For generations, Narungga and Kaurna theatre maker Jacob Boehme heard his family talk about “Goolie with the gold tooth” – a kind neighbour who made curries for the children growing up on Logan Street after they left Point Pearce Mission.
That childhood curiosity became Logan Street, a powerful new production with State Theatre Company South Australia that uncovers a remarkable chapter of Adelaide’s hidden history.
Blending Aboriginal history, Afghan migration and the lived experiences of communities who found belonging on the city’s margins, the production asks an important question: whose stories do we remember, and whose do we forget?
Through family memories, archival research, Kaurna language, music, ceremony and the evocative scents of rosewater and spices, Logan Street brings to life a neighbourhood where Aboriginal families and migrant communities built connections, cared for one another and created home.
For Mr Boehme, the work is deeply personal, but its message is universal: every street holds stories. Sometimes all it takes is a family memory to uncover a forgotten history.
Logan Street is showing at Adelaide Festival Centre’s Space Theatre until 8 August.
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