Indigenous Culture Videos
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Patrick Dodson is only the second Australian to receive the Sydney Peace Prize, after the former Governor-General Sir William Deane. The inaugural chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation believes open and frank dialogue is the only way to repair the fractured relationship Australia has with its Indigenous people. We join Aunty Noeline Briggs-Smith, historian and archivist, who's found the lost graves of Aboriginal servicemen in the historic Moree cemetery. Also in this program, the artist Tony Albert talks about his obsession with the uncollectable - Aboriginalia, or mass-produced Aboriginal kitsch.

In the history of representation, Aboriginal people have been defined by the colonial gaze - from ethnographic photographs to film - into a shadow of our selves. Today we present a talk by Dr Romaine Moreton on the Aboriginal self through the Western eye. She says through film, Aboriginal people are confronting and splitting the colonial gaze. Dr Romaine Moreton, a Goernpil woman whose family hail from Stradbroke Island, spoke at the Black2Blak 2 conference held in tandem with The Premier State, an exhibition at the Campbelltown Arts Centre featuring Aboriginal artists from across New South Wales. Also, the lawyer Terri Janke explains why we need a national authority with statutory powers to protect Indigenous cultural rights, from intellectual copyright to traditional knowledge. And we meet Graeme Talbot Junior, the young ranger from the Northern Territory who's been nominated for Young Apprentice of the Year.

On Australian television, until recently, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's culture or history has often been stereotyped and told from a white perspective. However, that is changing, thanks to the emerging talents of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander filmmakers, actors and workers in the industry. Awaye looks at two productions that show evidence of that change; The First Australians, about to be shown on SBS, and Channel Nine´s new children´s drama Double Trouble. Also, well known Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu gives his perspective on Indigenous economic independence.

People travel from around the world to an ancient place called Malkgulumbu that is surrounded by white sand, ancient paperbark trees, running freshwater, a waterfall and orange coloured cliffs to celebrate culture, alongside the local Aboriginal people from the community of Wugularr. Better known as Beswick it is located on the Central Arnhem Road south of Katherine in the Northern Territory. Well known Aboriginal Actor Tom E Lewis is the creator and the mind behind the coming together of the modern and ancient music and stories that are told in the surrounding of this sacred site which is opened only once every year to the public for the festival. Also, a new theatre production about a girl called Yibiyung. Her moving story of being stolen, sent to work as a domestic and then re-united with her family is told by her grandaughter, playwright Dallas Winmar.

In the first program in our 15th anniversary season, we revisit the handback of Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park to its traditional owners. In a special ceremony at Uluru in October 1985, the then Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen and the Aboriginal Affairs Minister presented the title deeds to the traditional owners despite the opposition of the Northern Territory government. 'Our Spirit Becomes One' was produced by Ursula Raymond for the tenth anniversary of the handback and won the Louis St John Johnson award for best radio journalism. Produced by Ursula Raymond Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that this program includes the voices of people who have passed away. [first broadcast 21 October 1995]

Pompey Raymond is an Aboriginal tracker from the Northern Territory. He was taught to read tracks from his father who first told him to practice on a goanna. Noel Nannup is a former national park ranger who reckons it's our job to care for everything. Also in this program, we join a group of Tasmanian Aboriginal men who are the first in 160 years to make a bark canoe like that used by their ancestors to navigate the waters between the outer islands. Their design and construction so ingenious that medical imaging technology had to be used to unlock its secrets.

In this program we meet Ali Cobby Eckermann, an emerging writer whose life has been shaped by her journey to reconnect with her Aboriginal family. As well as writing and performing her poetry at festivals across the country, Ali's just completed her first novel Too Afraid To Cry after a mentorship offered through the Australian Society of Authors. Ali reads some of her work and talks about her personal odyssey - through being adopted out herself to being compelled to give her up own child years later, to reuniting with her Aboriginal mother and her son, Johnny.

The migratory water birds that once flocked thousands of kilometres to the Narran Lakes have returned and so has the Aboriginal community after recent heavy rains across north-western New South Wales and upstream in Queensland. Nick McClean takes us back to Gamilaroi/Yuwaalaraay country to see how the Lake is coming back to life. Also, we bring you a tribute to the playwright Jack Davis and the curator Djon Mundine reads another of his essays, about an exhibition of digital art.

