In 1996, Rob Riley, the most prominent Aboriginal activist in Western Australia, was found dead in a motel room in Perth. This program tells his story. His death sent shock waves through the Aboriginal community. His close friends and his family talk openly about the pain and contradictions in Rob Riley's life...
Four Corners asks 'what has changed' since the 1989 Fitzgerald enquiry exposed high level corruption in the Qld police force. There are signs that the Qld police culture has survived, the rank ad file code of silence prevails and racist attitudes persist. There is great concern among Brisbane's aboriginal community - as Four Corners examines the 'Pinkenba Six' Case...
Pemulwuy charts the history of Australia's first ever Aboriginal resistance fighter. From his first encounter with the British in Botany Bay, to his 12 year war against the establishment, to his eventual demise in 1802 in Parramatta where he was finally beheaded. The program will attempt to expose one of Australia's forgotten histories and an unsung hero of the Bidgig...
When Lieutenant-Governor James Stirling established Western Australia's Swan River colony (later the city of Perth) in 1829, times were tough. Seed refused to grow, food was scarce, and the initially good relations between British settlers and local Indigenous Noongar people tragically spiralled out of control into a conflict over land and resources. Standing out...
One hundred years ago the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Queensland set up what he described as a dumping ground for the lame, the holt and the incorrigible; the black criminals of the state. The place he was talking about was Cherbourg. These days Cherbourg is a thriving community of 2 ½ thousand people, 200 kms north west of Brisbane in the heart of Wagga W...
This story explores what happens when a caring culture breaks down. Message Stick investigates Indigenous aged care and the disparities that exist for Indigenous people who will never live to access their superannuation or be eligible for a seniors card due to life expectancy levels...
Uncle Banjo Clarke, who is also known as Rainbow Man or Wisdom Man among other honoured titles, was a Gunditjmara Elder who touched many lives. Before he died, he dictated his story to Camilla Chance. This program, produced posthumously, is a tribute to Uncle Banjo’s life - a man, whose compassion and spirit still inspires his community...
This is an exclusive look into the workings of the Territory's unique bush courts. In this first of a two part series we travel with the former Northern Territory Chief Magistrate, Hilary Hannam, and Magistrate Sue Oliver to the remote locations of Gunbalanya and Alyangula. In part two, Hilary Hannam and Sue Oliver discuss the issues overwhelming the justice syste...
In this episode of Talking Heads, a boy-meets-girl story with a colourful twist. John and Ros Moriarty have lived lives full of passion. One day, they had an outrageous idea - one that successfully brought together what they wanted to say about Australia. But their own story has had more than a few bumps along the way...
Established in May, 1998, the Wathaurong Aborigianl Co-operative was a CDEP initiative five years ago. It took two years to work out where the enterprise was heading. Mark Edwards, manager, didn't want it to remain a "training for the sake of training" government initiative - it needed to be commercially viable.This independent approach has been a slow process. But th...
Devastated by a soaring rate of youth suicide, the Indigenous people of Rockhampton decided to act. For the first time Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander people in Rockhampton united, holding healing days and youth activities to promote life...
Harold Thomas was born in Alice Springs in the mid forties, though he was subsequently removed from his family and in his words ‘Deported to Adelaide on the Ghan’. Harold will pull your heartstrings, though he talks to us in a way that dose not focus on the emotional turmoil that one is expected to feel given his history. We will learn how Harold attended Art Col...
Redfern, once synonymous with drugs, crime and dysfunction is now the epitome of Sydney's inner city urban chic. New development and infrastructure has made Redfern attractive real estate, but not for Indigenous community members from the infamous Block, stigmatised by the problems of the past. The Block is on the cusp of development and complete renewal, but the ques...
Redfern Now is a kaleidoscopic drama that explores this inner city suburb and the people who inhabit it. Over six episodes we join the households of six ordinary families whose lives are changed by a seemingly insignificant incident – an accident, a weakness, a lie. Redfern Now is the first drama series written, directed and produced by Indigenous Australians...
This episode follows two people's journey back to a part of their past. Arabunna elders, Laurie Stuart and Ken Buzzacott, revisit Finnis Springs station, 30kms west of Lake Eyre (Bundoo Bunta) south, where they grew up and went to school from the 1930s. The place is abandoned except for some dilapidated buildings and old car wrecks. However, the old mission settleme...
