image of person or book cover 2549622196733048314.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
form y separately published work icon Spear in the Stone single work   film/TV   oral history  
Issue Details: First known date: 1983... 1983 Spear in the Stone
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Archaeologist Rhys Jones investigates unusual stone spear-points found in ancient sites in the Kakadu National Park, and which seem to have been traded south from Arnhem Land. Jones hears of two Elders in eastern Arnhem Land who remember how to make such spear-points and where to find the special stone in the bush.'

'With a geneticist, Neville White, who had been working at Donydji for 10 years, Jones is taken by the two old men and three younger men whom they wish to teach, on a trip into the bush to try to find the quarry site that used to be the source of the stone for these spear-heads. It is a long and difficult trek, albeit with a lot of hilarity along the way, and with concerns about the dangers of wild buffalo, and the risk of getting too close to sacred and secret places. Rules are set by the Elders about what can be filmed: as one observer noted, the Aboriginal people in this film are far from being passive subjects of a film, but recognise “that filmmakers had to be controlled and, more importantly, that they could be controlled”.'

'When an outcrop of the special rock is found, at a place called Ngilibitji near the head of the Walker River, work begins to find suitable stones and to make sharp-edged chips from them for spear-points and knife blades. One Elder remembers stories about the power of the spear-stone: “My spirit is one with that of the stone”.'

'As a result of the trip recorded in the film, one of the Elders, Diltjima, decided to move permanently back to Ngilibitji with his family, to protect the area from incursion by mining companies and others.' (Source: Publisher's website)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Language: Aboriginal Yolngu AIATSIS: languages. AIATSIS ref. (NT SD53) , English
Notes:
English narration, a dialect of Yolngu language with English subtitles
      1983 .
      image of person or book cover 2549622196733048314.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 34 minsp.
      Series: AIATSIS Collection Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies , collection

      'The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (later AIATSIS – the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies) was established as a statutory authority in 1964. The Institute quickly established a film unit to act as an archive of filmed material and also to record material of ethnographic and historic significance. Part of this work also involved the preparation of films for public release, and until the early 1990s, the AIAS Film Unit became responsible for some of the most significant works of ethnographic film then produced in Australia. This collection of some thirty significant documentary works will be progressively released by Ronin Films in association with AIATSIS, where possible in re-mastered form and with associated interviews with filmmakers.' (Source: Ronin Films website)

Works about this Work

Re-Mastering Complete 2015 single work review
— Appears in: AIATSIS News , August 2015;
'Over the last 3 years Ronin Films have been gradually re-mastering and re-releasing the landmark documentaries produced by the former AIAS Film Unit from the late 60s to the early 80s..'
Re-Mastering Complete 2015 single work review
— Appears in: AIATSIS News , August 2015;
'Over the last 3 years Ronin Films have been gradually re-mastering and re-releasing the landmark documentaries produced by the former AIAS Film Unit from the late 60s to the early 80s..'
Last amended 18 Feb 2016 11:49:33
X