Exploring the relationship between Aboriginal people and their land, Walya Ngamardiki was inspired by Silas Roberts' submission to the 1976 Australian Government inquiry on uranium mining. Silas, whose tribal name is Ngourladi, is an elder of the Allawa clan and was the first chairman of the Northern Land Council, established to assist Aboriginal people make land claims based on traditional ownership. The film, which moves from Arnhem Land in the...

A rare additon to the study of Australian History. Made in 1972, this documentary records the events surrounding the establishment of the Aboriginal tent embassy on the lawns of Parliament House. It incorporates interviews with black activists, the work of the National Black Theatre, Aboriginal Legal Service and Aboriginal Medical Service, plus footage from the demonstrations and arrests at the embassy. This is the only film to focus on the tent...

One of the major works produced by the AIAS Film Unit, this documentary observes the profound effect on an Aboriginal community of political and bureaucratic decisions made far away. Although specific to time and place, the film is timeless and universal in its observations of a conflict between an Indigenous minority and a powerful government. The film presents an insiders view of events that followed an announcement made without warning on 13 March...

A Suquamish Indian chief describes his people's respect and love for the earth, and concern for its destruction.

Without narration, and without identification of individual speakers, the film provides an invaluable record of two events which occurred in the final week of January 1977, and which marked “a turning point in legal recognition of Aboriginal rights to land”. The film documents discussions among traditional owners and white officials and legal advisors, at a large gathering at Batchelor, 100km south of Darwin. The first event was the meeting of...

Mabo : Life of an Island Man is the story of a small island and an extraordinary man. Eddie Koiki Mabo was born on Murray Island in the Torres Strait, but lived most of his life in exile. Only after his death did the island wholeheartedly welcome him home. By then the island and Eddie, between them, had changed the legal and political landscape of Australia. On June 3rd 1992, six months after Eddie Mabo's tragic death, the High Court of Australia...

Discusses the settling of the area between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains and the conflicting interests of the different groups involved--the Indians, cowboys, farmers, sheepherders, and railroad barons.

Follows the Dutton family, led by John Dutton, who controls the largest contiguous ranch in the United States, under constant attack by those it borders--land developers, an Indian reservation, and America's first National Park. It is an intense study of a violent world far from media scrutiny--where land grabs make developers billions, and politicians are bought and sold by the world's largest oil and lumber corporations. Where drinking water poisoned...

The Duttons face a new set of challenges in the early 20th century, including the rise of Western expansion, Prohibition, and the Great Depression.