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My Mother’s Country Part 2 (2001)

play May contain names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
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clip Family education content clip 1

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

In this clip paintings and re-enactments are intercut with interview footage to show what happened to the Indigenous people (family members of the people telling the story). The family are walking through the country in which their old people were murdered.

Curator’s notes

by Romaine Moreton

The physicality of this clip, the family walking through their country – the same country where other family members died – is powerful and poignant. The paintings illustrate the story as it is being told in voice-over. The filmmaker (Fayleen Lauder) whose family is being spoken about provides the audience with visual symbols to add significance to the story being told. After the Coniston Massacre of 1928, no survivors were called to testify in a Board of Inquiry in 1929, or to challenge the testimonies of Constable William Murray and others who participated in the massacre. The Indigenous people themselves, the Inquiry found, were responsible for what happened to them. In this context, the technique employed by the filmmaker becomes significant, as all the visuals you see in the clip are based on oral histories, and represent the very voices of the people that the 1929 Board of Inquiry chose to overlook. The clip presents us with a style that is used throughout the film – a style used intentionally to bring the audience closer to the story being spoken about.

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australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

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