Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows members of the urban band Djaambi, consisting of five Indigenous Australians and five non-Indigenous Australians, at the remote Indigenous Australian community of Papunya in the Northern Territory. Interviews with band members about their reactions to the living conditions at Papunya are interspersed with shots of the community, including derelict houses, shelters made of corrugated iron, broken playground equipment, abandoned cars, and children playing in puddles left by recent flooding. The clip begins and ends with Richard Frankland, the founder of Djaambi, talking about what the band hoped to achieve by touring remote communities.

Educational value points

• The Melbourne-based band Djaambi embarked on its 1993 tour to remote Indigenous Australian communities in NT to mark the International Year of the World’s Indigenous People. The tour was intended to be a goodwill exchange, but tensions arose between band members, many of whom were overwhelmed by the poor living conditions in the communities they visited and disappointed by the communities’ lack of response to their tour.

• The remote community of Papunya is located 280 km north-west of Alice Springs and has a population of approximately 380 people. The Papunya region covers about 500,000 sq km and has a population of about 7,500 people. Housing is overcrowded and substandard, and the remoteness of the region means the unemployment rate is a very high 21 per cent. Papunya has a primary school (which produced Papunya School Book of Country and History, a book about the people of the area), but students have to attend secondary school in Alice Springs and many leave school at 15 because they do not want to be separated from their families.

• Twenty-six per cent of Indigenous Australians live in remote areas and many of them experience poverty, injustice and living standards equal to those of third-world countries. The infant mortality rate of Indigenous Australian children is three times that of non-Indigenous children, while life expectancy is generally about 20 years less than that of non-Indigenous Australians. Less than a quarter of Indigenous Australians complete secondary education, and unemployment is double that of the general population.

• The mixed reactions of the members of Djaambi to the living conditions at Papunya are recorded. Most band members grew up in urban areas and were shocked by what they witnessed at Papunya. While a stunned Leon remains on the bus, another band member attempts to repair play equipment. A third member talks of the guilt she feels 'as a white person’ after what she has seen, and another says that the place had not changed at all since he was there in 1975–77.

• The clip makes reference to the effect of European colonisation on Indigenous Australian communities. More than two centuries after their first contact with Europeans, Indigenous Australians are still struggling with the psychological impact that followed their dispossession from the land.

• Filming for Beating about the Bush was restricted to the compound where the band was staying. The community at Papunya was aware of the often negative portrayals of Indigenous communities in the media and was sensitive about how it would be presented by the filmmakers. However, the success of artists and musicians from the area (including musicians such as the Warumpi Band) indicate that there are good stories to be told about Papunya.

• Djaambi was formed by Indigenous Australian musician and filmmaker Richard Frankland in 1989, and consisted of five Indigenous Australians and five non-Indigenous Australians. Djaambi, which continued performing until 1994, was well regarded in the Australian independent music scene. The band toured nationally and had some mainstream success, supporting Prince on his 1992 Australian tour and recording with Angry Anderson. Djaambi provided the soundtrack for a number of Frankland’s films.