Closing The Gap is a landmark television program that explores the way forward between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. Geoffrey Robertson leads a panel of decision makers and stakeholders made up of lawyers, cultural brokers, politicians, community representatives and other practitioners, in exploring hypothetical scenarios and interactions...
Storytellers of the Pacific is about indigenous people in the Pacific – their cultures, spirituality, histories, experiences and survival after colonisation. It looks at identity, land rights, self-determination, human rights and healing, presenting a personalised view from each of the different indigenous groups. The stories are contemporary, but in their telling...
Four Poets take part in an intimate recital sharing their works and experiences as Indigenous People. Traditionally Indigenous people are story tellers; it's their way of passing on History and Culture from one generation to the next. Today there are many Indigenous poets writing and performing their works as a means of self expression and as a way of recording cont...
This program is about a dynamic young indigenous man who's emerged as one of Australia's youngest CEOs. He's Jack Manning Bancroft and he is as comfortable in a hoodie as he is in a suit. As a seventeen year old Manning Bancroft won a scholarship to prestigious Paul's College at Sydney University. He says he was initially angered by the levels of privilege that h...
"We haven't brought you justice... No-one's been called to account." This is the unflinching judgement of Gary Jubelin, one of the nation's leading murder investigators. He's reflecting upon the search for the killer of three Aboriginal children whose murders have haunted the small NSW town of Bowraville and left families torn apart. "Should the murders have been s...
Twenty years after the High Court's Mabo judgement, the inside story of the court decision that threatened to divide a nation. Liz Jackson reports on the impact of this historic judgement, the reaction it inspired and the inside story of the negotiations to create the law that would pave the way for Native Title. We hear from the power brokers who forced the nation t...
When the Japanese bombed Darwin in 1942, 95 Aboriginal children from the Stolen Generation, along with their missionary carers, were trapped on Croker Island, 200 kilometres off the Northern Territory coast. Their only route to safety was by boat to Barclay Point, then across Arnhem Land by foot, canoe and truck. They reached their final destination, a Methodist farm...
MABO tells the story of Eddie Koiki Mabo, the Torres Strait Islander who left school at fifteen, yet spearheaded the High Court challenge that once and for all overthrew the notion of terra nullius. Hand in hand with this David and Goliath legal battle is the tender love story of Koiki and Bonita, the woman he met as a teenager, and loved through thirty years of marri...
Every year, Alice Springs in the Northern Territory comes alive to the sounds of desert reggae, rock and gospel music with the staging of the showcase Indigenous event - the Bush Bands Bash. Ronan Sharkey, a reporter with the Triple J TV show, Hack, got to spend some time with one of the event's headline acts – the Tjupi Band – in their home community of Papuny...
This DVD is an exploration of the potential for cooperation between traditional Aboriginal law and the mainstream Australian criminal justice system in reducing violent crime in remote Aboriginal communities...
At just 26, Stephen Page became the artistic director of the internationally acclaimed Bangarra Dance Company. His work since at the 2000 Olympics, last year's Adelaide Festival and on stages all over the world has marked him out as an exceptional talent...
A dynamic history of the legendary Warumpi Band who for 20 years told the stories of Indigenous Australia in their lyrics. From the classic "My Island Home" to the raw "From The Bush" the Warumpi band has interpreted and translated contemporary Aboriginal life...
A visual tone poem with echoes of invasion and dispossession. Empire takes the viewer on a journey through the decaying British Empire in Australia via stylised images of desolation to the renewal of death. Produced for ABC TV this film also be screened as part of The Festival Of The Dreaming 1997 and numerous film festivals and art gallery exhibitions in Australia...
Doug Longbottom, an Aboriginal elder from the south coast of NSW, is laying down the law to young Robert Ardler. Ardler has pleaded guilty to assaulting the mother of his two young kids and breaching AVOs. His eyes dart nervously as he sits in the middle of a sparsely furnished room, awaiting his sentence. There is no bench or dock or witness box, but this is an o...
Reporter Debbie Whitmont travels to the Top End to discover what will happen following a government move to scrap a controversial 35-year-old experiment in bilingual education...
