Talented young local storyteller, playwright and performing artist, Brodie Murray, was among the finalists at the National NAIDOC Awards held at the Brisbane Convention Centre on Saturday evening.
While the Yapeen local did not pick up the award on this occasion he was extremely proud to once again be recognised for his work in the arts.
The award nomination comes after Brodie was named ‘Mr Vic NAIDOC’ at the annual Victorian NAIDOC Awards held in Melbourne last month.
The latest honours recognise the young Indigenous performer’s achievements in the arts and in particular his latest play The Whisper, which was staged at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in October 2022.
The play was inspired by the story of his Nan, Lorraine Murray, and her Ngarrindgeri family’s secret journey across country in the 1940s, by horse and cart, under the cover of night to evade the welfare.
The 22-year-old told the Express it was important to be telling First Nations stories.
“It is important to be telling our stories to educate, to shed a light on what our people have been through to survive,” he said.
“I’d like to think that my work has had a positive effect on other youth, and I’ve been mentored in the past and so I pay that energy back by mentoring through the Melbourne Theatre Company’s First Peoples Young Artists program,” Brodie said.
The latest accolades follow on from the Wamba Wamba and Ngarrindjeri actor’s success at the 7News Young Achiever Awards in April, where he received the inaugural ‘Sofitel Melbourne on Collins Arts Award’.
In May 2022, Brodie was also among the recipients of the Australia Council’s First Nations Arts awards in Sydney, receiving the ‘First Nations Emerging Career Development Award’.
The last few years have been a whirlwind for the performing artist who completed his studies at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts before spending two years writing, developing and performing his own work and acting in other productions with theatre companies in Melbourne including La Mama Theatre and the Melbourne Theatre Company.
Brodie made his debut as a playwright at the 2021 Yirramboi First Nations Arts Festival in Melbourne with his play Soul of Possum, a first contact story set on Wamba Wamba Country.
With dramaturgy and cultural support from his mentor, Arrernte playwright and multidisciplinary artist Declan Furber Gillick, the play was a great success and was also performed at the Castlemaine State Festival.
Brodie wrote his second play Billy’s Choice, as part of Yirra Yaakin Writers Group in Perth and then adapted it for film during Melbourne’s lockdowns for the 2021 Melbourne Fringe Festival, directed by Rachel Maza, with dramaturgy by Geoff Kelso.
Billy’s Choice is an autobiographical work about the choices and struggles young First Nations people face everyday living between two worlds.
The play saw Brodie receive the ‘Melbourne Fringe Best Emerging Indigenous Artist Award’ and ‘Young Creatives Award’.
Brodie is currently studying Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts.
He hopes to be a positive role model for young First Nations theatre makers.
“As an emerging playwright and performer, I hope that my stories can continue to have a positive impact,” Brodie said.
The artist is looking forward to presenting a second season of The Whisper in Melbourne in February 2024. Stay tuned for details.
See the short film on Brodie as a National NAIDOC Week Award finalist here.
