Gran is the matriarch of the Munday family. She represents both the wisdom of age and the strongest link between the family and their Indigenous traditions. It is she who teaches the wisdom of the earth and insists that one can survive by learning to rely on the land. It isn’t that she is anti-modernity or anti-medicine. Rather, she understands that access to modern healthcare depends on the Aboriginal people’s relationship to white society, which can withhold medicine at any time. Gran experiences the most drastic physical change by the end of the play. Although she is strong and commands respect, the events of the story finally weigh her down; she is significantly aged in her final appearances. Like the death of her son, Jimmy, this arc illustrates the grinding brutality of systemic racism.

Joe is one of Milly and Sam Millimurra’s children. His character is a composite of all young Aboriginal men living during the Depression in that he has hopes and aspirations—most notably, to marry—but no clear paths to achieve them. The obstacles he faces are almost entirely out of his control due to the combined forces of racism and poverty. 

Joe’s presence in the play is understated at the beginning, but his relationship with Mary becomes the central focus in the final two acts. He is respectful and loyal to his family, which heightens the injustice of his treatment at the hands of the Protectorate by way of contrast. In Act 3, for instance, he is arrested simply for returning to Northam, revealing the extent to which Aboriginal existence has been de facto criminalized.

Mary works for Mr. Neal and the Matron. She falls in love with Joe, creating a situation where she must reveal her fears about Mr. Neal, who leers at her body and has plans to exploit her sexually. This makes it difficult for her to find a way to be with Joe, short of escaping to Northam. That she does so demonstrates her resilience, as does the fact that she refuses to be intimidated by Mr. Neal during her pregnancy. She is beaten badly for her defiance but emerges from her ordeal as a stronger person. Together with Joe, she represents cautious hope for the future of the Aboriginal people, as despite all they endure, they survive to pass on their story and heritage to the next generation.

Mr. Neal is a prominent antagonist and the ultimate irony of No Sugar. He publicly serves as the protector of the Aboriginal people, all the while denigrating them, ignoring them, and mistreating them at every turn. The play particularly highlights his sexual exploitation of Aboriginal women, which is at once a historical reality and a symbolic commentary on the predatory nature of the Australian government vis-à-vis Indigenous peoples. In his embodiment of The Hypocrisy of Western “Civilization,” he is a composite character standing in for all of white Australia’s relationship to its Aboriginal population. That he emerges unscathed from the play highlights the structural hurdles to securing justice; the best characters like Joe and Mary can do is simply to try to evade Mr. Neal’s reach.

Mrs. Neal is the long-suffering wife of Mr. Neal. She is responsible for the hospital at the settlement. She is empathetic to the Aboriginal characters in a way that could not be more different from her husband. However, even though she treats the Indigenous with more dignity and does not approve of many of her husband’s actions, she at times evinces racist preconceptions (e.g., assuming that Gran must be told how to care for a baby). Moreover, she is limited in her ability to make substantial changes on behalf of the people she tends to. Her characterization thus reinforces the systemic nature of racism, which exceeds the power of individuals to address.

Billy is an elderly Aboriginal “tracker” who works for Mr. Neal but does not seem to see the conflict of interest in the situation. In fact, he proudly refers to himself as a policeman. It is his job to hunt down Aboriginal Australians who have left their designated settlements and to enforce discipline with his whip. In this, he stands in for those members of an oppressed group who collaborate with their oppressors in exchange for relative power and safety. Near the end of the play, he becomes friends with Joe and Mary, a sign that he may eventually realize the implications of his actions.