Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows 'long-grassers’, homeless people, in Darwin in the present day and, through a series of black-and-white photographs, in earlier times. Title pages introduce the subject of homelessness in Darwin among Indigenous people. The black-and-white photographs provide a background montage to voice-over commentaries. Barnabus from Bathurst Island explains why he has been a long-grasser in Darwin for the last 20 years. Scenes show the day-to-day life of Barnabus and other long-grassers. Orchestral music accompanies parts of the clip.

Educational value points

• The clip shows how film techniques can be used to construct an argument. The bleak black-and-white images in the first half of the clip are counteracted by voice-overs providing insight into the life and choices of the long-grassers. The second half of the clip, shot in colour, backed by birdsong and showing the lush parkland that long-grassers call home, further counteracts the negative images and suggests that this way of life provides a vital sense of community.

• The way language can convey different meanings to different people is raised by the clip. Some long-grassers such as Barnabus have embraced this label, seeing it as signifying their freedom from the restrictions and conflicts of family. To him and others it provides an identity that is not conveyed by the term 'homeless’. Others claim it is a stigmatising term that allows long-grassers to become 'whipping posts’ for some parts of government and the media.

• The clip depicts people known as 'long-grassers’ who live in Darwin’s public spaces. Long-grassers are a diverse group who are predominantly Indigenous, with some being short-term visitors and others medium-to-long-term stayers who migrate from a variety of Top End communities. Their number varies according to the season but may be as high as 1,000 on any single night.

• The variety and complexity of reasons why people become homeless are suggested by the long-grassers themselves. For some it is a choice, an escape, a chance to be with others in a new community. Others are driven away from their communities by conflict or in search of a job and come to Darwin. Once in Darwin the lack of services and the high cost of accommodation forces some to live rough. Chronic homelessness becomes a way of life for some individuals.

• Some indication of the hostility directed at Darwin’s long-grassers and legal interventions against them is provided by the clip. Many homeless people have been fined and jailed due to council by-laws introduced in 1997 prohibiting camping and sleeping in public places. Vigilante attacks increased at the time. Both political parties responded to community pressure in the 2005 Northern Territory election by advocating tough new laws to eliminate the perceived problem.

(Caption) The Northern Territory has the highest rate of homelessness in Australia. The Indigenous Homeless people in Darwin are referred to as Long Grassers.

This is followed by archival images of long-grassers juxtaposed with contemporary images of homeless Aboriginal people. Voice-over and classical music accompanies the photographs.
Man 1 Well, like, I chose long grass, you know. Like, find a new place and that. This is where I’m happy, you know, living in the long grass.
Woman 1 Those people who don’t accept them, like many of the people that are living here in Darwin, are people who don’t know how other people live.
Man 2 You have to have money to pay your accommodation and, yeah, that’s the way. It’s very hard for the Aboriginal people.
Man 3 Aboriginal people and long-grassers are often used as whipping posts by the Government and the newspapers without, again, looking at these issues as to why they’re there. We’re not wanting to engage and understand where they’re coming from.

Barnabus is interviewed near the long grass.
Barnabus, long-grasser My name is Barnabus Tepora and I’m originally from Bathurst Island and I moved up here, stayed in the long grass about, um nearly about 20 years. Left the island because, you know, there’s a lot of family’s problems and that. The best part I live here because you get to know other people and that, meeting other people. As I said, because we got Goulburn Island and Croker Island, Maningrida – we’re together as long grass.