Transforming Australian stories through musical innovation
Emma Elizabeth:
A Survivor's Journey
Emma Elizabeth: A Survivor’s Journey is a major new Australian music-drama from creative team If Not In This World. This compelling project translates the story of Emma Elizabeth Robins (1864-1952) into a powerful musical tale, illuminating the resilience, bravery, and profound personal loss of one woman in regional Australia across the turn of the twentieth century. The work will trace Emma’s arc of survival against immense hardship, including the tragic drowning of two infant sons in 1892, her courageous stand in a 1913 Bendigo court case to secure a maintenance order against her abusive husband, the devastating loss of her son, Leslie, on the Western Front in 1917, and another son, Thomas, six years later to tuberculosis. 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, Emma Elizabeth: A Survivor’s Journey addresses urgent contemporary themes of domestic violence, economic abuse, and the profound endurance of women, contrasting intimate personal grief with a broader historical sweep. The If Not In This World team is fortunate to be collaborating with award-winning Australian playwright Christine Davey, whose libretto will unearth the human heart within Emma’s story. In reclaiming this single legacy of resilience, Emma Elizabeth: A Survivor's Journey speaks for the many—transforming the journey of one 'everywoman' into a powerful, living drama that echoes the silent experiences of countless other Australian women, both past and present.
