Australian
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Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Botj (Sean Mununggurr), who has broken into the Women’s Community Centre, sniffing petrol. As he looks at a painting with traditional Indigenous symbols he begins to hallucinate and then goes on a rampage, smashing up the Centre. He attacks a painting of his totem, Baru the crocodile, venting his anger on his Indigenous culture. As he destroys the painting he has flashbacks to an initiation ceremony he underwent as a young boy, when his chest was decorated with his totem. He lights a cigarette, which ignites his petrol-soaked sleeve and starts a fire in the Centre.

Educational value points

• Substance abuse is depicted in this clip. Abuse of legal and illegal drugs, including petrol sniffing, is a problem in some Indigenous communities. It has been linked to socioeconomic factors that have their roots in the dispossession and colonisation of Indigenous people, including high unemployment, inadequate education, low self-esteem and the breakdown of extended family networks.

• Botj is shown sniffing petrol. Petrol sniffing is a major problem among young people in some Indigenous communities, particularly in remote and regional areas. Sniffing petrol damages the brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and immune system. Its use leads to health, behavioural and social problems, including self-harming behaviour and suicide. Some communities have responded by using aviation fuel instead of petrol in their vehicles, while Opal, a non-sniffable fuel, has been introduced in the Northern Territory. It has been argued that if petrol sniffing is to be eradicated, its root causes, which lie in wider issues of social dysfunction, need to be tackled.

• After inhaling petrol Botj staggers, hallucinates and becomes violent. Petrol moves from the lungs to the bloodstream and into the brain. It slows down brain activity and depresses the central nervous system, inducing feelings of euphoria, tranquillity, dizziness and numbness. Like Botj, petrol sniffers may also experience lack of coordination, disorientation, hallucinations and aggression. Sniffing can cause death, as the petrol replaces oxygen in the brain. In some cases people who have sniffed petrol have suffered serious burns or died when the petrol caught fire.

• This scene occurs after Botj has been excluded from an initiation ceremony and argued with his friends Lorrpu and Milika. Botj’s self-destructive behaviour is linked to a sense of alienation from the community. This alienation has been reinforced by his mother’s rejection of him (she cannot cope with his violent outbursts, caused by petrol sniffing) and the fact that his father did not visit him while he was in a juvenile detention centre. The elders have decided Botj is not ready for initiation, a decision that, along with the rift with his friends, compounds his feeling of low self-worth and he turns to petrol sniffing as an escape.

• Botj’s response to his exclusion from the initiation ceremony indicates the importance of this rite of passage. Only initiated males can assume their adult role within the community, including getting married and carrying out ceremonial responsibilities. During initiation elders pass on knowledge about their country (homeland), enduring customs and Dreaming, all of which inform the individual’s sense of identity and belonging. In communities where petrol sniffing is endemic, elders are concerned that there will be no-one to pass on this knowledge.

• Botj is shown lashing out at his totem, Baru the saltwater crocodile. Baru is the primary totem or symbol of the Gumatj people, who are one of 16 clan groups in Yolngu society. Baru is represented by a diamond pattern and cannot be hunted by the Gumatj people. The conflict between Indigenous and Western cultures is a central theme in the film, and Botj’s destruction of his totem implies that he is rejecting his Indigenous heritage. The mix of rap and Indigenous music and sounds in the soundtrack represents the sometimes conflicting influences of the two cultures in Botj’s life.

• In this clip Botj rejects his Indigenous culture. Young Indigenous people sometimes find it difficult to reconcile their place within their Indigenous community with an involvement in mainstream Australian society. According to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the difficulties some Indigenous people experience in negotiating these two worlds are evident in the over-representation of Indigenous youth in the criminal justice system, as well as lower levels of educational attainment, higher unemployment and higher suicide rates among Indigenous youth.

• Yolngu Boy was the first feature film produced by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation. Director Stephen Johnson worked closely with the Yolngu people during the film’s development and production. Writer Chris Anastassiades developed the script over a 5-year period, visiting Arnhem Land and observing and talking with Indigenous children, some of whose stories were incorporated into the film. The film was shot in the NT, mainly in Yirrkala and Gove, and the predominantly Indigenous cast were all non-trained actors from the region.

This clip starts approximately 17 minutes into the feature.

We see Botj sniffing petrol. He walks up to a large wall decorated with Indigenous art and begins hallucinating. He continues to sniff the petrol. He jumps over a fence to try to get away from it and enters a women’s community centre. He overturns a table and throwing chairs. He sees another Indigenous painting and begins kicking it. He has flashbacks to his initiation ceremony from when he was a young boy. He calms down and lights a cigarette. His shirt sleeve, soaked in petrol, catches fire. Fire quickly spreads through the centre. He begins screaming and panicking.