Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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The clip shows Kathy Mills talking about her husband David Mills and their relationship. Kathy describes how singing brought them together and became the foundation of their family life. Older photographs and contemporary footage of the family are seen. Their son Robert explains that they are ‘straight for each other’, that his parents’ marriage is regarded as a good blend of knowledge and culture and is correct according to their Indigenous cultural practices and clan systems. The clip includes music and singing.

Educational value points

• Kathy presents music as an integral part of her marriage, and this is exemplified in the clip by the song in the background. Despite the lyrics ‘Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone’ Kathy says that the relationship was not initially romantic but based on enjoying playing music and singing together. Their family home always included music, and Kathy and David still sing together at social gatherings.

• This clip presents the Mills’s marriage as one that is related to specific kinship structures according to their particular cultural group. Kinship systems define how people relate to each other on a daily basis and identify potential marriage partners. The clip presents the Mills’s marriage as not simply based on attraction and friendship but on being culturally correct. David is a Larrakia man and Kathy is a Kungarakan woman.

• David and Kathy Mills’s marriage is depicted as a positive combination of Saltwater and Freshwater peoples, individuals who are compatible according to their Indigenous cultural practices. Both Saltwater and Freshwater peoples come from the Darwin area. Kathy and David’s son Robert places importance on their ‘correct’ Indigenous marriage and how it has given the children flexibility in the context of continuing traditional cultural practices.

• The Mills family is from Darwin and is known as a musical family – Kathy Mills is a songwriter, her husband David is a musician and singer, her daughters are in the Mills Sisters singing group and her son Robert is a guitarist. The family’s involvement in many Indigenous issues and Kathy’s role as 2006 Senior Australian of the Year indicate that their relationships involve shared values and commitments as well as music. The Mills Sisters of Darwin need to be differentiated from the Torres Strait Island Mills Sisters, who are also well-known Indigenous singers.

• The clip is from the ABC television series Message Stick, which aims to allow Indigenous people to present their own stories. Kathy tells the personal story of her family, accompanied by family photographs, music and interview footage. Her son Robert explains the significance of his parents’ marriage in the context of their Indigenous culture.