John Harvey is an Australian writer, director, and producer of theatre and film. He is the creative director of independent theatre and film company, Brown Cabs. He is known for writing the plays ''The Return'' and ''Black Ties'', and for several television documentaries, including the 2022 documentary about the

Aboriginal Tent Embassy The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a permanent protest occupation site as a focus for representing the political rights of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. Established on 26 January (Australia Day) 1972, and celebrating ...

, '' Still We Rise'', which he also directed. He produced the 2015 Indigenous drama film ''

Spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

'', written and directed by

Stephen Page Stephen George Page is an Aboriginal Australian choreographer, film director and former dancer. He was artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Indigenous Australian dance company, from 1991 until 2022. During this time he choreograp ...

. He has won several awards for his work, including two Australian Directors' Guild Awards.

Early life

John Harvey's family is from

Saibai Island Saibai Island, commonly called Saibai (), is an island of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago, located in the Torres Strait of Queensland, Australia. The island is situated north of the Australian mainland and south of the island of New Guine ...

in the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...

, but moved to mainland Australia in 1947 because of

rising sea levels The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

. He is also of English descent.

Career

Theatre

Harvey worked at Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, headed by

Wesley Enoch Wesley James Enoch (born 1969) is an Australian playwright and artistic director. He is especially known for ''The 7 Stages of Grieving'', co-written with Deborah Mailman. He was artistic director of the Queensland Theatre Company from mid- ...

from 1993 to 2007. He also worked at Access Arts with Indigenous inmates and people experiencing mental illness in Brisbane, and for some years worked on a

petrol sniffing Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...

project with the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Women's Council in

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and ...

. He presented his writing debut, ''My Heart Is a Wasteland'', at

Malthouse Theatre Malthouse Theatre is the resident theatre company of The Malthouse building in Southbank, part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. In the 1980s it was known as the Playbox Theatre Company and was housed in the Playbox Theatre in Melbourne's CBD ...

in 2017. The play toured nationally with

Ilbijerri Theatre Company __NOTOC__ Ilbijerri Theatre Company, formerly Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Cooperative and also known simply as Ilbijerri, styled ILBIJERRI, is an Australian theatre company based in Melbourne that creates theatre creat ...

in 2022. He was general manager and co-CEO of Ilbijerri with

Rachael Maza Rachael Zoa Maza , also credited as Rachael Maza Long, is an Indigenous Australian television and film actress, and stage director. She is known for her role in the 1998 film ''Radiance'', and worked with Company B and Wesley Enoch in Sydney fo ...

. Harvey was co-writer, with Tainui Tukiwaho, of MFI (Major Festivals Initiative) show ''Black Ties'', an Ilbijerri Theatre / Te Rehia co-production, which premiered at the 2020

Sydney Festival Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney, that runs for three weeks every January since it was established in 1977. The festival program features over 100 events from local and international artists and inclu ...

, where it sold out, and also sold out at

Arts Centre Melbourne Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central M ...

Perth Festival Perth Festival, named Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) between 2000 and 2017, and sometimes referred to as the Festival of Perth, is Australia's longest-running cultural festival, held annually in Western Australia. The program features ...

, and

Auckland Arts Festival Formerly known as Auckland Festival, Auckland Arts Festival or is an annual arts and cultural festival held in Auckland, New Zealand. The Festival features works from New Zealand, the Pacific, Asia and beyond, including world premieres of new wo ...

. He directed and presented ''A Little Piece of Heaven'', the story of

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

Elders Uncle Dick and Aunty Ruth Carney as part of

Yirramboi Festival The Yirramboi Festival, styled YIRRAMBOI, is a cultural festival celebrating the First Nations of Australia held biennially in the odd-numbered years in May in Melbourne, Australia. It is also subtitled or described as the Melbourne Indigenous A ...

in 2019. In 2020 Harvey started writing ''The Return'', which was co-commissioned by Malthouse Theatre and RISING festival. The premiere was planned for August 2020, but was cancelled on account of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Instead, the production premiered on 13 May 2022, at the

Merlyn Theatre Malthouse Theatre is the resident theatre company of The Malthouse building in Southbank, part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. In the 1980s it was known as the Playbox Theatre Company and was housed in the Playbox Theatre in Melbourne's CBD. ...

in the Malthouse, as part of the RISING Festival. The play was directed by Jason Tamiru and

Matthew Lutton Matthew Lutton is an Australian theatre and opera director. He was associate director of the Black Swan Theatre Company in 2006. He was the founder and director of ThinIce theatre company (2002–2012) in Perth, Western Australia. Moving to Melb ...

