AustLit

'This script is dedicated to the memory of all those friendships and loving relationships marred, and often destroyed, by the sectarianism so prevalent in country Queensland in the years before Statehood. John and Jennie draws on accounts from The Gayndah Communes about this period of Queensland history just before the outbreak of the first world war. The script highlights the continued negation and absence of the history of how sectarianism disrupted the lives of ordinary Queenslanders, particularly in terms of who they could marry. In this the year of commemoration of Australia’s involvement in the first world war, it is timely to recall and to reimagine the everyday lives of those who loved and lost in a time of deep prejudices. This script is part of an ongoing research project and creative practice in the area of historical reimagining.' (Publication summary)