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Clip description
The narrator tells us that, according to Mandildjara beliefs, an evil spirit lives beneath the lake and wanders it searching for Mandildjara people to devour. In sepia tones, there is a re-enacted sequence of Warri and Yatungka breaking tribal laws and leaving their people. Mudjon from the search party, in seeing that his country is unkempt, leaps from the vehicle to light the spinifex. This is a traditional way of managing the land.
Curator’s notes
There are two perspectives that constantly interact in this narrative: that of the Western filmmakers, who narrate from within a Western scientific discourse, and that of the Indigenous peoples – specifically the Mandildjara people. Though the filim does not delve deeply into the Indigenous perspective and cultural practices, it does offer a window through which the relationship between the people and the land can be understood – especially to non-Indigenous peoples. The use of firestick farming to tend the land is a form of ancient cultivation. The film does establish the link between the health of the land being synonymous with the presence of the caretakers – the Mandildjara people. The eventual death of the land then, is the consequence of the removal of the Mandildjara from their ancient homeland.