, and starred

Jimi Bani Jimi Bani is an Indigenous Australian actor, known for his portrayal of land rights activist Eddie Mabo in the 2012 tele-movie '' Mabo'', several television series, and theatre performances. Early life and education A Torres Strait Islander ...

. Described as "An epic, 250-year story to return home the captive bodily remains of First Peoples", in 2023 the play won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Drama, and it was nominated for an

AWGIE Award The AWGIE Awards are annual awards given by the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG), for excellence in screen, television, stage, and radio writing. History The AWGIE awards were conceived in 1967, with the first event being held in 1968. Bettina ...

in 2024. Sean Ryan played didgeridu, while Tamiru performed on

yidaki The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed ...

clapsticks Clapsticks, also spelt clap sticks and also known as , , clappers, musicstick or just stick, are a traditional Australian Aboriginal instrument. They serve to maintain rhythm in voice chants, often as part of an Aboriginal ceremony. They ar ...

, and vocals. In 2025, Harvey and Isaac Drandic are co-creating the play ''Dear Son'' based on the 2021 book of the same name by Torres Strait Islander author Thomas Mayo. For the book, Mayo invited 12 Indigenous Australian contributors, including journalist Stan Grant, musician

Troy Cassar-Daley Troy Cassar-Daley (born 18 May 1969) is an Australian country music songwriter and entertainer. Cassar-Daley has released thirteen studio albums, two live albums and five compilation albums over 30 years, including the platinum-selling '' The ...

, and artist

Blak Douglas __NOTOC__ Blak Douglas, formerly known as Adam Douglas Hill, is an Aboriginal Australian artist and musician. he is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Early life and education He is a Dhungatti man, with Irish, Scots, English, and German anc ...

, to write a letter to their son, father, or nephew "about life, masculinity, love, culture, and racism". The play, featuring

and

Trevor Jamieson Trevor Jamieson (born 7 March 1975) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actor, playwright, dancer, singer and didgeridoo player. Early life Trevor Jamieson was born on 7 March 1975 in Subiaco, Western Australia (WA). He grew up in th ...

, plays at

Bille Brown Theatre The Bille Brown Theatre is a 351-seat theatre at 78 Montague Road, South Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The theatre is a corner-stage with raked seating on three sides. It is the main venue for Queensland Theatre. It was named in 20 ...

in Brisbane from 23 June until 19 July, then at the Odeon Theatre in Norwood,

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, from 25 July until mid-August. This world premiere is being co-produced by

Queensland Theatre Queensland Theatre, formerly the Queensland Theatre Company and Royal Queensland Theatre Company, is a professional theatre company based in Brisbane, Australia. It regularly performs in its own Bille Brown Theatre and the Queensland Performin ...

and State Theatre Company South Australia.

Film and television

Harvey wrote and directed the short drama ''Water'' (2017) for the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, which screened at

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

(MIFF),

Adelaide Film Festival The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, formerly ADLFF) is a film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in movie theater, cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented wikt:Special:Search/biennial, biennially in March from 2 ...

ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Aboriginal and First Peoples ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. His next short drama film, ''Out of Range'' (2019; for SBS), screened at MIFF,

Tampere Film Festival The Tampere Film Festival () is a short film festival held every March, mostly at the Finnkino Plevna movie theatre, in Tampere, Finland. It is accredited by the film producers' society FIAPF, and together with the short film festivals in Oberhau ...

in Finland, and

St Kilda Film Festival St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, southeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. St Kilda recorded a population of 19,490 at the 2021 ...

, winning Best Indigenous Short Film there. He produced the chapter "Sand" for the 2013 anthology feature film of

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the ...

's 2004 collection of short stories, '' The Turning'', which premiered at the

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

and

. He produced the 2015 feature film ''

'', directed by

, which premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

and Adelaide Film Festival, and in 2017 produced the ABC TV comedy-drama series '' The Warriors''. In 2020–2021 Harvey co-directed (with Rhian Skirving) the

docu-series Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

''Off Country'' for

NITV National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the six-day-a-week ''NITV News Updat ...

, which screened in 2022 as part of

NAIDOC Week NAIDOC Week ( ) is an Australian observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee. NAIDOC Week has its roots in the 1938 Day o ...

