Bush Toys is a whimsical and historical journey into the art of Bush Toy making in the Central Desert of Australia.
Bush Toys are made from scraps of metal, copper, tobacco and powdered milk tins, old horse shoes, small fragments of fabric and salvaged materials, stripped from car bodies found at rubbish tips. The copper wire is taken from wrecks (wiper, air conditioner motors) and stuffed with mattress foam, covered with surgical tape painted, lacquered and sold.
Around a campfire Two Anmatjere Elders, Patsy and Jane Briscoe, sing and tell the epic-dreaming story of two young men who are forced into action when a clan of demon Cannibals devour their entire tribe and kidnap the young men’s mother and sister. Alone and outnumbered the young men defy all odds as they defeat the demons and reclaim their women.
Situated south of Derby in the West Kimberley Jarlmadangah is a very unique community and is often hailed as ‘a model community’ for many reasons. One is the enterprising nature of two elders, John and Harry Watson.
In October 2007, the members of Jarlmadangah Community celebrated 25 years of a journey of self determination to fulfilment of a dream. 25 Years of building a strong family community based on ideals many communities around Australia have strived for but it seems very much that a recipe of success is in the hands of this community
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Ladies were dancing up in the Milky Way, and the baby fell down from a Coolamon, fell down there, and created that meteorite crater.
An emotive, traditional style Nganampa, about a Western Arrernte story. Auntie Mavis talks about the significance of the place; Googes Bluff, with a woman’s side and a man’s side, and its major significance to the Western Arrernte people. About the morning star, the evening star, the Milky Way and the Universe.
The style is poetic, beautifully filmed, with time-lapse shots of the night sky, helicopter shots, dawn and dusk, overlaid with the traditional song about the falling of the child, and the creation of the place, Googes Bluff.
Agnes Abbott was born at Loves Creek Station in the 1930s. She lived in the bush with her Eastern Arrernte family, traveling across the parts of her homeland which are still accessible to the old people.
From her early years born and raised in the bush, learning the survival tools and the ways of their culture, Agnes life underwent many and expansive changes. More of her homelands became inaccessible to families for hunting, and finding new ways to live on or near the stations and the missions became imperative. Eventually, Agnes remained as a station worker.
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Dion Beasley is 15 years old; he lives with his Aunty in Tennant Creek and is an Artist.
With the help of a close friend and teacher; Joie Boutler, they have established a label for t-shirts and other apparel, called “Cheeky Dog”. It is hoped that this venture will create an income for him and in the future he will be able to create financial stability.
Mt Liebig is a remote Aboriginal community 250 kms west of Alice Springs. Within this community live strong vibrant young women who have a unique view of the worlds they live in. These young women move successfully between two cultures, their traditional culture and white man’s culture.
In most traditional Aboriginal communities boys aged between 11 to 16 years are taken from their mothers and are initiated through a series of ceremonies into manhood. They are taught their traditional songs and shown the dances that are associated with it. When they return from “bush camp” they are considered men, with all the rights, privileges and respect traditionally associated with their position.
Within the white community men are considered boys until they are 18 years old and manhood is exemplified by the size of your pay packet.
Finding Place explores the issues surrounding ceremonially initiated men as they deal with the daily duality of their social standing, both within the Aboriginal and mainstream Australia.
On a Winter’s evening, by the light of a comforting camp fire, Max Stuart, Senior Arrernte Mat-utjarra Elder and custodian of the Alice Springs Area, divulges poignant words of wisdom to his descendents. This is a documentary that carries the words of Rupert Max Stuart his philosophies and message about passing culture on and keeping it alive.
Three women share their art and their experience of being in country.
They share a sense of belonging to a place and walking in it, dancing with it as the songs of country and culture resonate in their artistic expression.
Each artist with a personal interpretation of country presents a selection of artworks that reflect the multi-faceted colours of Kimberley light, the nuance of detailed observation of a loved environment and the expression of a living vibrant cultural presence.
A documentary about elders Doreen and Gladys Miller, the last remaining speakers of the Wirangu language in an area where the dominant remaining Indigenous languages are Kokatha and Pitjantjatjara.
Doreen and Gladys live in their home community of Scottdesko, 100km from Ceduna on the Eyre Peninsular. No one speaks to them in Wirrangul anymore. Everyone speaks the dominant language of Pitjantjatjara and Gokatha. To speak the language, they can only talk to one and other.
History remembers Willaberta Jack as man whose courage survives an evil pastoralist and an unjust law system, but will it be enough to protect him from his own community.
A clash of bush craft and pride as an Aboriginal man runs for his life pursued by the law of the day. Set in 1929, this is an extraordinary tale of survival and resilience set amongst the harsh landscape of Central Australia.