No Sugar

No Sugar is a four-act play written by Jack Davis. It is the story of an Aboriginal family’s struggles for dignity, equality, and justice during the Australian depression of the 1930s. It has much in common with other literary touchstones of activism, such as John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, and more. Like Steinbeck’s novel, No Sugar centers on a particular family and their antagonists, both circumstantial and personal. The members of each group represent different realities of life amidst the struggle between the Australia’s Aboriginal people and the white authorities who subjugate them. 

Act I introduces the members of the Millimurra and Munday families, who are currently encamped at the Government Well reserve. Jimmy Munday serves as the center of the family for the first two acts of the play. Living with him in the camp is his mother Gran and the Millimmurra family: Joe, Cissie, David, and Sam. Their lives are difficult but not unbearable. However, shortly after Act One begins, their rations are cut. They will no longer have such essentials as meat and soap. These changes are instituted, ironically, by the Protector of Aboriginal Affairs, Mr.