. Originally conceived as a feature documentary, the four-part series follows seven

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

high school students from around Australia who have left their families to study at the

Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay. Establ ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, over the course of a year in 2020. The series was filmed during the

, which meant that the school year was not a typical school year, and filming was particularly restricted by

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

s in Victoria. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

s Kylie Northover gave a good review, giving the series four stars out of five. Skirving and Harvey received the 2022 ADG Award for Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Documentary Series Episode or Documentary One-Off for the series. Harvey was director and co-producer of ''Kutcha's Koorioke'' docu-series about Mutti Mutti songman

Kutcha Edwards Kutcha Edwards (born 1965) is an Aboriginal Australian singer and songwriter. He is known as a former member of the band Blackfire during the 1990s. More recently, he has fronted the Kutcha Edwards Band, and is part of The Black Arm Band. He ha ...

for NITV, which ran for two series, in 2019 and 2022. Season 2 consists of 10 episodes of 7 minutes each, and designed to be also viewed in one screening. Harvey has also directed and/or produced a number of short form documentaries and films which have been screened at international film festivals and national television. Harvey wrote and directed the television special documentary '' Still We Rise'', which looks at the

50 years on. It was screened at the

Sharjah Biennial The Sharjah Biennial is a large-scale contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The first Sharjah Biennial took place in 1993, and was organized by the Sharjah Department of Cu ...

in the United Arab Emirates and won Best Documentary / Factual Single at the

AIDC Awards The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) is an Australian conference for the promotion of documentary, factual and unscripted screen content, regarded as one of two major national conferences for filmmakers. History First esta ...

as well as the 2023 ADG Award for Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Documentary Series Episode or Documentary One-Off. It aired on ABC Television in Australia in December 2022. Harvey wrote, directed and produced the 12-minute short film ''Katele'' (''Mudskipper''), which won Best Australian Short Film at both

Flickerfest Flickerfest is an international short film festival held annually in January at Bondi Beach, Sydney. It is an Academy and BAFTA recognised short film festival for both international and Australian film makers. History The festival originated ...

and MIFF in 2023.

Art installations

In 2011 Harvey collaborated with artist

Ricardo Idagi Ricardo is the Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a s ...

on a work that won the New Media Award in the Telstra Indigenous Art Awards. In 2020 he was commissioned by

Australian Centre for the Moving Image ACMI, formerly the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is Australia's national museum of screen culture including film, television, videogames, digital culture and art. ACMI was established in 2002 and is based at Federation Square in Melbo ...

(ACMI) in Melbourne to create a multi-channel installation for their newly renovated building. ''Canopy'' was installed in January 2021 as a large street mural in the City Square (Melbourne), and will be on permanent display at ACMI's centrepiece exhibition, ''The Story of the Moving Image''. He described the work as conveying his

connection to Country The Indigenous peoples of Australia, that is Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people, have strong and complex relationships with the concept of "Country" (often capitalised). In this sense it does not refer to the nation of A ...

, which is felt by many

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

Brown Cabs

Harvey is founding director of Brown Cabs theatre company. The company has been company in residence at Footscray Community Arts since 2012.

Recognition and awards

Harvey was awarded the Malcolm Robertson Foundation Writer's inaugural Playwright in Residence at Footscray Community Arts, and in 2024 he was nominated for life membership of the organisation. He has won several awards for film and television direction.

Other activities

Harvey has worked as a peer assessor for the Theatre Board and was a member of the Community Cultural Development Board of the

Australia Council Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

(now Creative Australia). Harvey has co-curated the Black Screen program with Moondani Balluk of

Victoria University Victoria University may refer to: * Victoria University (Australia), a public research university in Melbourne, Australia * Victoria University, Toronto, a constituent college of the federal University of Toronto in Canada * Victoria University of ...

, and supported Footscray Community Arts Indigenous cultural program, as well as First Nations artists and members of the community. Harvey serves as member of the

Bangarra Dance Theatre Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance company focused on contemporary dance. It was founded by African American dancer and choreographer Carole Y. Johnson, Gumbaynggirr man Rob Bryant, and South African-bor ...

board.

Personal life

His partner is artist and musician Lydia Fairhall, and they have children.

Selected works

Theatre

* '' Jack Charles VS. The Crown'' (producer) * ''Songlines of a Mutti Mutti Man'' (producer) * ''The Dirty Mile'' (producer) * ''Sisters of Gelam'' (producer) * ''My Lover's Bones'' (producer) * ''Heart Is a Wasteland'' (2017; writer) * ''The Return'' (2020; writer) * ''Black Ties'' (2020; writer)

Film

* ''Water'' (2017; writer, director) * ''Out of Range'' (2019; writer, director) * '' The Turning'', "Sand" (2013; producer) * ''

'' (2015; producer) * '' Still We Rise'' (2022; writer, director) * ''Katele / Mudskipper'' (2023; writer, director and producer)

Television

* ''Kutcha's Koorioke'' (2019, 2022; director, co-producer) * '' The Warriors'' (2017; producer) * ''Off Country'' (2021; writer, director, producer)

References

External links

*
John Harvey
on

AusStage AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia, providing records of productions from the first recorded performance in Australia (1789, by convicts) up unt ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, John Australian film directors Australian film producers Australian theatre directors Australian television producers