Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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The clip shows Frank Djara explaining in language how he worked as a health educator in his community of Areyonga, south-west of Alice Springs. It displays his artwork that he used to teach Indigenous people about health issues. The footage follows the road to Areyonga and depicts the community health centre, which Djara in a wheelchair visits as a patient. He outlines his own experience as a diabetic and illustrates the check-ups and treatments involved in treating the ‘sickness’. There are English subtitles.

Educational value points

• This clip features Frank Djara, a former health worker who drew on his artistic skills and his own experience as a diabetic to teach others in his community of Areyonga about health issues. The clip focuses on his role, showing him explaining his work and visiting the community health centre for a check-up. The clip extends his role as a health worker by communicating his health message to a wider audience.

• Djara’s dot paintings are presented as an appropriate way of communicating about health issues to his community at Areyonga. Painted images in this clip include women with babies, birth-control methods and people of different ages and backgrounds. Djara explains that taking a painting into communities is important because some Indigenous people, especially the old people, understand pictures but not written words.

• The importance of testing for and treating diabetes in many Indigenous communities is outlined clearly in this clip. Urine testing is illustrated, showing the simple process of diagnosis using a colour chart. Djara explains two ways to treat diabetes at the time the film was made – tablets and injections. His check-up is used as an example of the regular monitoring needed. The camera focuses on a sign at the clinic to make this point explicit.

• The depiction of the Areyonga community in this clip suggests its remoteness (it is 240 km west of Alice Springs) and the role of the local community health centre as a contact point for people with health problems. Areyonga’s community of fewer than 250 people worked together to improve its situation. Djara’s work is another example of someone who with limited resources and few funds has provided an effective initiative.

• The clip is an example of the work of the Nganampa Anwernekenhe documentary television series. The primary aim of the series was the maintenance of Aboriginal languages and cultures. The people of Areyonga are Pitjantjatjara with a few Arrernte and Warlpiri speakers who have married into the community. Elder Frank Djara asserts a continuing cultural tradition in his use of language and art.

• The clip includes a range of film techniques including detailed focus on Djara’s painting, footage following him into the community of Areyonga and Djara talking to camera. There are close-ups of parts of the diagnosis, and treatment such as a self-injection to the stomach. The footage of driving into the community positions the viewer to see Areyonga through Djara’s eyes and to recognise his past role as a health worker in the community.