First Nation Farmers, ABCiView: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/first-nation-farmers
For millennia Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have harvested Australia flora and fauna for food. Landline presents stories from its archive exploring the past and future of Australia’s First Nation Farmers.
First Weapons
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJfEFq8eXLQ
Documentary, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2023, ABC TV, stream all episodes on ABC iView. (To access ABC iView properly you need to create a free account with a password.)
“Phil Breslin meets weapon makers and science experts, lifting the lid on the genius of Australia’s oldest and most innovative weapons.”
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/first-weapons
Episode 1 – Returning Boomerang
“In South Australia, host Phil Breslin, weapon maker Moogy Sumner and our team of experts unpack the science of Australia’s most iconic and scientifically complex weapon – the Returning Boomerang.”
Episode 2 –Amerr
“Host Phil Breslin observes senior weapon makers as they craft the Amerr. Experts reveal the scientific principles, followed by a challenge of speed and skill highlighting how the weapon was once one of the fastest on earth.”
Episode 3 – Leangle and Parrying Shield
“Host Phil Breslin and weapon makers Brendan Kennedy and Trevor Kirby unpack the Leangle and Parrying Shield before honouring Aboriginal Cricketer Dick-a-Dick’s crowd-pleasing demonstrations from 1868.”
Episode 4 – Kodj
“Phil Breslin joins weapon maker Larry Blight in Albany, WA, to discover the Kodj. Our experts unpack the science of this versatile weapon before Phil, Larry and a champion axeman face off in a showdown of speed and skill.”
Episode 5 – Long Spear
“Weapon maker Dave mangenner Gough shows host Phil Breslin how to craft and use the Allener. He then joins our experts to unpack the intricate scientific principles behind this extraordinary spear.”
Episode 6 – Wartilykirri
“Australia’s most lethal boomerang, the Wartilykirri. Host Phil Breslin and weapon maker Joseph Williams unpack this non-returning boomerang and witness its manoeuvrability and force in a medieval battle. (Final)”
High Ground, High Ground Pictures, 2020. Director Stephen Maxwell Johnson. A fictional thriller set in the Northern Territory in the 1930s. In a bid to save the last of his family, Gutjuk, a young Aboriginal man, teams up with ex-soldier Travis to track down his uncle, Baywara, the most dangerous warrior in the Northern Territory.
The film includes a depiction of the real Gan Gan massacre, that happened in 1911, when police and colonists killed more than 30 First Nations men, women and children.
View a trailer here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9286908/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt
Jandamarra–Aboriginal Geronimo, Rebel Films, 12 March 2017. Jandamarra (1870–1897) was an Aboriginal warrior and leader of the Bunuba people from Western Australia. The Dictionary of Australian Biography has included an entry on him by Howard Pedersen in the Indigenous Australia collection at: https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/jandamarra-8822
You can watch the documentary Jandamarra–Aboriginal Jeronimo on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4a2Ik5YvT0
Jandamarra’s War, Electric Pictures, Trailer, 4 May 2011. You can watch a trailer for this film, narrated by Ernie Dingo, at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXejE5DXR9E
DVD available: https://electricpictures.com.au/produc…
VOD available: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/jandamarra…
Limbo, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2023
‘Travis Hurley, a jaded detective, arrives in the remote outback town of Limbo to investigate the cold case murder of local Indigenous girl Charlotte Hayes 20 years ago.’
For many viewers, this film by Ivan Sen, photographed in black and white, revisits an all too familiar theme of the unsolved disappearances of young women in mysterious circumstances, not only in Australia, but overseas.
ABC iView: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/limbo
Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky, Documentary, Tamarind Tree Pictures Pty Ltd, Roar Film Pty Ltd, 2020
Presenter, co-writer and slam poet Steven Oliver takes the audience on an incredible and scenic journey across Australia from the cliffs of Kurnell to the Torres Strait. As he travels the land interrogating Cook’s legacy, he poses the question – in 2020, does Australia have a blurred history of Cook?
