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Eelemarni, The Story of Leo and Leva (1988)

  1. Millie Boyd was Ngarrakwal (Ngarrakbal) Githabul Elder, her homeland was nowhere near Glen Innes. The names Leo and Leva might be Anglicised as a result of movement of the elder and her parents before to mission lands; sadly as we know the usual process for white settlement. The people Leo and Liva represent two clans married and the marriage of two landscapes. More information about Millie and Mafi, can be found on Stella Weildon's pages. Millie Boyd, according to her family, is not Bundjalung. This movie/documentary is, it must be argued, the first Indigenous movie directed and acted by First Australians. And directed by a First Nations' woman in this country. It was way ahead of it's time and before 'Ten Canoes.'

    Lorraine 'Mafi' Williams was a well respected Activist at the Tent Embassy, Canberra. She was a poet and a traditional woman who chose to live a traditional coastal life on Women's land near Byron Bay. Her untimely loss was a deep wound to her family but here we can, and MUST, CELEBRATE her achievement, an achievement with vision that both women share in their effort to keep their stories alive for future generations like the great-grandchildren living now in 2018 30 years on. Millie Boyd was renowned for her tireless support for early Reconciliation. These were strong Women. Indeed Millie's 1977 conversations with Anthropologist Howard Creamer, some available on YouTube or Via Weildon, are a small window into her long bloodline to country from Warwick in SE Qld to Byron Bay. Millie's work to keep lands kept in the way of caretaker was continued by her daughter Marlene Boyd. Millie Boyd went against mainstream white thinking and wished Heritage Orders to Protect Homelands.

    2. #1 from Gustavssonandrea7 – 6 years ago.
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