'First Australians chronicles the birth of contemporary Australia as never told before, from the perspective of its first people. First Australians explores what unfolds when the oldest living culture in the world is overrun by the world's greatest empire.
'Over seven episodes, First Australians depicts the true stories of individuals - both black and white - caught in an epic drama of friendship, revenge, loss and victory in Australia's most transformative period of history.
'The story begins in 1788 in Sydney, with the friendship between an Englishmen (Governor Phillip) and a warrior (Bennelong) and ends in 1993 with Koiki Mabo's legal challenge to the foundation of Australia. First Australians chronicles the collision of two worlds and the genesis of a new nation.' Source: www.sbs.com.au (Sighted 27/09/2008).
First Australians – Episode 1, They Have Come to Stay
Covers the first meetings between the Indigenous Aborigines, the first Australians, and the British First Fleet, who sailed into Sydney on 26 January 1788.
First Australians – Episode 2, Her Will to Survive
This episode covers the period from 1825–60 and explores the history of European settlement in Tasmania through the stories of Truganini and George Augustus Robinson.
First Australians – Episode 3, Freedom For Our Lifetime
The third episode of the First Australians series begins in 1860 in Victoria and, through the lives of Simon Wonga and William Barak, explores broader issues facing Aboriginal people in these times.
First Australians – Episode 4, No Other Law
Episode four, 'No other law’, explores the history of white settlement in Central Australia and the stories of homicidal police officer Constable Willshire, who brings mayhem to the Arrernte nation.
First Australians – Episode 5, Unhealthy Government Experiment
In this fifth episode of First Australians, European settlement spreads to Western Australia and is met with much conflict, as explored through the experiences of Aboriginal stockman Jandamarra.
First Australians – Episode 6, A Fair Deal for a Dark Race
Episode six, 'A Fair Deal for a Dark Race’, explores Indigenous history from 1930–67, primarily in the south-eastern regions of Australia, through the lives of Yorta Yorta men Doug Nicholls and his uncle, William Cooper.
First Australians – Episode 7, We Are No Longer Shadows
The seventh and final episode of First Australians covers the period 1967–93, focusing on the Torres Strait Islands and Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo’s fight for land rights.
First Australians : An Illustrated History
Carlton
:
Melbourne University Press
,
2008
Z1546617
2008
reference
single work
information book
(taught in 2 units)
'First Australians, the companion book to the epic SBS TV series, is the dramatic story of the collision of two worlds that created contemporary Australia. Told from the perspective of Australia's first people, it vividly brings to life the events that unfolded when the oldest living culture in the world was overrun by the world's greatest empire.
'Through a vast collection of images and historic documents, seven of Australia's leading historians reveal the true stories of individuals-both black and white-caught in an epic drama of friendship, revenge, loss and victory in Australia's most transformative period of history.
'Their story begins in 1788 in Warrane, now known as Sydney, with the friendship between an Englishman, Governor Phillip, and the kidnapped warrior Bennelong. It ends in 1993 with Koiki Mabo's legal challenge to the foundation of Australia.
'By illuminating a handful of extraordinary lives spanning two centuries, First Australians reveals, through their eyes, the events that shaped a new nation.' (Publisher's blurb)
'Sweet Country may be a film constructed with the conventions of a Western – the guns, horses, spirits, and vast frontier landscapes with law and justice as central themes – but it is also a film grounded in oral history and the written archive. This article considers Sweet Country as a historical account of colonialism, scripted, directed and produced by an Indigenous team. It explores how the frontier and race relations are constructed, and how history is merged with myth and narrative to create a potent period piece with the timelessness of an epic and the urgency of the present.' (Publication abstract)
