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| home | news lA journey of hope
By Margaret Smith 31 August 2007 - The Australian premiere last week of former Council for Reconciliation Chairman Patrick Dodson’s first film as co-producer was a spectacular occasion. The launch was held by Australian’s for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) in a 700 seat cinema at Sydney’s Orpheum last Wednesday. More than 400 people had to be turned away before the popular event started. The film is titled Liyarn Ngarn, which means ‘coming together of the spirit’ in the Yawuru language of the west Kimberley region, and in the afternoon before the screening Patrick Dodson and Archie roach talked about its genesis. “Liyarn Ngarn began as a journey of discovery – it is now a documentary which aims to change people’s perceptions and attitudes to Indigenous people and to assist with the process of true and lasting reconciliation” Mr Dodson explained. He added that white Australia ‘still fears the desert, the bush, the country and its spirits, the different race of its Indigenous people, and they try to compensate for this by planting rose gardens and other activities. There’s a lack of understanding of us and what we symbolise’. “But they’re not afraid of Aboriginal people, as can be seen by the Federal Government’s latest policies to intervene with troops in the Northern Territory.” he said. “The Government is even prepared to push aside the Racial Discrimination Act for the purpose of dispossessing our people of their property rights” On the irony of the film being launched so soon after the Federal Government’s ‘intervention’, Mr Dodson added, ‘the intervention is objectionable and obnoxious. They assume that Aboriginal people will accept whatever the Government throws at them’. “But I have faith in our leaders, our actors and writers,” he said. “These people will give a voice to our people to bring a new perception”. Archie Roach, who took timeout from setting up for his performance later, said he had written new songs for the film which will be released on an album. He sang with Broome’s Pigram brothers for the first time, ‘and it was great to work with them, after having heard their music for years’. But he said he was worried about the reaction of Aboriginal youth to the NT intervention. “My sons and nephews are angry at what has happened,” he said. “There’s not enough going on for them in terms of career possibilities. They are always angry and what is happening to the old people.” Patrick Dodson believes that Mabo gave credibility to Australia in ‘so many ways’, but that was now under threat. “The recourses of our nation need to be ploughed back into Aboriginal programs in a positive way,” he said. “But self determination has never been given a real chance.” Postlethwaite happened upon his journey in Perth , when he was performing in a play and met a boyhood friend. The friend, Bill Johnson, had been in a British seminary with Postlethwaitewhen they were training to be priests. Both had left and when Johnson married he had adopted a young Indigenous boy. But Postlethwaite didn’t know that the boy had been murdered when he was just 19, by two young English immigrants out for some ‘racist fun’. He was helped in this new journey by Archie Roach and Aboriginal leader Patrick Dodson, who became his mentors and guides. Postlethwaite then accompanied Roach on a six-week performance tour of WA, where they explored country and the underlying issues that divide Australia. The two men’s journey was recorded on video, and through their investigations Postlethwaite learned about Indigenous land claims, the terrible legacy of Aboriginal deaths in custody (Louis Johnson, John Pat and Robbie Walker), stolen children, Vincent Lingairi and the first handback of Indigenous land, Mabo, Paul Keating’s Redfern speech, ‘Pauline Hansonism’, the 2000 Sydney Bridge Walk for Reconciliation, and the Federal Government’s ‘practical’ approach to reconciliation. After the Sydney screening there was ecstatic applause from the audience, and many said it had been the most powerful Indigenous documentary they’d seen for years. Patrons were encouraged to buy the DVD of the film, to start discussion groups, and to do what they can to assist a cinema and television release. It was hoped that the Melbourne screening might produce a distributor. Source: The Koori Mail 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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