NAVIGATING TRUTH AND FACTION: JEANNINE GASKIN

Lieutenant Dawes is one of the characters I play in Our Country's Good. What I find so interesting about Dawes is how flighty he is portrayed in the play. He has less than 10 lines and the only thing you learn about him is that he could care less about the convicts and is fascinated with the stars in the sky. He’s there basically to be a foil to those characters advocating that the prisoners put on a play. BUT…..

What we do not get to learn and love about this character is the true pioneer that he was. He build an observatory in Australia at Point Maskelyne which is now known as Dawes Point. The local Aboriginal people saw this as a safe and welcoming place to share friendship and knowledge.

Dawes also built a relationship with the native people. He was the first to document their language using an orthography. He immersed himself in the culture. There is a lot of documentation about his close relationship with a native woman named Patyegarang. This Gamaraigal young woman was 15 years old when they met and she taught Dawes the Gadigal language.

Dawes was also the first European known to defend Aboriginal rights. He actually refused to join a punitive expedition against Aborigines. Dawes gained a reputation of being a scholarly, scientific and conscientious gentleman.

I get what the playwright was doing with Dawes, portraying him as a disconnected stargazer to serve a dramatic function in the play. But it is challenging to learn so much about him and not be able to share his true humanity on the stage for everyone to see.