'The story of an Aboriginal stockman and his family and their growing passion for “picnic racing” on bush tracks in New South Wales.'
'Sunny and The Dark Horse was filmed at Collum Collum, an Aboriginal-operated cattle station in north-eastern New South Wales. The film follows the Aboriginal manager of the station, Sunny Bancroft, and his non-Aboriginal wife, Liz, in their search for a winning horse to triumph on the local picnic racing circuit – but things don’t always go their way.'
'The story begins when Sunny buys a horse for his daughter to ride and races it at the Glenreagh Gallop. He then attempts to find a suitable stockhorse on the station to race at the local Baryulgil picnic races. But while training one of these he hears that a friend has a racehorse for sale and buys it to race at Baryulgil. The horse, King, wins at Baryulgil but loses at subsequent race meetings. Sunny determines to find another winner and buys a black horse, naming it Sambo.'
'With the end of the season, Sunny is persuaded by his family not to buy any more horses, but then he hears that a friend has another racehorse for sale ...'(Ronin Films website)
Collum Calling Canberra
1981
9058685
1981
single work
film/TV
prose
'Gordon Smith, head of the Collum Collum Aboriginal Co-operative which operates a cattle station in northern New South Wales, and Sunny Bancroft, the station manager, are negotiating with the Aboriginal Development Corporation in Canberra for a loan. Finance is needed to stock the property with breeding cattle so that the station can become financially independent.'
'The film details the frustrations of negotiating with a distant bureaucracy while, at the same time, trying to manage the property and make it a viable business.'
'The negotiations take place mainly by telephone with occasional visits from ADC representatives. Sunny’s wife, Liz, is in charge of the homestead and hospitality whenever a visitor calls. Sunny meanwhile has to deal with training the station hands, maintaining fences, and managing the cattle that are currently held.'
'After much stone-walling by the ADC, frustrations and paper-shuffling, approval for the finance is given but then it takes even more time for the money to flow.' (Source: Ronin Films website)
Stockman's Strategy
( dir. David MacDougall
et. al. )agent
1984
9064188
1984
single work
film/TV
'Constructed as a series of vignettes of station life, the film focuses particularly on the relationship between Sunny Bancroft, the station manager, and a 16-year-old trainee, Shane Gordon. The episodes are linked by Sunny’s reflections on learning the hard way from experience, and from the lessons taught him by his father.'
'With intertitles to introduce each episode, the film is eloquent in its depiction of Sunny’s patient approach to managing his horses and training young Shane: “I believe in kindness to everything and everyone. If you be kind to something it’ll be kind back”.'
'Some vignettes have a Tati-like simplicity of observation, for example when young Shane tries to untangle a bridle with one hand while holding a frisky horse with the other, or when Sunny patiently attempts to get a recalcitrant paint-spraying machine to work.'
'The film is, above all, an invaluable observation of the personal dynamics within a working cattle station, and within the Aboriginal community that operates the station.' (Source: Ronin Films website)
Transfer of Power
( dir. David MacDougall
et. al. )agent
1986
9065305
1986
single work
film/TV
'This observational documentary follows an episode in the routine life on Collum Collum cattle-station in northern New South Wales. But, as the filmmaker notes, it’s a story that could have occurred anywhere.'
'The film follows the attempts by Sunny Bancroft and other men in the Collum Collum Aboriginal community to remove a failed engine from a car and replace it with a refurbished engine from another car. It’s a familiar rural task where the expectation is to keep motors running, but for these Aboriginal men, it’s also an occasion to affirm continuing community relationships.'
'Sunny regards himself as something of a “bush mechanic”. Replacing the engine calls for a gathering of men and children “to see what happens”. It’s a time for “common sense” but also communal effort, and the calling in of local experts when needed.' (Source: Ronin Films website)
The MacDougall Tapes
Andrew Pike
,
Mitchell
:
Ronin Films
,
2017
11433482
2017
single work
film/TV
interview
'These extended conversations with David and Judith MacDougall represent an invaluable archival record and convey a wealth of ideas and information relating to their experiences as a highly influential ethnographic filmmaking team.
'The conversations cover their years with the Film Unit of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1975-1987. During this time, the MacDougalls made a series of eleven documentary films, many of them acknowledged world-wide as landmark achievements in ethnographic cinema. These films included TAKEOVER (1979), THE HOUSE-OPENING (1980), THREE HORSEMEN (1982), SUNNY AND THE DARK HORSE (1987) and LINK-UP DIARY (1987). The MacDougalls discuss their approach to filmmaking and the circumstances of making each film. They also reflect on their body of work from the perspective of today, and discuss the work of other filmmakers who worked for the Film Unit, notably Kim McKenzie with films such as WAITING FOR HARRY (1980), and the work of Indigenous filmmakers Wayne Barker and Oomera (Coral) Edwards.' (Publication summary)
The MacDougall Tapes
Andrew Pike
,
Mitchell
:
Ronin Films
,
2017
11433482
2017
single work
film/TV
interview
'These extended conversations with David and Judith MacDougall represent an invaluable archival record and convey a wealth of ideas and information relating to their experiences as a highly influential ethnographic filmmaking team.
'The conversations cover their years with the Film Unit of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1975-1987. During this time, the MacDougalls made a series of eleven documentary films, many of them acknowledged world-wide as landmark achievements in ethnographic cinema. These films included TAKEOVER (1979), THE HOUSE-OPENING (1980), THREE HORSEMEN (1982), SUNNY AND THE DARK HORSE (1987) and LINK-UP DIARY (1987). The MacDougalls discuss their approach to filmmaking and the circumstances of making each film. They also reflect on their body of work from the perspective of today, and discuss the work of other filmmakers who worked for the Film Unit, notably Kim McKenzie with films such as WAITING FOR HARRY (1980), and the work of Indigenous filmmakers Wayne Barker and Oomera (Coral) Edwards.' (Publication summary)
