In 1964, Yuwali was 17 when her first contact with white men was filmed. Her group of twenty women and children were the last aboriginal mob living traditionally, without any knowledge of mo... Read allIn 1964, Yuwali was 17 when her first contact with white men was filmed. Her group of twenty women and children were the last aboriginal mob living traditionally, without any knowledge of modern Australia, in the Great Sandy Desert. Now 62 she tells the story behind this extraord... Read allIn 1964, Yuwali was 17 when her first contact with white men was filmed. Her group of twenty women and children were the last aboriginal mob living traditionally, without any knowledge of modern Australia, in the Great Sandy Desert. Now 62 she tells the story behind this extraordinary footage.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 3 nominations total
Featured reviews
Not a lot is known of the difficulties encountered by Australian and British scientists in 1964 while attempting to clear the impact point of the ill-fated Blue Streak missile of people. Even the educated whites who were exploring for oil refused to move out until they were forced to. Contacting the black people was almost given up, as the natives used their knowledge of the land to avoid the searchers. They thought the whites would eat them; the vehicles they used were 'monsters'. Eventually, contact was made, but only after the natives had run out of food and allowed the whites to feed them and escort them to a safer place. This film relies heavily on Peter Morton's 'Fire across the Desert', and the compilation of old amateur footage and some official material. The fascinating commentary by Yuwali who had been a baby when the missiles were fired is truly compelling. One can ignore the imaginative inaccuracies in the concocted story (I wonder if the Aborigines were 'having a lend' of the film-makers), and the sometimes clumsy technical work, but the old and the new are blended well enough. The film does not cover the deaths, or the leprosy, or explain why the aboriginal men had left the women and children to fend for themselves. But this is a film to watch and enjoy and to learn from.
This docco's overall quite well balanced for the length, perhaps a 2-part one could've introduced more, as well as had some more general descriptions of patterns of the downplaying of the importance of explanation and consent in actions taken always-supposedly on the behalf of or for, Indig. Aussies, and some philosophical differences leaving the question un-answered due to inconsistency in different kinds of actions taken throughout invasion/occupation/denial-of-sovreignty, etc,..
... when UNusually, this one has a straightforward humanist purpose behind the simple safety reasons for the dislocation, and it quite unusual in terms of scale and the way that unlike in doccos where recent conflict is also portrayed, although the reasons for the people's men being missing or dead perhaps? Are left-unspecified, the story can and does continue nevertheless, INSTEAD of getting stuck on too much politics, so that that the focus on the personal and perspectives of the both aging and young women in charge of their mob is focused on, in contrast to only smaller amounts from surviving white/neo-colonials, although there is perhaps a little too much airtime given to the chr claiming that the potential sexual advances were a part of some kind of cultural debt system.
Typical of exploitations of cultural dis-familiarity, that retort or excuse or possibility covering of one's own a**, so to speak, excuse-making, is hardly NEW, to those already sceptical / experienced with that kind of during-occupation lie making, to cover one's own transgressions or known-hesitancies.
Hesitancy is not always total or of surety of social/cultural obligation, but it CAN be, so the well known behavioural pattern of feigning ignorance or under-thinking-something-through, is nothing new to a honest person's eyes in that regard.
If it was put in deliberately to expose people to that kind of pattern ... 'while the Queen's not watching' ... then fair enough, but i don't think it added much to the focus of THIS docco,.. of the degree of distance or difference, between late-TO-contact, compared to early-to-contact whitefellas, such as those that met early explorers,.. in the bizzare RECENCY, of the cold war and nuclear testing.
Excellent music/atmospherics for that purpose, while still bringing the perspective back to the 1st hand experience sharers / story sharers, and congrats for the effort put into translation, and giving it to us raw.
I did not sense translation-editing at any point, but i only speak english, so what do i know? :)
Such as the raw, degree of distrust / natural-xenophobia shown towards ALL whitefellas, before understanding THESE ones purpose / intent, whites as cannibals, etc.
While that kind of normal, natural societal-hesitancy sometimes gets portrayed as DELIBERATE anti-modernization, this docco makes it absolutely unambiguous, that such labels are utterly unfair, considering how MUCH of a leap you're talking about, in 1 lifetime, or 1 in 1 cultural exposure / cross-fertilization, were that appropriate as a measure also, in this docco.
Fortunately, this docco steers clear of such grand sociological and whatever else potentials for measurement, while STILL providing an excellent contrast of that 1960s no-less ... shock in terms of the myth that so many of us were and probably still ARE being told and telling ourselves, about WHEN, different stages of exposure / resistance/reluctance / and degrees of adoption let alone supposed 'welcoming' ... sometimes portrayed.
