MY COUSIN FRANK ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2025

 

My Cousin Frank Written and told by Rhoda Roberts AO

 Directed by Kirk Page. Associate director Julian Louis. Lighting design Karl Johnson. AV Design Mic Gruchy and Jahvis Loveday. Sound design Damian Robinson. Producer Libby Lincoln. Production Manager Karl Johnson.Stage Manager Sheridyn Dalton. AV Operator Patrick Bolliger. Rhoda Roberts dressed by Ella Lincoln. A NORPA Production. Generously supported by Sam Harvey. Space Theatre. Adelaide Festival Centre. Adelaide Festival. March 3 – 5 2025.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

In 1964, Francis Roberts, known to all as Honest Frank was the first Aboriginal athlete to compete in an Olympic Games. In telling his story, cousin Rhoda Roberts AO weaves her family’s history through a telling account of the struggles and triumphs of the Bundjalung clan of North East New South Wales. Roberts relaxed and easy charm is instantly engaging and we are drawn into a conversation that is intimate, deeply personal and a lens through which we can learn and understand more about her people and their struggle for the preservation of culture; language and identity through kinship and resilience. It is uplifting in its account of a proud people who value kindness and humility and forthright in its condemnation of the Aboriginal Protection Board and the Lismore City Council that initiated the demolition of Honest Frank’s home on the adjacent aboriginal settlement of Cubawee. 

Rhoda Roberts AO in My Cousin Frank

 Robert’s armchair performance upholds the character and integrity of her people.. There is no overt judgement, no bitterness, no indignation or fury. Injustice speaks for itself. Our first indigenous participant in the Welterweight Division of the Boxing competition in the 1964 Olympics held no Australian citizenship and was given a British passport on which to travel. It is an act of humiliation for a man who was invited to dine with Hirohito. It was a humiliation experienced by the Aborigines who served Australia in wartime but were barred from entering the RSL when they returned. But Roberts’ story is not one of angry condemnation. That is for her audience to decide. Hers is a moving and inspiring celebration of family, of her grandfather who was a bad driver but a leading advocate for his people and a voice alongside Charlie Perkins for the 1967 referendum that finally gave the original inhabitants of the land the fundamental right of citizenship in the occupying nation’’s constitution; her great grandfather Lyle Roberts who established the Bundjalung principles of living and organized the 1938 Day of Mourning; her father who gave up boxing to become a pastor like his grandfather before him and founded the Koori Mail and long before the boxing Robertses who paved the way for cousin Frank, the “shy, good looking boy” and a revered Olympian and 2000 Olympics torchbearer.

The punching bag suspended from the ceiling and the gloves that Roberts holds in silent reverence are striking symbols of the fight for recognition, the fight for citizenship and the fight for dignity. It is the fight that may take them out of poverty. It is the fight that can fill them with pride in themselves and their people. It is the fight that echoes with the words of the Elders “Stand tall. Head high. Higher Up".

In 2011 cousin Frank died. He was awarded a state funeral with his welterweight boxing belt from the ’64 Olympics proudly displayed on his coffin. Neither the” Aboriginal Destructions Board” as it was mockingly called nor the Lismore City Council could deny Francis Roberts’ place in sporting history or his people’s welfare. Honest Frank is an inspiration to his clan and to all who uphold the values of kindness and humility. They are qualities that emanate from Roberts’ heartfelt love of country and all people. After the devastating result of the Voice referendum last year My Cousin Frank offers hope for the future, a future built on trust in the spirit of a Widjabul Wiabal and Githabul man who paved the way with a long line of Roberts’ ancestors.

My Cousin Frank is gentle storytelling without artifice or hyperbole.  It is truly honest in its telling and its spirit of hope. In her personable and easy truth telling Roberts' story helps us to believe that the wrongs of the past can give rise to the healing of the future. It is this belief in the power of the fighting spirit and inspired resilience that Rhoda Roberts’ story of My Cousin Frank is not to be missed if it comes to a theatre near you.