Direct from its international premiere in New York, THE VISITORS is powerful, thought-provoking First Nations storytelling — a riveting insight into one of the most impactful and painful days in Australia’s history.
Wesley Enoch AM (Quandamooka), Chair of Creative Australia and former Artistic Director of Sydney Festival, directs this acclaimed co-production between A Moogahlin Performing Arts and Sydney Theatre Company, with producing of the Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki season by Performing Lines.
Introducing The Visitors for its Aotearoa debut, he writes:
- For audiences in Aotearoa, The Visitors opens a window onto a shared colonial history, but one told from a different vantage point. The story of British arrival here carries echoes of the same empire that sailed into Warrane (Sydney) in 1788. By the time the Crown turned its attention to Aotearoa, it had already tested its methods across the world. In 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi / the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the Crown and many Māori rangatira — a moment that held the promise of relationship, of mutual respect, of a future negotiated together. But from the very beginning the meanings carried in those two texts — te reo Māori and English — were not the same, and the consequences of that difference have echoed across generations.
What followed is a story that many here know deeply. As settlers arrived in greater numbers, the pressure for land intensified. Wars were fought, land was confiscated, laws were written that shifted power steadily towards the colonial state. Māori communities were pushed from whenua that had held their stories, their ancestors, their futures. These were not accidents of history, nor the unfortunate by-products of progress. They were choices — choices made in the service of empire, expansion and control.
Yet unlike Australia, where colonisation was built on the lie of terra nullius, the presence, authority and sovereignty of Māori could never be erased. The treaty — contested, debated, argued over — remained as both a promise and a challenge. It reminds us that the relationship between Māori and the Crown was meant to be something different: a partnership grounded in respect.
Today the work of honouring Te Tiriti continues. Language is being restored, histories retold, whenua returned, and new generations are asking how we might live together more honestly on this land.
In that spirit, The Visitors is not just a story about Australia. It is part of a wider conversation across the Pacific — about arrival, about memory, about the courage it takes to face the past with open eyes and an open heart.
Read more about Wesley’s reflections on bringing The Visitors to the Festival alongside notes by playwright Jane Harrison (Muruwari) in the show programme 👇. Opening night (Thu 19 March) is SOLD OUT but tickets are still available for Fri, Sat and Sun performances.
