Splinters Interactive Theatre Archive

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the unceded lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples of the Canberra region, and the Easter Kuku Yalanji people of the Daintree Coast in Far North Queensland, where this research was undertaken. I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and to their continuing cultures.

I am enormously grateful to my chair Katherine Bode, principal supervisor Katrina Grant and panel advisers Kate Bowan and Kate Flaherty for their ongoing support and guidance. I am also most grateful for the support of previous supervisors Jeff Brownrigg, Paul Pickering and Glenn Roe, and advisers Sarah Miller AM and Robyn Archer AO, who also commissioned the reunion performances for the Centenary of Canberra. For the archive itself I would especially like to thank Junran Lei for her unending patience in providing technical support over so many years.

This research would not have been possible without the generous donation to the ACT Heritage Library of the papers of the late David Branson by his mother Marget Hunt, and the work of Joel Swadling in arranging and describing the physical collection on which this research is based. Thanks also for significant donations and support to Louise Morris, Stuart Vaskess, Pauline Cady, Patrick Troy and José Roberston, with special thanks to José for his assistance to me in arrangement and description of Splinters material and curation of the exhibition. ACT Heritage Librarian Antoinette Buchanan gave much wonderful advice, as did Jenny Fewster and Liz Larkin at AusStage. The digitisation of the Splinters video in the ACT Heritage Library was completed with assistance from a Heritage Grant from the ACT Government. Thanks also to Craig Brown who assisted with additional digitisation.

A huge number of people played a role in producing the exhibition and performance elements of the research, far too many to list here: a full list of thanks is available on the archive website. For the exhibition I here thank Shane Breynard, Mark Bayley and the team at the Canberra Museum and Gallery, and to all those who contributed items. For the performances I particularly thank here Suzanne Kalk, Ian Pidd, Rebecca Rutter, Gordo Jankovic and Ariane Ramsay, as well as Julian Hobba and the team at the Centenary of Canberra.

My heartfelt thanks to the former Splinters members and comrades who gave support and encouragement, and many of whom participated in the events. You all contributed to the astonishing artistic legacy of Splinters and this research is, above all, a tribute to you. Thanks especially to Kate McNamara, David Boon, Chris Shakallis and Christoper Barnett for encouragement and sage advice.

I dedicate this research to those who left us too soon: David Branson, Phillip Crotty, ‘pling (Kevin Prideaux), and Renald Navilly.

Finally, my deepest thanks and love to my partner, Victoria Lees, who is very much looking forward to me no longer being a PhD student.

This research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.

The digitisation of Splinters video in the David Branson papers was supported by the ACT Government through an ACT Heritage Grant.

The VIllage in Glebe Park and Dirt Babylon were supported by the ACT Government as a part of the Centenary of Canberra.

The Splinters Theatre: Massive Love of Risk exhibition was supported by the ACT Government through the Canberra Museum and Gallery.