, Scarlett Russell, Shila Russell, Simon Walshe, Axel Wellings, Marcus Whitby, Nakiya Zylstra, Scott Treble, Luan & Rowan Bone, Megan Connell, Kate Easlea, Rick Jones, Rangii Paerau, Matt Pierce, Skye Price, Michelle Treble, Erin Williams
Director: Chrisjohn Hancock
October 2020

In October 1820, the NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie made ”A Tour of Inspection to the Western and Southern Countries some time since discovered by Chas. Throsby Esqr.”  That tour took him across the Cookbundoon Range and through the Mulwaree/Goulburn Plains to Bundong (Lake Bathurst) and Weereewaa (Lake George).  The region was so-called new country, not yet opened for colonial settlement and hard-hooved animals.  On his return to Sydney in November 1820, Macquarie declared this new country open for the pasturage of sheep and cattle – thus European settlement.

Journey Through Country is based on Macquarie’s diary of his tour of inspection of our region – from 22 to 31 October 1820.  It is presented by the Lieder Theatre Company for Goulburn 2020 – a commemoration of the people, land and environment long before 1820, in 1820 and beyond.

Journey Through Country was written locally by Jennifer Lamb who has consulted with local Indigenous community members and researched colonial explorers’ journals of their forays into this country.  While it tells of Macquarie’s journey, it speaks of much more and considers what history did not record.