Leah Purcell is adapting Henry Lawson’s 1892 short story The Drover’s Wife into an opera for Opera Australia, bringing Indigenous storytelling and language into a traditional European art form, according to an interview published by The Guardian. The production, which features a libretto by Purcell and a score by composer George Palmer, is scheduled to run at the Sydney Opera House from 7–15 August, with the creative team collaborating across multiple workshops to blend orchestral music with Indigenous vocals, clapsticks, and boomerang rattles.
Bringing Indigenous Storytelling to Opera Australia
The operatic adaptation marks a new chapter for Purcell’s multi-platform retelling of Lawson’s high-country tale. According to The Guardian, the project began as an award-winning stage play in 2016, became a bestselling book in 2019, and was adapted into a feature film that earned Purcell an AACTA award for best actress in 2023. In Lawson’s original story set in the Snowy River region, a heavily pregnant woman defends her children against a snake while her drover husband is away. Purcell, a Goa, Gunggari and Wakka Wakka woman, reimagined the protagonist as Molly Johnson, a fierce, gun-toting protector whose story incorporates frontier violence, racism, and colonization, alongside a character based on Purcell’s great-grandfather.
Did you know? Leah Purcell’s song Run Daisy Run, written early in her career, served as an anthem for the Stolen Generations and was based on the life story of her maternal grandmother, Daisy Walker, who was forcibly taken as a child at age five.
Collaborating on the Score and Staging
According to The Guardian, Purcell collaborated closely with composer George Palmer—known for his operatic adaptation of Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet—to build the musical foundation of the production. Purcell explained that the score relies on authentic vocal traditions and percussion rather than traditional instruments like the didgeridoo, stating that the production utilizes vocals, body percussion, big clapsticks, the rattle of the boomerang, and possum-skin drum gestures. Palmer, who works with hearing aids, collaborated with Purcell across four workshops to finalize the score, which is sung in English with Indigenous language woven throughout.
Future Projects Focus on Cherbourg Mission History
Following the staging of The Drover’s Wife opera, Purcell has completed the first draft of a new screenplay centered on revered Aboriginal leader Aunty Ruth Hegarty, according to The Guardian. The upcoming project explores Hegarty’s childhood in the notoriously harsh mission dormitory at Cherbourg in Queensland and her subsequent assignment as a domestic servant during the Protection Era. The screenplay highlights the resilience, humor, and strength of Hegarty and the other dormitory residents, continuing Purcell’s body of work focused on the women of her family.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where is The Drover’s Wife opera playing?
According to The Guardian, the opera plays at the Sydney Opera House from 7–15 August.
Who is the composer for the opera version of The Drover’s Wife?
George Palmer composed the score in collaboration with librettist and director Leah Purcell, according to The Guardian.
What is Leah Purcell’s next project after the opera?
According to The Guardian, Purcell has finished the first draft of a screenplay about Aboriginal leader Aunty Ruth Hegarty and her experiences in the Cherbourg mission dormitory.
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