AustLit

'One week ago in Canberra, at night, I woke up very early and went outside. It was still a little bit dark, and there was only one star left in the sky. It was the Morning Star—Goyulan. When I was looking at the Morning Star, I heard a bird calling out, calling out from a long way away. In English we call that bird ‘plover’. Its Gidjingarli name is Burreparrepa.  (Introduction)

'Barunga, in the Northern Territory, hosts an annual festival of Aboriginal sport and culture. In 1988, 200 years after the British flag was raised in Sydney, the Festival took on a special meaning. Prime Minister Bob Hawke was invited to attend and the Festival organisers had high expectations of a political outcome.'

'Wenten Rubuntja, Chairman of the Central Land Council, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Chairman of the Northern Land Council, John Ah Kit, Director, of the Northern Land Council and Pat Dodson, Director of the Central Land Council, worked together to prepare a major petition representing many clans from the Northern Territory. In the form of a large collaborative painting in which clans expressed their “story for Country”, and a written document, the petition asked the Prime Minister to recognise the government’s obligations to Aboriginal people and for agreement to commence negotiations for an Aboriginal Treaty.'

'Presenting the painting and statement to the Prime Minister, Galarrwuy Yunupingu’s speech expressed the need to change the relations between white and Aboriginal Australia, to “make it right!”. Bob Hawke’s speech in reply made a clear commitment to commence Treaty negotiations in the life of the present Parliament, but this was not to happen.'

'Kim McKenzie’s beautifully filmed portrait of the festival – the preparations, the sport activities, the singing and dancing, the tensions prior to Hawke’s arrival – eloquently captures the cultural and political importance attached to the Festival by the participants and by the thousands of spectators.' (Source: Ronin Films website)

'Using a wealth of archival photographs, this documentary reconstructs the life of buffalo hunters in the remote wetlands of the Northern Territory in the 1930s – both the white hunters and the Aboriginal labour that supported their operations.'

'Tom Cole was one of the hunters, now retired in Sydney. With the filmmakers, he visits the sites of hunting camps that he had built before the war in what is now Kakadu National Park. He reminisces on the old buffalo trade and meets some of the Aboriginal men and women who still live in the area who worked for him and on whom he was dependent.'

'He also visits Victoria Settlement (Port Essington): one of “the most heroic and hopeless” ventures in the history of the British Empire, established in the 1830s, now in ruins, where buffalo were first introduced.'

'For the film, Tom and his former Aboriginal team build a new camp in the way they did in the 1930s, and demonstrate the skinning of buffalos, the washing of the hides, and salting and drying.'

'Hunting was on horse-back in those days, unlike the present-day hunting by helicopter, and “Yellow Charlie” Whittaker was one of the great horse-back hunters. With other veterans, he comments on the tough life of the camps, when conditions were extremely rough and when they were often paid with food, tobacco and other commodities.'

'The hunters remember the wartime bombing of Darwin and the explosion in buffalo numbers when hunting was abandoned during the war. Nowadays, the buffalo is being eradicated from Kakadu, and rangers such as Dave Lindner, Environmental Manager for the Gagudju Association of traditional owners, explain the modern methods of control.' (Source: Ronin Films website)

'Archaeologist Rhys Jones investigates unusual stone spear-points found in ancient sites in the Kakadu National Park, and which seem to have been traded south from Arnhem Land. Jones hears of two Elders in eastern Arnhem Land who remember how to make such spear-points and where to find the special stone in the bush.'

'With a geneticist, Neville White, who had been working at Donydji for 10 years, Jones is taken by the two old men and three younger men whom they wish to teach, on a trip into the bush to try to find the quarry site that used to be the source of the stone for these spear-heads. It is a long and difficult trek, albeit with a lot of hilarity along the way, and with concerns about the dangers of wild buffalo, and the risk of getting too close to sacred and secret places. Rules are set by the Elders about what can be filmed: as one observer noted, the Aboriginal people in this film are far from being passive subjects of a film, but recognise “that filmmakers had to be controlled and, more importantly, that they could be controlled”.'

'When an outcrop of the special rock is found, at a place called Ngilibitji near the head of the Walker River, work begins to find suitable stones and to make sharp-edged chips from them for spear-points and knife blades. One Elder remembers stories about the power of the spear-stone: “My spirit is one with that of the stone”.'

'As a result of the trip recorded in the film, one of the Elders, Diltjima, decided to move permanently back to Ngilibitji with his family, to protect the area from incursion by mining companies and others.' (Source: Publisher's website)

'At Ngurgdu (Spring Peak) in the Northern Territory, an area soon to be irrevocably disturbed by uranium mining, 80-year-old William Alderson (known as “Yorky Billy”) reflects on his life in the outback.'

'His father was an Englishman from Yorkshire (hence Yorky’s nickname) who spent 45 years in Australia and “tried everything” – working as a prospector, a railway worker, drover and buffalo hunter. After only 3 years of school, his only son, Yorky, worked with him - dingo scalping and hunting buffalo on horseback or on foot, until he joined the army. Yorky’s mother was an Aboriginal woman who died when he was only 3 years old.'

'After the war, Yorky married an Aboriginal woman and worked in various jobs – gold prospecting, and at a sawmill before settling at Ngurgdu. He and his wife had a large family and she is still with him at Ngurgdu, helping him to look after the property. His father, who died in 1948, is buried there.'

'Yorky Billy recorded his story in November 1977, and died soon thereafter, in February 1979, and was buried near his father at Ngurgdu.' (Source: Ronin Films website)

'Djunawunya, Arnhem Land, east of the town of Maningrida, July 1978. Frank Gurrmanamana is responsible for preparing the final mortuary ceremonies for his brother who had died six years before. The brother had been buried in Maningrida, but now his remains are being brought back to his home country.'

'Central to the ceremonies is Harry Diama, the senior blood-relative of the deceased man, but Harry lives in Maningrida and is pre-occupied with a pending court-case there involving his son. He is needed to approve each step of the preparations, and is also pivotal in bringing other people to the event, including “men of importance” for the dancing.'

'Harry’s continuing absence puts huge pressure on Frank and upon all of the others who must wait at the ceremonial site, including Les Hiatt, Franks’ old anthropologist friend. Harry is also aware that the film crew is waiting to record the event: “These filmmakers work for us. We’ll see it here … our own film. We’ll all be in it.”'

'Painting of emblems on the hollow-log coffin proceeds, sand sculptures are made, with Frank expressing his constant concern that it all “looks good for the film”.'

'Men from Cape Stewart, an area with cultural and traditional trade links to the dead man’s clan, are also needed to make the ceremony work, and further tension surrounds their response to the painting of the coffin.'

'As the day for the ceremony’s climax draws near, Frank grows ever more anxious about the non-arrival of Harry and the people he is supposed to bring.'

'When Harry finally arrives, the final stage of the ceremony is permitted to begin and, though normally performed at night, it is successfully performed in daylight for the benefit of the camera. In the end, Frank’s responsibilities are fulfilled and he speaks with great satisfaction about the film: “This film is mine. Now men everywhere will see my sacred emblems … These emblems I hold so dear are now on a film, so the film is also dear to me. It was my idea to bring these film makers. All is now finished … and I am filled with pride.”' (Source: Ronin Films website)