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1773167683939/looky-looky-here-comes-cooky
Available on SBS On Demand
Stuff the British Stole
Shots Fired, Stuff the British Stole, ABC Radio National, Marc Fennell, 20 December 2020
This program covers the complicated and controversial story about the Gweagal shield, and spears that Captain James Cook and his men took from the shores of Kamay Botany Bay in 1770 after their first encounter with First Peoples near today’s La Perouse, Sydney, New South Wales. Listen to this fascinating, on-going story here: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/stuff-the-british-stole/shots-fired/12868096
Sweet Country
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| Sweet Country, 2017, released 6 April 2018, Bunya Productions, Director, Warwick Thornton
The First Inventors, SBS On Demand: Rob Collins and a team of First Nations investigators delve into 65,000 years of Aboriginal Australian invention, looking at how landscapes were transformed, how events were recorded, the use of navigation tools, and how societies were organised: More about Wilaberta Jack: National Film and Sound Archive: Read more about the film: Watch the official trailer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYKBG1znk4A |
The Australian Wars Collection, SBS/NITV, 2022
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/collection/the-australian-wars-collection
The Australian Wars Collection includes:
The Australian Wars, 2022
Filmmaker Rachel Perkins reveals the truth of The Australian Wars–the battles fought on home soil’. The story of Australia’s longest and most defining war[s] has been largely key silent–until now. NITV, 25 August 2022:
https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/filmmaker-rachel-perkins-reveals-the-truth-of-the-australian-wars-the-battles-fought-on-home-soil/1t4z93cxq
The Australian Wars documentary: three x 1 hour episodes began on 21 September 2022 on SBSTV:
‘Rachel Perkins journeys across Australia to explore the bloody battles fought on Australian soil and the war[s] that established the Australian nation, seeking to change the narrative of the nation.’ SBS On Demand:
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/the-australian-wars
Land Wars, 2022
Special NITV program, 54 minutes, SBS On Demand:
A group of Indigenous experts discuss colonial conflicts between Aboriginal people and the British across Australia:
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/land-wars/2072694851847
The Australian Wars: Evidence from Queensland, 2022:
Special, Documentary
Journalist Kerry O’Brien discusses frontier violence from a Queensland perspective, drawing on the records found in Queensland State Archives:
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/the-australian-wars-evidence-from-queensland/2072694851848
The First Inventors
“Rob Collins and a team of First Nations investigators delve into 65,000 years of Aboriginal Australian invention, looking at how landscapes were transformed, how events were recorded, the use of navigation tools, and how societies were organised.”:
https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/the-first-inventors-premieres-on-nitv/sdkjkq46n
Director: Larissa Behrendt
National Indigenous Television Network (NITV)/Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), SBS On Demand, 2023. (To access SBS On Demand properly you need to create a free account with a password.)
Season 1
Episode 1 –Design to Survive
“Rob Collins and his team explore the innovative creations that enabled First Nations people to thrive, ranging from transforming volcanic terrains into fish farms to mastering the art of harnessing dangerous fire for survival.”
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/the-first-inventors
Episode 2 – The Science of Story
“Rob Collins leads a daring expedition to substantiate the ancient scientific storytelling of First Nations people, who recount Ice Age events from 10,000 years past.”
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/watch/2219829827888
Episode 3 – A Connected Continent
“Rob Collins delves into the remarkable connectivity of First Nations people, exploring their communication networks, extensive trade routes and kinship systems that fostered a highly interconnected society on an immense and unforgiving continent.”
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/watch/2225052227769
Episode 4 – Navigating the Future
“The collaboration of Indigenous knowledge and advanced science drives the development of life-saving medications. However, in order to address the challenges of the future, it is essential to first reconcile and heal the wounds of the past.”
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/watch/2228190275695
Page created 11 November 2021. Material shown on this page was previously listed under the VIDEO button. You can find more electronic resources under: Videos Databases Podcasts
Compiled by Jane Morrison 2012–2023. Updated 14 November 2021, 1, 30 October 2022, 13 July 2023, 20 July 2023, 6, 20 September 2023.