Many are unaware of the story of William Cooper, an Aboriginal activist who fought for the rights of Jewish people under Nazi rule.
On December 6 1938, Aboriginal activist William Cooper led a protest to the German Embassy in Melbourne to call for the end of the Nazi persecution of Jewish people in Europe.
Eighty years later one of his ancestors Andrea James was contacted by the Arthur Theatre Company to discuss the writing of a play with Jewish Playwright Elise Hearst. To tell that exact story.
Both playwrights have collaborated to produce Bright World,honouring their ancestors and telling their story as teenagers growing up in the eighties.
Elise also shares her story of her grandparents who are Holocaust survivors, who fled Europe to Australia to live.
A place that became their Bright World.
For the First Peoples in Victoria, life on country was not so much of a bright world due to the injustices of colonisation and persecution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.
Yorta Yorta Playwright Andrea James says at times both her and Elise were still working out their differences and similarities on stage for each performance.
