AustLit

'Originally filmed as an archival record of a Warlpiri (Walbiri) ceremony in 1967 by Roger Sandall, the film footage was re-worked 10 years later by anthropologist Nicolas Peterson and filmmaker, Kim McKenzie, to make this short version for public viewing.'

'Involving large numbers of both men and women, Ngatjakula is one of the most spectacular ceremonies of central Australia, employing fire, and several days of singing and dance, to resolve conflicts and re-affirm social order among the Warlpiri (Walbiri) people.'

'One of Sandall’s many films about ceremonial life, including several of Warlpiri rituals, the film was part of the program of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies to record traditional aspects of Aboriginal life and culture. McKenzie’s collaboration with Peterson (who had been present at the time of the original filming) to edit this public version, is a meticulous representation of the fire ceremony, much of which took place at night.' (Source: Ronin Films website)

'The many films that Roger Sandall made for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in the 1960s and early 70s were primarily for archival purposes, and not for wide public release. Coniston Muster is one of the few intended for a general audience.'

'Superbly photographed over a relatively short period of six weeks, the film introduces us to Coniston Station – an 840 square mile property, northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It is an arid area of red semi-desert, and can sustain only about four head of cattle per square mile.'

'At the time of making the film, Bryan Bowman held the lease for Coniston and for a couple of other properties. He had been living in the Northern Territory since the 1920s when he started work as a jackeroo.'

'The Head Stockman at the station was Coniston Johnny, who had spent his working life with cattle, on many stations. He provides a commentary for much of the film, responding spontaneously to images as they appear on-screen.'

'The film documents episodes in Coniston’s annual cattle muster, and Johnny talks about the skills that Aboriginal stockmen bring to the work, compared with white men.'

'This film is a fine example of the many films that Roger Sandall made for the Institute of Aboriginal Studies in which he recorded Aboriginal craft techniques and skills – in this case, the process by which two men, Djurkuwidi and Wangamaru, work together to make a bark canoe.'

'Near the end of the Wet season, in the coastal swamps of Buckingham Bay in Arnhem Land, thousands of magpie geese fly in to build nests in the reeds. Canoes are used to travel through the swamps to hunt geese and collect eggs.'

'The film meticulously follows the process from the initial choice of the stringy-bark gum tree from which a huge sheet of bark is stripped, through to the completed canoe being poled through the swamps. Sandall’s narration explains details of the canoe-making process, and reflects on how techniques have changed from earlier times.' (Source: Ronin Films website)

'From the 1920s onwards, when motor vehicles displaced camels as a mode of supply in central Australia, camels gradually went feral. As this film shows, however, in the 1960s, the Pitjantjara were making good use of camels to facilitate their travels and connections with other areas.'

'This remarkable film, shot in 1968 (released in 1969) follows a group of Pitjantjara men, led by “Captain”, a veteran cameleer, who travel out from their base at Areyonga Settlement, to capture a wild camel, tame it and add it to their domestic herds. They then use camels to help transport a large group of people from Areyonga to Papunya, three days’ walk away.' (Source: Ronin Films website)