Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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The clip shows the Mills, a Darwin family of musicians and singers. Kathy Mills speaks of her children and their closeness as the song ‘Arafura pearl’ is sung in the background. Kathy says everyone in the family has ‘the music bug’. She says while the Mills Sisters are the ‘most known’ singers of the family, ‘the boys now are coming into their own right as musicians’ particularly guitarist Robert. The clip includes black-and-white images of the family in the past and colour images of them today. Allyson who Kathy notes ‘always was the singer’ speaks to camera about her father always singing around the house.

Educational value points

• In this clip Kathy Mills characterises her family as musicians and singers. Of her eight surviving children, her four daughters form the Mills Sisters group and her sons are also musicians. Her husband David is a singer and musician who plays a wide range of instruments. Kathy sings and plays the ukulele and has written many of her family’s songs, including ‘Arafura pearl’, featured in this clip.

• Allyson talks about the important role of music in her family’s lives. She speaks of the way music was fostered in the family by her father whistling and pointing out and singing to the rhythms of fans and the washing machine. The footage at the end of the clip of a close family of parents and adult children talking and laughing together reinforces the sense of family support.

• Music for the Mills family is intertwined with involvement in Indigenous issues, as suggested by the words ‘Journey of healing’ on the T-shirt worn by Allyson in this clip. The two generations depicted have played significant leadership and advocacy roles relating to Indigenous peoples and their rights, including native title land claims. In acknowledgment of her contribution to Australian society Kathy Mills was named Senior Australian of the Year in 2006.

• Formed in 1982, the Mills Sisters are well-known Indigenous performers. The group comprises June, Allyson (Ali), Barbara and Violet Mills and lead guitarist Robyn Forscutt from Katherine in the Northern Territory. The Mills Sisters of Darwin need to be differentiated from the Torres Strait Island Mills Sisters, who are also well-known Indigenous singers.

• The clip includes a variety of film techniques that have been used to portray the Mills family and their musicianship. Archival and family photographs, Kathy Mills’s voice-over and Allyson speaking to camera are combined with music and singing. The sequence showing Allyson performing focuses on her face and gestures, providing an example of the singing her mother describes. The range of black-and-white and colour photographs portrays the family over time.

• This clip comes from the film Arafura Pearl, shown on ABC television’s Message Stick, which allows Indigenous Australians to present their own stories. Kathy Mills and her daughter Allyson provide commentary and members of the family are shown interacting in their Darwin home. The Mills family present themselves from their own perspectives to the audience. The title refers to the song by Kathy Mills about Darwin on the Arafura Sea.