It comes as no surprise, that most-often IMO, those who claim to KNOW about supposed welcoming, are town mayors WHILE speaking at a public event such as at the MCG,.. and a cultural introduction or micro-speech is being given at the start of an event, or similarly, at a museum being opened, etc
Never RELY, on such, for the WHOLE truth, which is often a mixed-bag, of both boiled-sweet, and surprisingly tangy-sweet ant-rear-end. :D
Points for a moderate but-not-too-much amount of emptiness in style in this docco, too, audio is not overwhelming/distracting, visual focus / use of materials is prrrety good IMO, i'm not an expert, but nothing seemed inappropriate for the scene,.. visuals are watchable at a relaxed pace, and are also very well mixed in terms of landscapes and personal / ground-focused shots,.. when hunting is being focused on , the RESULT of hunting, is shown in raw format, true perspective, after the hunt, a a lizard in front of your feet,.. when a water hole is being talked about, a plant-concentration of growth in the middle of these salt lakes, is shown from-a-distance, instead of after having already jumped in (if large enough to - not sure these ones were, a remarkably good example of Indig. Aussies true superiority for survival over our flabbly white-a**es ... :D fair enough - if you blink,.. you'll miss it. I wouldn't be surprised if some who watched this and remember the long grass/spinifex/whatever they were growing around it, but did not realize they were LOOKING AT a watering hole, rather than some other characteristic part of their local country - that's what i meant - visuals used, are appropriate for 1st person perspective, very well, and it gives you a true sense of long distance hardships / vast differences in experience and perspectives on distances-IN-deserts, in different cultures and after becoming adapted to things like horse/camelback, or cars,.. or whatever else)
This docco makes better USE of it's time, than many on a similar topic, and as i said earlier, also succeeds at contrasting very well, the gap mid cold-war missile development.
One thing that is missing somewhat, is more about fundamentals of sovereignty / blatant absence of consultation in a modern reconciliatory sense,
even if you only portrayed that in-context of the low-expectations rationalizations,.. it could've been portrayed more with more visuals, shots of parliament being far far away for more-contrast / disconnection / not getting a say,.. etc
Apart from that though, this docco's great, it also has a few funny moments, to not make it entirely grim/depressing, and it ends nicely with the survivors back on country, back on the lakes, whitefellas nowhere to be seen,.. :) ... and no nukes falling, no skies having fallen-in, and a nice drifty starry sky shot and repossession / re-discovery of your rights to imitate / model this kind of very-longbow-aimed contrast purposed journey on-film. One probably cannot truly imagine their perspective, but this docco does better than many, by not getting sucked into using tropes or stereotypes, or gaslighting-stylized interview sequencing, it's interviews a well FOCUSED, on the happenings, on the perspectives / stories being given, on the real-events, and manages to protect that contrast from the mountain of politics that COULD have been added, like i would've wanted more (but not too much) of.
*shrugs* Either way, as-is, this has more of a emotional and human-element simplification of not becoming over-burdened with plot/context, while still leaving room for an individual's curiosity FOR that context... what's the cold war mum?.. etc ... but without drowning in things many younger or also underexposed / disinterested-in ... won't understand.
It is in that sense, stopping who is meant to be able to be a PART of it's target audience, at a more sensible human-story level, and that may well be a better recipe overall, for understanding, listening-skills, and cultural adjustment both-ways.
... when UNusually, this one has a straightforward humanist purpose behind the simple safety reasons for the dislocation, and it quite unusual in terms of scale and the way that unlike in doccos where recent conflict is also portrayed, although the reasons for the people's men being missing or dead perhaps? Are left-unspecified, the story can and does continue nevertheless, INSTEAD of getting stuck on too much politics, so that that the focus on the personal and perspectives of the both aging and young women in charge of their mob is focused on, in contrast to only smaller amounts from surviving white/neo-colonials, although there is perhaps a little too much airtime given to the chr claiming that the potential sexual advances were a part of some kind of cultural debt system.
Typical of exploitations of cultural dis-familiarity, that retort or excuse or possibility covering of one's own a**, so to speak, excuse-making, is hardly NEW, to those already sceptical / experienced with that kind of during-occupation lie making, to cover one's own transgressions or known-hesitancies.
Hesitancy is not always total or of surety of social/cultural obligation, but it CAN be, so the well known behavioural pattern of feigning ignorance or under-thinking-something-through, is nothing new to a honest person's eyes in that regard.
If it was put in deliberately to expose people to that kind of pattern ... 'while the Queen's not watching' ... then fair enough, but i don't think it added much to the focus of THIS docco,.. of the degree of distance or difference, between late-TO-contact, compared to early-to-contact whitefellas, such as those that met early explorers,.. in the bizzare RECENCY, of the cold war and nuclear testing.
Excellent music/atmospherics for that purpose, while still bringing the perspective back to the 1st hand experience sharers / story sharers, and congrats for the effort put into translation, and giving it to us raw.
I did not sense translation-editing at any point, but i only speak english, so what do i know? :)
Such as the raw, degree of distrust / natural-xenophobia shown towards ALL whitefellas, before understanding THESE ones purpose / intent, whites as cannibals, etc.
