Nayuka Gorrie


Nayuka Gorrie is an Australian actor, writer and indigenous rights activist. Gorrie uses the pronouns "they/them."

Background

Gorrie identifies as Kurnai, Gunditjmara, Scottish, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta.
Their work has been described as exploring "black, queer and feminist politics," satire, and blerd culture.
In 2018, they were named as a Wheeler Centre Next Chapter recipient.

Television

In 2018, Gorrie wrote and performed in Season Three of ABC sketch comedy series Black Comedy; and has co-written episodes of Get Krack!n.
Gorrie is a co-writer of five-part children’s television series Thalu, which has been described as " as much an action-packed adventure as it is a celebration of the Pilbara region and its Indigenous culture".

Q&A controversy

In November 2019 Gorrie appeared on an episode of the ABC TV show Q&A that was aired in conjunction with Broadside Feminost Ideas Festival, along with Mona Eltahawy, Jess Hill, Ashton Applewhite, and Hana Assafiri. Gorrie called for the police to be abolished, stating it is "there to be violent, it is patriarchal, it is overwhelmingly white". Gorrie subsequently observed "I wonder what our kind of tipping point in Australia's going to be when people will start burning stuff? I look forward to it", and said that violence was an appropriate response to colonisation. Later in the episode Gorrie said that "I was scared, what if I raised a cis straight man, what am I going to do?" after finding out they were pregnant with twins.
The episode was later controversially pulled from steaming service iView after receiving a number of complaints about the episode. The ABC launched an investigation into whether its editorial standards were breached, and later announced "ABC management's decision to remove the episode from iView and cancel planned repeat broadcasts was sufficient action to resolve those complaints".

Writing

Gorrie is a freelance writer for The Guardian Australia, and have written for NITV, VICE, Junkee, the Saturday Paper, the Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings and Archer Magazine. Their writing has covered topics such as the need for a treaty rather than constitutional recognition of Indigenous people in Australia; a critique of white feminism; racism within the criminal justice system and in society, and the Don't Kill Live Music protest
They contributed to the anthology Growing up Queer in Australia, Queerstories and Going Postal: More than Yes or No. In 2019 Gorrie will be finalising a book of essays exploring "contemporary colonialism".
Gorrie has appeared at the Creative State Summit in 2019, Broadside Feminist Ideas Festival in 2019, and the Emerging Writer's Festival in 2019. They will be appearing at the Melbourne Writer's Festival in August 2020.