Alyawarr elder, Banjo Morton forced the owners of the Lake Nash cattle station in the Northern Territory to pay him and other Aboriginal stockmen £1 a month when he led a walk-off from there in 1942.
Sixty-eight years later, Banjo has led another walk-off, this time from Ampilatwatja, a settlement in central Australia’s red desert country, where his people say they have been treated as outcasts and isolated from white man’s decision-making under the 2007 federal indigenous intervention. They are carving a new community from mulga scrub three kilometres from Ampilatwatja - just outside an area prescribed under the intervention - at a place called Honeymoon Bore, 350 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs. *
And I’m now following their story for a new feature documentary called “Banjo’s War”.
Working with photojournalist/filmmaker (and twice winner of the Provincial Press Photographer of the year Award for Northern Ireland) Rusty Stewart who has extensive experience working with remote Indigenous communities in Australia, we’ll be following the story of the Alyawarr People in their struggle to be heard by the Government. This is a powerful story. It’s a story of freedom, dignity, culture, history, human rights and about how our Government is trying to sweep Indigenous issues under the carpet.
Check out the 2 minute teaser trailer here.
I’m now looking for investors interested in helping to make this documentary a reality. If you’d like to know more, please email lara@thinkfilms.com.au for more information. “Banjo’s War” is an approved project under the Documentary Australia Foundation program, providing tax incentives for investors.
Photo courtesy of Rusty Stewart. Check out more photo’s from the Honeymoon Bore walk-off campsite here
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