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form y separately published work icon First Australians single work   film/TV  
Note:

Created in collaboration with members of the Gadigal, Darug, Dharawal and Wiradjuri communities.

Issue Details: First known date: 2008... 2008 First Australians
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'First Australians chronicles the birth of contemporary Australia as never told before, from the perspective of its first people. First Australians explores what unfolds when the oldest living culture in the world is overrun by the world's greatest empire.

'Over seven episodes, First Australians depicts the true stories of individuals - both black and white - caught in an epic drama of friendship, revenge, loss and victory in Australia's most transformative period of history.

'The story begins in 1788 in Sydney, with the friendship between an Englishmen (Governor Phillip) and a warrior (Bennelong) and ends in 1993 with Koiki Mabo's legal challenge to the foundation of Australia. First Australians chronicles the collision of two worlds and the genesis of a new nation.' Source: www.sbs.com.au (Sighted 27/09/2008).

Notes

  • First Australians – Episode 1, They Have Come to Stay

    Covers the first meetings between the Indigenous Aborigines, the first Australians, and the British First Fleet, who sailed into Sydney on 26 January 1788.

    First Australians – Episode 2, Her Will to Survive

    This episode covers the period from 1825–60 and explores the history of European settlement in Tasmania through the stories of Truganini and George Augustus Robinson.

    First Australians – Episode 3, Freedom For Our Lifetime

    The third episode of the First Australians series begins in 1860 in Victoria and, through the lives of Simon Wonga and William Barak, explores broader issues facing Aboriginal people in these times.

    First Australians – Episode 4, No Other Law

    Episode four, 'No other law’, explores the history of white settlement in Central Australia and the stories of homicidal police officer Constable Willshire, who brings mayhem to the Arrernte nation.

    First Australians – Episode 5, Unhealthy Government Experiment

    In this fifth episode of First Australians, European settlement spreads to Western Australia and is met with much conflict, as explored through the experiences of Aboriginal stockman Jandamarra.

    First Australians – Episode 6, A Fair Deal for a Dark Race

    Episode six, 'A Fair Deal for a Dark Race’, explores Indigenous history from 1930–67, primarily in the south-eastern regions of Australia, through the lives of Yorta Yorta men Doug Nicholls and his uncle, William Cooper.

    First Australians – Episode 7, We Are No Longer Shadows

    The seventh and final episode of First Australians covers the period 1967–93, focusing on the Torres Strait Islands and Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo’s fight for land rights.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

A Many-Sided Frontier : History and ‘Shades of Grey’ in Sweet Country Annemarie McLaren , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 50 no. 2 2019; (p. 235-254)

'Sweet Country may be a film constructed with the conventions of a Western – the guns, horses, spirits, and vast frontier landscapes with law and justice as central themes – but it is also a film grounded in oral history and the written archive. This article considers Sweet Country as a historical account of colonialism, scripted, directed and produced by an Indigenous team. It explores how the frontier and race relations are constructed, and how history is merged with myth and narrative to create a potent period piece with the timelessness of an epic and the urgency of the present.' (Publication abstract)

Reconciliation and the History Wars in Australian Cinema Felicity Collins , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Exhuming Passions : The Pressure of the Past in Ireland and Australia 2012; (p. 207-222)
'When The Proposition ( a UK/Australia co-production, directed by John Hillcoat and scripted by Nick Cave) was released in 2005, film reviewers had no qualms about claiming this spectacular saga of colonial violence on the Queensland frontier as a 'history' film. A reviewer on BBC Radio 4 described The Proposition as 'a bushranger Western...set in violent 1880s Australian outback exposing the bitter racial tensions between English and Irish settlers. A Sunday Times review declared that 'Australia's brutal post-colonial history is stripped of all the lies in a bloody clash of cultures between the British police, the Irish bushrangers and the Aborigines.' Foregrounding the film's revisionist spectacle of colonial violence, an Australian reviewer predicted that, despite 'scenes of throat-cutting torture, rape and exploding heads...The Proposition could be the most accurate look at our national history yet'. (Author's introduction, 207)
Indigenous or Exotic? Trees in Australian Cinema Chris Mann , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Etropic : Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics , no. 10 2011; (p. 141-152)
'This article examines trees in three Australian films to assess if they are seen from a white point of view or an Indigenous point of view.' (Author's abstract)
Ckear-Eyed Lens Gives Complex Stories Focus Michael Bodey , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 23 November 2011; (p. 15)
Breaking Out of Cinema's Dark Cube Michael Bodey , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 9 February 2011; (p. 17)
The 2011 BigPond Adelaide Film Festival has supported Indigenous talent as part of this year's festival.
[Review] First Australians Melinda Houston , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 12 October 2008; (p. 38)

— Review of First Australians Rachel Perkins , Louis Nowra , Beck Cole , 2008 single work film/TV
First Contact Graeme Blundell , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 11-12 October 2008; (p. 24-25)

— Review of First Australians Rachel Perkins , Louis Nowra , Beck Cole , 2008 single work film/TV
From Phillip to Mabo Dianne Butler , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 11 - 12 October 2008 2008; (p. 20)

— Review of First Australians Rachel Perkins , Louis Nowra , Beck Cole , 2008 single work film/TV
Examine Your Consciences Ruth Ritchie , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 18-19 October 2008; (p. 10)

— Review of First Australians Rachel Perkins , Louis Nowra , Beck Cole , 2008 single work film/TV
First Australians Series Launched Margaret Smith , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 8 October no. 436 2008; (p. 27)

— Review of First Australians Rachel Perkins , Louis Nowra , Beck Cole , 2008 single work film/TV
Our Rich History From a Black Perspective Amanda Meade , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 22 September 2008; (p. 35)
The Queen of Kinship Rachel Browne , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 5 October 2008; (p. 2-3)
SBS's View of Aboriginal History Worth the Long Wait Errol Simper , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 27 October 2008; (p. 40)
Phillip Adams Phillip Adams , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 22-23 November 2008; (p. 42)
Indifference Has Robbed Generations of Our History Louis Nowra , 2008 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 27-28 December 2008; (p. 23)

Awards

2009 winner Australian Film Institute Awards Best Documentary
2009 winner AWGIE Awards Documentary Award Public Broadcast For episode one by Rachel Perkins and Louis Nowra.
2009 shortlisted AWGIE Awards Documentary Award Public Broadcast For episode three by Louis Nowra and Beck Cole.
2009 winner Logie Awards Most Outstanding Documentary
2009 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting
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