Storytelling As a Counter-narrative Technique Against Colonial Project in David Milroy’s Windmill Baby

This paper examines the narrative strategies utilized in David Milroy’s Windmill Baby (2015), with a specific focus on the non-linear narrative style employed by the female protagonist. The objective is to investigate the process of colonial disintegration from two perspectives. Firstly, it explores the use of storytelling as a method to unveil the veracity of the phenomenon of colonization. In addition, it conveys the significance and influence of Aboriginal women as disseminators of Aboriginal narrative, history, and culture. Rather than depending on the viewpoint of white settlers or colonizers, the Aboriginal woman adopts the role of a storyteller, while performing the roles of all characters and effectively communicating the story of her people. In contrast to the imperial norm, where history is mostly presented through the colonizer’s perspective, the play is presented through a feminist lens, where an Aboriginal woman recounts the narratives of the characters. The play also opens up spaces where a collaboration can be achieved between white and Aboriginal women, which is another counter-narrative to the colonial project, which inhibits such a relation. As such, by employing the narrative technique, Milroy effectively presents a counter-narrative that opposes the colonial narrative and conveys the traumatic consequences of colonization