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Clip description
The experience of Tjalkabotta seeing white people for the first time is told through interviews with author Peter Vallee and readings of diary excerpts. In this way, Tjalkabotta recounts his life as a child before white occupation of his country. His impressions of the first buildings on the mission at Hermannsburg are of wonder at the technology. His grand niece, Mavis Malbunka of the Western Arrernte Nation, recalls her knowledge of these events.
Curator’s notes
Tjalkabotta’s story is a notable illustration of the way the series discusses broader subjects and events through the experiences of individual people. This clip shows how the Arrernte community went from having a simple yet rich culture to a structured, modest and mission-reliant life. Regardless of their choice in the matter, it’s a great example of the remarkable adaptability of Aboriginal people, even in the way they modified their language to describe the newcomers.
