In the mid 1950s above ground atomic tests are carried out in South Australia. The bomb is dropped by aircraft and the blast is seen. Various people recall the tests including RAAF driver Ric Johnston …

The 'black and white urban band’ Djaambi arrives at the remote Aboriginal community of Papunya to find no audience, minor flooding and bleak housing conditions for the locals. The band hopes that their visit to …

Lena (Dannielle Hall) is sitting in a bus shelter. Her brother Liam (Mundurra Weldon) skids to a halt on his bike. Liam asks for money. A police car drives by. All eyes are on the …

Photographs of baby Mariah attached to a kidney dialysis machine. Mariah’s parents Angie and David from the Kamilaroi clan talk about supporting her during this period. A doctor tells us the function of the …

Mariah as a young girl talks about karate, and living an active life. Mariah’s parents Angie and Dave talk about what is required to support Mariah in living with her condition. A medical practitioner …

We see patients in a renal ward as Dr Paul Snelling, the director of Northern Territory Renal Health, tells us that Darwin has a 10 times higher incidence than anywhere else in the country, of …

Cars race through the dusty outback. Warwick Thornton talks to camera about the preparation for the race and the need to just finish it. He also speaks about how at the age of 34 he …

Susan Bradley is a justice of the peace in Kununurra in far north Western Australia. She presides over minor cases like public drunkenness. She comments that the lack of regular work opportunities in a rural …

The girls walk into a cafe for milkshakes. They are told to drink them at the counter. Trilby (Kristina Nehm) urges her family to sit down in a booth. The white patrons taunt them with …

Archival images of long-grassers are juxtaposed with contemporary images of homeless Aboriginal people. We also meet an Aboriginal man from Bathurst Island who, for his own reasons, lives as a long-grasser in Darwin.

The Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council are holding their executive meeting. The women express their objection to the presence and abuse of substances in their communities.

A four-wheel drive makes its way down a stretch of road at Curtin Springs. The women are discussing the alcohol-related fatalities that have occurred here. They reminisce about the 1990 march against the sale of …

Behind the wheel driving through the mining fields, Norman tells us that they used to get into his old Landrover to hunt kangaroo for meat, sometimes hitting the animal with the car. They would take …

Walking through the mining fields, Norman tells us how the old people used to work the fields, but the young people don’t work anymore, and drink too much grog. Norman says that white people …

Rosie is packing her bag to move out of the welfare house, and a young woman who is to take over her room is introduced to her. The young girl has the same last name …

A teenage band put together by Sammy Butcher performs for an audience. Sammy talks about the kind of songs he and the children write together, and one song ‘Ngayulu Nyangu’ which means I have seen …

Interspersed with shots of Areyonga community, Frank Djara tells how he communicated health issues through painting, and by talking about sickness to his people.

Amber Mercy tells us about her experience of participating in surf competitions around the world. Footage and photographs show surfers from different cultures.

Ricco sits amongst a group of children roughly the same age as himself. They are learning about maps of the world, as well as Warlpiri.

Botj (Sean Mununggurr) sniffs petrol after fighting with his friends Lorrpu and Milika. He trashes the women’s community centre, concentrating his anger on the paintings of the Yolngu’s totem animal, the crocodile. He …