Tom E Lewis introduces the concept of five seasons over footage of an overflowing Rose River – the land inundated with water, followed by a montage of a dry riverbed. Lewis describes the wet season over …

Reggie Camphoo Pwerl and Donald Thompson Kemarre tell us about what Indigenous people used to carry with them when they travelled everywhere on foot – the main tool being the grinding stone. Images show the grinding …

Rolf de Heer oversees the construction of swamp canoes that will be used in the film Ten Canoes (2006).

Against a backdrop of images of the Ramingining community, director Rolf de Heer talks about the unexpected problems in casting Ten Canoes (2006). The kinship laws are so complex that the final choice of cast …

Band members on tour in the Northern Territory discuss Aboriginal law and its implications. In Victoria police arrest Aborigines on suspicion of breaking the law. In traditional Aboriginal law offenders may be speared or flogged …

Aerial shots of Hermannsburg in Central Australia are followed by black-and-white historical footage of Indigenous people going about their business on the mission. Interview footage of Pastor F. W Albrecht talking about Indigenous people, their …

Benny Tjapaltarri and Mick Ngamurarri tell us the significance of the Dreaming, and how the Dreaming ancestors created the landscape.

Aggie Abbott tells of how, when Zita returned to her mother after years of being absent, her mother said that her daughter was dead. Ron Wallace, Zita’s husband, talks about Zita’s experience of …

Zita is sitting on a stool feeding a poddy calf. In voice-over Aggie Abbott says most children who were taken away never returned to their country. Zita on the other hand has sought her family …

Percy Trezise is a pilot who searches for Aboriginal rock paintings in his spare time. He’s uncovered some magnificent paintings of the ancestral spirits known as Quinkan beings, who are of special significance to …

A dancer emerges from the darkness, entering the glow of the ceremonial fire. He moves deliberately, then kneeling by the fire, shakes his shoulders. He takes brushes from the fire, and scatters the embers over …

The Aboriginal participants introduce the Europeans to some of the bush tucker of the region. Only John and his wife are prepared to try the worm-like carbora, although they know they’ll be a rich …

Young women speak about how the old people used to show them bush tucker, dances, and how to make necklaces with ininti seeds. The young women talk about how the children now do not know …

Elders Crook Hat and Camphoo are walking through the bush searching for the right tree to make spears. They tell us that the old people used to cut down the Acacia tree to make spears …

Two brothers take to the water in a small boat. They crash through the ocean in search of the dugong.

Each year in the Torres Strait Islands, the Coming of the Light Festival is remembered with religious services and with feasting. And the food for the feasts is always island food from island produce.

We go 'inside the circle’ to see Circle Sentencing in action. Robert is an Aboriginal man who has been in trouble many times for domestic violence. Now he’s face-to-face with the victim and four …

This is the critical moment when Robert must hear his fate. Although the magistrate and the police prosecutor are there and contribute, it’s the Elders who confront Robert with what he’s done and …

Four senior tribesmen introduce themselves and talk about going to look for a tree suitable for a number seven boomerang. Two of the Elders begin to chop down a tree they have chosen for making …

Alison Anderson MLA Member for MacDonnell addresses a protest rally about standing up to the federal government and their intention to dump nuclear waste in the region. People march in peaceful protest. David Sweeney of …

A group of women sitting on the ground digging with digging sticks. One of the women speaks about how the poison that will be dumped by the government will destroy their bush foods – honey ants …

Two people removed from their families as children to enter into servitude, Margaret Tucker and Bill Reid, speak of their experience growing up. Historical footage shows children placed in missions.

Thomas Wills and his cousin, HCA Harrison, combined elements of soccer, Gaelic football and rugby union to come up with a concoction that incorporated all the codes and founded AFL in the …

A group of women walk through bush collecting Merrepen and natural dyes to make dilly bags. The women tell us a good time to collect Merrepen is during the wet season when the spear grass …

Wangkatjungka elder Spider sits with the children and shows them how Kurtal became a serpent. Spider then leads a convoy to the jila (living waterhole) where Kurtal slumbers, taking his family to meet their ancestor …

Thornton not only pokes fun at the ignorance of conservative white purchasers of Indigenous art, but also exploits the paradigm of 'authentic Aboriginality’. The same ignorance Catherine (Sophie Lee) displays in relation to the culture …

Essie Coffey instructs some young people on how to track animals. They are looking for porcupine tracks, and finally find one. A porcupine never walks straight says Essie, but always walks in a zig zag …

The family travel to Kundjabe to fish. The women bait the hooks with worms, while they talk about the different types of food available to them. There is a great familiarity with how the family …

Behind the wheel driving through the mining fields, Norman tells us that they used to get into his old Landrover to hunt kangaroo for meat, sometimes hitting the animal with the car. They would take …

Walking through the mining fields, Norman tells us how the old people used to work the fields, but the young people don’t work anymore, and drink too much grog. Norman says that white people …

Grahame Walsh explains the sophistication of Aboriginal burial ceremonies and compares them to ancient Egyptian burials.

A teenage band put together by Sammy Butcher performs for an audience. Sammy talks about the kind of songs he and the children write together, and one song ‘Ngayulu Nyangu’ which means I have seen …

Granny telling her story to Ngyamia (Ali Torres) in the kitchen is intercut with the story played out in flashback. We see the young Gilladi (Sabrina Sabaan) led by her Aunty (Annie Watson) to meet …

As the men prepare for a big lunch of magpie-geese, cooked in the canoes on the swamp, the narrator (David Gulpilil) returns to the climax of the old story. Ridjimiraril (Crusoe Kurddal) and his brother …

Over images of food preparation, the narrator (Helen Anu) tells us that people also come from the other islands for the tombstone opening, as the people of the Torres Strait have many family connections. The …

This clip shows an orange-peel scoop; ‘flying fox’ machinery; Lake Victoria; a channel bridge and inlet regulator; and the construction of channels and levees.

A family are looking for bush potato, a much-loved favourite. Women using tools to dig up the potato show us that it takes great effort to gather it – but, we are told, the expenditure of …

A group of young Indigenous men playing cricket. We are given a background on the Indigenous history of Fitzroy Crossing. Talking to camera, Jo Ross, who is known as Willigan, and Kevin Oscar tell us …

Lorrpu (John Sebastian Pilakui) dreams of when he and his friends were initiated, as Botj (Sean Mununggur) arrives back from three months in jail. Their friend Milika (Nathan Daniels) is a young football star, but …