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A week ago, onlookers were perplexed by the sight of a barge full of bones floating on the Brisbane River.
“It looks a bit like a giant rib cage. Anyone know what it is?” one office worker asked on Reddit.
The 28 fibreglass “whale bones” were installed on the water next to the Neville Bonner Bridge in front of Queen’s Wharf for the Brisbane Festival performance Baleen Moondjan.
The massive “whalebone” set for Baleen Moondjan was reassembled in Murarrie and floated downriver to Queen’s Wharf.Credit: Markus Ravik
The bones, of which the tallest spans nine metres, were designed by stage designer Jacob Nash and built by Sydney-based company Stagekings for the original production of Baleen Moondjan in Adelaide last year.
“They got transported from Adelaide in double shipping containers, and then we put them together down near Doboy [Bulimba] Creek,” Nash said.
“The barge was already pre-built at that point, with scaffolding and stage decking. The bones were craned into place, and then they were all ready for the trip up the river.”
Baleen Moondjan is a theatrical dance piece by Stephen Page, his first stage production since retiring as the artistic director of the world-renowned Bangarra Dance Theatre in Sydney.
Featuring four actors, two musicians and six dancers, it tells a story of country and connection about a proud elder, a curious granddaughter, and the day a baleen whale ventured close to the shore of Stradbroke Island/Minjerribah.
Page, who grew up in Mount Gravatt, said he was inspired to tell the story by his mother, Doreen Day, who died in 2018 having spent her last four years on North Stradbroke at the Nareeba Moopi Moopi Pa aged care hostel.
“She had dementia. I used to sit with her when I visited her over there and what I could see in her eyes was the spirit of being on country,” Page said.
Although set on Stradbroke Island, the production was first staged on Glenelg Beach in 2024 for the Adelaide Festival.Credit: Markus Ravik
“She remembered being with her mother and her grandmother and her great-grandmother. She remembered beautiful moments of oyster farming and the seasons when the baleen humpback whales would come in.”
Page’s grandmother, Martha Day (nee Manager), grew up on Stradbroke at the Myora Mission, a lineage explored in an episode of the SBS show Who Do You Think You Are?
Brisbane Festival artistic director Louise Bezzina said the show was first staged on Glenelg Beach as part of Adelaide Festival.
“We were a co-commissioner and co-presenter of the work, and we’re finally bringing it to Brisbane,” she said earlier this year. “I can’t wait to see what it looks like on the Brisbane River.”
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A number of locations were considered for the performance, including Dunwich on North Stradbroke, and parks in Manly and Wynnum that look out to the island.
When the space became available at The Landing in Queens Wharf, Page and Bezzina agreed it would be a spectacular setting.
“It’s going to be beautiful on that river when the sun goes down,” Page said.
“If you follow the Brisbane River right out to Cleveland and across the saltwater, it has a beautiful songline connection.”
Baleen Moondjan runs at Queen’s Wharf, September 18-21.
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