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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lA journey of discovery - in black and whiteBy Erik Jensen
21 August 2007 - The actor Pete Postlethwaite has lent his very English accent to a documentary dealing with a very Australian theme. Postlethwaite, whom Steven Spielberg once called the best actor in the world, spent an intermittent two years travelling with the singer-songwriter Archie Roach, entering Aboriginal communities and being struck by "the pain that is still being felt on both sides". He and Roach would then return and discuss the experiences on camera, with the former chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, Pat Dodson, acting as moderator. The resulting documentary, Liyarn Ngarn, takes its title from the Yawuru phrase for spiritual bonding. In basic terms it refers to the meeting of a river and the sea, to the brackish waters between white and black Australia. "It's a journey through Aboriginal Australia, a learning journey for me. It was a way of seeing Australia through Aboriginal eyes," Postlethwaite said of the film, billed as a landmark appraisal of race in Australia. "I wasn't prepared for how deeply it would affect me, the traumas and emotional shocks. It became a journey of discovery for myself." Postlethwaite, who once studied to be a priest, became involved with the film when he learnt that a friend from his seminary days, Bill Johnson, had adopted a member of the Stolen Generation who was later killed in a Perth race attack. The film was largely funded by Johnson. For his part, Dodson hopes the film will be a wake-up call, reminding Australia of positive actions that have been taken in the past but since reneged on. "I think there's a good mix of human personal tragedy and political context," he said. "I think it will have most Australians put together the segmented pieces they see and realise there is a repetitive way in which we treat Australian politics, the way we give rights and then we take them away." Source: Sydney Morning Herald More articles Pat Dodson and Pete Postlethwaite and Michael Long and Bishop John Selby SpongBy Jon Faine 23 August 2007 - Pat Dodson is one of the fathers of reconciliation in Australia . A Yawuru man from Broome he has been an Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody - Chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliationas well as a former Catholic Priest. Pat now advises a range of organisations on indigenous affairs and is considered one of the most senior indigneous leaders in the country today. For the last couple of years he has been producing an extraordinary documentary called Liyarn Ngarn. Already some people are saying this story will put reconciliation back on the public agenda. It's the story of British actor Pete Postlethwaite's personal journey with Archie Roach into Aboriginal Australia. Pete's friend from the UK Bill Johnson now lives in Perth, after emigrating Bill adopted a member of the stolen generation, Louis, at the age of 19 Louis was murdered in a race attack in Perth. Liyarn Ngarn is the story of a search for reasons why, an outsiders journey through Aboriginal Australia. It is an incredibly moving and important documentary - perhaps even a landmark study of race relations in Australia. Michael Long joined in too, former AFL star and now famous for the four Long Walk's to Canberra - Michael was inspired to get involved in this historic film. It was a passionate, eloquent and inspiring conversation that was broadened out with the introduction of 'radical' US Bishop John Selby Spong. He's written a book called Jesus for the Non-Believer and while a deeply religious man, Bishop Spong talks of a tolerant christianity rather than the fundamentalist variety we see increasingly around the western world. With Pat a former priest, Pete Postlethwaite who spent five years in the seminary and Bishop Spong preaching a humane and modern approach to God, well it was one of the reasons that we like coming in to work - a truly awesome Conversation Hour. Source: ABC related links:
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its one year on from the Australian Governments controversial intervention into NT Indigenous communities
action Roll back, listen to Indigenous community voices speaking about the intervention |
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