When Whitefella Yella Tree premiered at Griffin’s Stables Theatre in 2022, it captured my heart. Dylan Van Den Berg’s sophisticated exploration of the impact of colonisation on queer identity offered audiences a glimpse of histories that have been silenced or lost.

Now, in the aftermath of a divisive campaign and a failed referendum, this urgent work, remounted at Sydney Theatre Company, solidifies its place in the canon of Aboriginal theatre that shapes our understanding of the immense tragedy of colonisation and its role in the erasure of a people, a culture, and a belief system.

Danny Howard and Joseph Althouse in Whitefella Yella Tree. Photo © Prudence Upton

Teenagers Neddy (Danny Howard) and Ty (Joseph Althouse) are entrusted with a vital task: to exchange information between their Mobs at a critical time for their people. Each moon, they meet under the knotted branches of the foreign Yella (lemon) tree to share what they know about the Whitefella, who has begun invading.

As the Yella Tree grows, so too does their connection — but so too does the Whitefella’s occupation. In their culture, their love is something...