Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)

Exile and the Kingdom film rushes

eng

Exile and the Kingdom film rushes

Recorded at, Yirrmagadu / Roebourne, W.A.,, 1993

A comprehensive account of the experiences of a community of Aboriginal people from pre-colonial times to the 1990s. This film makes the connection between Aboriginal people in chains in the 19th century and Aboriginal people in prisons today, so providing a deeper understanding of how the violence and denials of the past inform the present. Ultimately, it gives conviction that with their extraordinary resilience, the Indigenous peoples of Australia will survive and flourish. The documentary argues that the relentless removal of the Yindjibarndi/Ngarluma people into coastal ghettos has led to the community's current problems. The film moves us through the period of British colonisation - unearthing appalling facts about slavery and the violent rule of pearling and pastoral overlords - to the abuses of the 1960's mining boom and problems of alcohol. Yet it never allows the viewer to forget the significance and influence of spiritual homelands, the bedrock upon which Yindjibarndi/Ngarluma traditional law is based. -- Abstract.vb