His debut solo album has recently been described as the most beautiful recording ever made by an Aboriginal musician. Intensely shy and blind since birth, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is an extraordinary talent who speaks through his music. In this program, Gurrumul performs two songs in his Yolgnu Matha language. You'll also hear tracks recorded live during one of Gurrumul's first concerts as a solo artist. Please note that due to copyright restrictions this program is not available as a podcast. Download Video of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu performing

Frontier stories from Queensland's Gulf country to the Kimberley - Alexis Wright reads from her Miles Franklin Award-winning novel Carpentaria and Ningali Lawford-Wolf talks about the new play which recreates the life of Jandamarra, a legendary hero of the Bunuba people of the Fitzroy River valley.

The Tepehua Indians live in three states, Hidalgo, Puebla and Veracruz. The town of Huehuetla hidalgo is the subject of this video documenting many of the characters of the Carnival (matri gras) which is a celebration before the beginning of Lent. There is a social order among the dead (dancers), The Comanche , the Huehues, Diablos, Coludos, Tisnados . The festival takes place in two parts, what you see here is the second half of the festival which lasts three days culminating a fire dance.

When the then Prime Minister Paul Keating gave the historic Redfern speech on December 10, 1992 he challenged the nation to confront its past - and to open its heart. We reflect on the speech in its context, and now, 15 years later.

Today, we go to Maningrida - one of the 73 communities in the Northern Territory now under Federal Government control. Maningrida is on the north central coast of Arnhem Land, 500 kilometres east of Darwin. The people of Maningrida are still coming to terms with how their lives will change under the emergency provisions of the intervention, which include the abolition of the permit system and CDEP, a major employer. They've launched a High Court challenge arguing that the Commonwealth's emergency legislation is unconstitutional. If the test case succeeds, it will force the Commonwealth to wind back the emergency intervention throughout the Northern Territory.

The first Aboriginal female Cabinet minister in an Australian Government, Marion Scrymgour says the Commonwealth has no moral authority to intervene in the lives of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory; that the intervention itself is a fraud and that the Australian media has swallowed the lie. Marion Scrymgour is the Minister for Natural Resources Environment and the Arts in the Northern Territory Labor Government. Her portfolio responsibilities also include Heritage, Museums, Parks and Wildlife, as well as Women´s Policy, Young Territorians and Senior Territorians. A woman of Tiwi Islands heritage, Marion was born in Darwin in 1960. Her mother was born and raised on the Tiwi Islands. Her father was removed from Central Australia as an infant. Through her mother, Marion has inherited Tiwi identity and the obligations of membership of the Miyartuwi skin group. In this lecture, she questions the Commonwealth's moral authority to undertake the intervention, condemning its motivations and operations. Marion Scrymgour MLA delivers the 2007 Charles Perkins Memorial Oration.

Patrick Dodson delivers the annual lecture for the Centre for Dialogue of La Trobe University - proposing a new way forward for reconciliation. In this lecture, he calls for a national conversation which would lead Australia into true nationhood. He says this dialogue should draw on the reservoir of goodwill he experienced from the millions of Australians he met during his term as chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. Patrick Dodson also says we need "bold and imaginative" political leadership to achieve this national transformation.

On AWAYE! we check in with Wayne Blair who, in Australian theatre and film circles, is regarded one of our best 'multi-skilled' practitioners. Wayne is currently in charge of a gritty production at Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre. 'Jesus Hopped The "A" Train' is set in the lock down section of the tough Riker's Island Prison, New York. Wayne Blair has not only directed this production of Stephen Adly Guirgis' play - he's also the co-lead as inmate and serial killer, Lucius Jenkins. The drama of 'Jesus Hopped The "A" Train' centres on exchanges between Lucius - a fervent born-again believer - and Angel who's in jail because he shot the leader of a cult who'd co-opted his mate. Things turn even more serious for Angel when the injured man dies because of complications after surgery. 'Jesus Hopped The "A" Train' is not a play for people looking for simple answers. It is in itself an 'internal' debate'. Matters under discussion include choice, right and wrong and justice. There are excerpts from the play in this interview with Wayne Blair. BOB WILSON Singer/songwriter Bob Wilson is a Barkindji man. He was born in Wilcannia and raised in an old tin shack on the banks of the Darling River. Bob remembers being told stories by Elders around campfires and being frightened of the spirit of the mudlark. He shared bush tucker with his white friends at school but was barred from crossing the river to go shopping in town. Bob Wilson worked in the mining industry for many years before deciding he wanted to do something to help Indigenous people. He decided to use his skills in negotiating with employers to help them get jobs. This took him to Tasmania where he now works. As a child, Bob was inspired by the great Aboriginal opera singer Harold Blair who told him not to sing 'American' songs. A few years ago he released his first album called 'I Am What I Am'. Our first guest today, Wayne Blair, is related to Bob's hero. AWAYE's Paulette Whitten recorded Bob Wilson's story.