The story of Nadesalingam Murugappan and Priya Nadesalingam, along with their Australian-born daughters, Kopika and Tharnicaa, captured the nation’s attention when the family, after years in detention, was finally granted permanent residency in August 2022. Now, their journey from detention to freedom and community support is coming to life on stage in Back to Bilo, a new play that highlights the resilience of the family and the power of collective action.
Katherine Lyall-Watson, the play’s writer, admits she was approached to take on the project rather than conceiving it herself. “While the family was in detention, another theatre maker, Matt Scholten, wanted to create a play,” she says. “He approached the Biloela women to see if they’d be interested, and they said yes. Then I was asked to write it and I said absolutely.”
“So I started transcribing the interviews and working through that as my starting point. And then I was invited with him to go to Biloela when the family returned. We were there at the airport when they flew back to Biloela, which was just an extraordinary moment,” she recalls.
Over four years, Katherine transcribed interviews, observed the community, and crafted a play that balances the political and emotional weight of the story with the dynamics of live theatre. “Most of Australia knows the story because of the media,” she explains. “But we wanted to make it dynamic, not just people recounting events on stage. That’s where Menaka Thomas came in—her presence and music bring the story to life.”
Menaka, first and foremost, was a voice. In her home, filled with the resonant scales of Carnatic music taught by her mother, Brisbane’s first South Indian Carnatic teacher, she had forged her own path as a fusion artist. She was approached by Guy Webster, the play’s co-composer, a collaborator and friend. He spoke of a project that needed her cultural resonance and musicality. The family was Tamil; Menaka’s heritage was Indian Tamil. The connection was immediate, a thread of shared understanding.
When Katherine and the director heard Menaka’s voice, they knew it wasn’t just about adding a soundtrack; it was about embodying the story’s spirit. Menaka plays Uru and describes her character as “the emotional and spiritual extension of Priya. Uru represents Priya’s inner world—her spirituality, her emotional body, the maternal presence she longed for.”
The preparation for Menaka was both musical and deeply personal. “Even though I wasn’t a refugee or asylum seeker, I relate to the narrative of displacement and finding a new home,” she explains. Growing up in Australia as a child of the first wave of Tamil migrants, she navigated two cultural worlds, a duality that resonates with the story of the Biloela family.
For Katherine, the most profound moment of research came not from the headlines, but from a quiet, horrifying detail. She learned that when the family was first detained, they were placed in a small house with guards inside. They were not allowed to close any door. Priya could not breastfeed her baby or use the toilet without a stranger’s gaze upon her. Katherine remembers the cold shock of it—the outrage that such a thing could happen here, in Australia, to a young family. It cemented her resolve to tell the story with integrity and power.
The project has been both a personal and professional milestone for her. “Personally, it allowed me to build friendships with the people in the Home to Bilo campaign—Priya, Nadez, Kopika, Tani—they were already inspiring, and now they’re close friends,” she says.
Professionally, balancing the cultural weight and ethical responsibility of telling this story has been a challenge. “People ask, ‘Why are you, a white woman, telling this story?’ I’ve had to reflect on that a lot. But because it’s their story here in Queensland, and about the regional community that fought for them, it felt right.”
Menaka echoes this sentiment and is grateful for the opportunity to connect with a new creative community through theatre. “It’s my first time working with actors, performing at a major venue like Queensland Theatre—it’s opened a whole new way of expressing art,” she says.
Back to Bilo plays from 3–16 September at Queensland Theatre as part of the Brisbane Festival. For tickets and more info, click here.
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