'One of the major works produced by the AIAS Film Unit, this documentary observes the profound effect on an Aboriginal community of political and bureaucratic decisions made far away. Although specific to time and place, the film is timeless and universal in its observations of a conflict between an Indigenous minority and a powerful government.'
'The film presents an insider’s view of events that followed an announcement made without warning on 13 March 1978 that the Queensland state government was taking over control of the Aboriginal community of Aurukun in the north of the State, displacing the Uniting Church which had managed the Aboriginal Reserve for 70 years.'
'At the request of the community, filmmakers David and Judith MacDougall documented the events of the following weeks, as the community marshalled its supporters to resist the takeover, and a stream of lawyers, politicians, Church officials, government advisers and representatives of mainstream media arrived to talk with the Aboriginal Council and the community at large.'
'Ostensibly driven by a desire to access the mineral wealth in the Aurukun area, the state government was resistant to modifying its position, but intervention from the Federal government forced a sequence of compromises, though not always with the community’s knowledge or to their satisfaction.' (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)
