Cirrus@Austlit

'Philip Roth once quipped that ‘Memoirs lie and fiction tells the truth’ (quoted by Drabble 2010: 110). Life-writing is bedeviled with issues of truth-telling, not to mention problems with ‘narcissism, the confessional impulse, sincerity, the hubris of assessing oneself with finality’ (Powers 2016: 323). Far from being a simple act of remembering and reclaiming the personal past self in words, writing memoir needs careful negotiation with notions of truth / fiction, reader accountability and how history and the ‘self’ is constructed. Life writing, Margaret Drabble goes as far to say, is a ‘dangerous game’ (Drabble 2010: 111).'  (Introduction)

'A soaring, evocative audio-visual journey into the life, culture and landscapes of one of Australia’s most beloved singers – Dr G Yunupingu.

'Blind from birth, Dr G Yunupingu found his identity through song and the haunting voice that has already become legend. His debut album introduced Australia to the Songlines and culture of his Elcho Island community, but Dr G Yunupingu found himself increasingly torn between city and country, present and past, self and the community to which he owed so much.

'From director and close friend Paul Williams comes a profound exploration of the life and music of this most revered of Australian artists. Co-produced by Dr G Yunupingu himself, the film uses the tools of his music – chord, melody, song – and the sounds of the land to craft an audio-first cinematic experience of beauty and power, offering a rare insight into a reclusive master who spoke in his own inimitable language.' (Production summary)

'A windy autumn day proved to be the perfect day for kite flying. What happened to Claudia and Diesel’s kite? Would they ever be ready for another kite flying adventure?' (Publication summary)

Nominally a sequel to the highly successful, live-action Ocean Girl, the animated New Adventures of Ocean Girl has an entirely independent location and storyline. Placing Neri back on her watery home planet of Oceania, the program follows her attempts to locate and retrieve one of the four life-giving crystals normally guarded by the Sacred Whales. When one of the crystals was stolen thousands of years earlier by an evil space wizard, the balance of Oceania was upset. Only Neri can restore it.

An anthology series of children's stories, mixing live-action episodes with animation, clay animation, and puppetry. The stories, aimed specifically at the under 10s, are drawn from a variety of sources, including children's books, fairy tales, myths, and original ideas. Some of the episodes have involved, for example, Snow White as a punk bikie and the seven dwarves as a motorcycle gang; a pet stegosaurus; a boy with wheels instead of toes; and Trevor the glider-plane-catching cat.

According to Patricia Edgar,

Thirty separate self-contained dramas of differing lengths were to be packaged into half-hour episodes. The project was designed to showcase new, creative talent in the television industry. Competitions were run at the Australian Film and Television School and Swinburne Institute of Technology for the best concepts suitable for inclusion in the Kaboodle package, with prizes of $1000 awarded. The Foundation sought promising but inexperienced writers, would-be producers, directors and even accountants who wanted to earn their first credit to enable them to find a future in the industry.

Source: Patricia Edgar, Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television, Melbourne: Melbourne UP, 2006, pp.175-76.

Kaboodle was produced in two series, the first of which included some live-action segements, but the second of which was entirely animated.

For a full list of episodes, see Film Details.

Episode listing for Kaboodle series two courtesy of the Australian Children's Television Foundation.

'Bill and his crew sail up the Murray in the paddle-steamer "Mystery". They hope to save their mate the Bunyip from an unjust law, in a rollicking adventure by boat, balloon and train.'

Source: National Library of Australia