While that kind of normal, natural societal-hesitancy sometimes gets portrayed as DELIBERATE anti-modernization, this docco makes it absolutely unambiguous, that such labels are utterly unfair, considering how MUCH of a leap you're talking about, in 1 lifetime, or 1 in 1 cultural exposure / cross-fertilization, were that appropriate as a measure also, in this docco.
Fortunately, this docco steers clear of such grand sociological and whatever else potentials for measurement, while STILL providing an excellent contrast of that 1960s no-less ... shock in terms of the myth that so many of us were and probably still ARE being told and telling ourselves, about WHEN, different stages of exposure / resistance/reluctance / and degrees of adoption let alone supposed 'welcoming' ... sometimes portrayed.
It comes as no surprise, that most-often IMO, those who claim to KNOW about supposed welcoming, are town mayors WHILE speaking at a public event such as at the MCG,.. and a cultural introduction or micro-speech is being given at the start of an event, or similarly, at a museum being opened, etc
Never RELY, on such, for the WHOLE truth, which is often a mixed-bag, of both boiled-sweet, and surprisingly tangy-sweet ant-rear-end. :D
Points for a moderate but-not-too-much amount of emptiness in style in this docco, too, audio is not overwhelming/distracting, visual focus / use of materials is prrrety good IMO, i'm not an expert, but nothing seemed inappropriate for the scene,.. visuals are watchable at a relaxed pace, and are also very well mixed in terms of landscapes and personal / ground-focused shots,.. when hunting is being focused on , the RESULT of hunting, is shown in raw format, true perspective, after the hunt, a a lizard in front of your feet,.. when a water hole is being talked about, a plant-concentration of growth in the middle of these salt lakes, is shown from-a-distance, instead of after having already jumped in (if large enough to - not sure these ones were, a remarkably good example of Indig. Aussies true superiority for survival over our flabbly white-a**es ... :D fair enough - if you blink,.. you'll miss it. I wouldn't be surprised if some who watched this and remember the long grass/spinifex/whatever they were growing around it, but did not realize they were LOOKING AT a watering hole, rather than some other characteristic part of their local country - that's what i meant - visuals used, are appropriate for 1st person perspective, very well, and it gives you a true sense of long distance hardships / vast differences in experience and perspectives on distances-IN-deserts, in different cultures and after becoming adapted to things like horse/camelback, or cars,.. or whatever else)
This docco makes better USE of it's time, than many on a similar topic, and as i said earlier, also succeeds at contrasting very well, the gap mid cold-war missile development.
One thing that is missing somewhat, is more about fundamentals of sovereignty / blatant absence of consultation in a modern reconciliatory sense,
even if you only portrayed that in-context of the low-expectations rationalizations,.. it could've been portrayed more with more visuals, shots of parliament being far far away for more-contrast / disconnection / not getting a say,.. etc
Apart from that though, this docco's great, it also has a few funny moments, to not make it entirely grim/depressing, and it ends nicely with the survivors back on country, back on the lakes, whitefellas nowhere to be seen,.. :) ... and no nukes falling, no skies having fallen-in, and a nice drifty starry sky shot and repossession / re-discovery of your rights to imitate / model this kind of very-longbow-aimed contrast purposed journey on-film. One probably cannot truly imagine their perspective, but this docco does better than many, by not getting sucked into using tropes or stereotypes, or gaslighting-stylized interview sequencing, it's interviews a well FOCUSED, on the happenings, on the perspectives / stories being given, on the real-events, and manages to protect that contrast from the mountain of politics that COULD have been added, like i would've wanted more (but not too much) of.
*shrugs* Either way, as-is, this has more of a emotional and human-element simplification of not becoming over-burdened with plot/context, while still leaving room for an individual's curiosity FOR that context... what's the cold war mum?.. etc ... but without drowning in things many younger or also underexposed / disinterested-in ... won't understand.
It is in that sense, stopping who is meant to be able to be a PART of it's target audience, at a more sensible human-story level, and that may well be a better recipe overall, for understanding, listening-skills, and cultural adjustment both-ways.
A deep look into the emotions of a beautiful woman whom was one of the last people to be found living the old ways. The documentary focuses on this lady.There is secondary focus upon one of the more understanding whites who was trying to deal with their transition, and a few other first peoples views. She was 17 at the time of the transition, and the mob of 20 went through a terrifying ordeal.
It is interesting to see they had domesticated the dingoes, and that their main fear was of being eaten by the vehicles and white demons. This is fair enough, because they were eating beings of lesser power, the bush animals, and they saw the white people as more powerful than them. Thus their logic was sound.
This documentary has a wonderfull soundscape and score, and is well edited with nicely treated images. So perfect.
It is interesting to see they had domesticated the dingoes, and that their main fear was of being eaten by the vehicles and white demons. This is fair enough, because they were eating beings of lesser power, the bush animals, and they saw the white people as more powerful than them. Thus their logic was sound.
This documentary has a wonderfull soundscape and score, and is well edited with nicely treated images. So perfect.
Details
- Runtime1 hour 19 minutes
- Color
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