Emma Elizabeth: A Survivors Journey is a new operatic drama, chronicling the life of Emma Webster Robins (c.1860-1952), and mapping a journey that embodies Australia’s transformation from a colonial settlement to a modern nation. The opera will trace Emma’s arc of survival against immense hardship, including the tragic loss of her sons, her courageous stand in a 1913 Bendigo court case to secure a maintenance order against her abusive husband, and the devastating loss of her son on the Western Front in 1917. As a mother of fourteen children, she fought hard against tremendous odds to build a life for herself and her family, encountering grief and hardship along the way.
Musically and dramatically, the work will address urgent contemporary themes of domestic violence, economic abuse, and women’s survival within a patriarchal society, contrasting intimate personal grief with historical sweep. Through the combined practice of Harrison, Phillips, and Anderson, in collaboration with Christine Davey, Emma Elizabeth will transform archival fragments and bureaucratic documents into a powerful, living drama of resilience and dignity.