Past Programs
Environment - 2008
Nana Lena Cavanagh: 'what a life it's been'
07/06/2008
Nana Lena Cavanagh is a senior Arrernte woman from the Central Desert community of Santa Teresa, south-east of Alice Springs. No one knows for sure how old Nana Lena is, but she remembers a vanished way of life.
When the former Catholic mission was overtaken by alcohol and violence, Nana Lena set up a womens committee. Despite her great age, she is a strong and active member of her community. Not only that, she once collared the former Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough.
Another stop on our series of Postcards from the Road, Santa Teresa is better known by its Arrernte language name - Ltyentye Apurte* or "little flower".
Also in this program, we remember the victims of the Myall Creek massacre.
And we hear about an exhibition dedicated to the world's largest freshwater fish, the Murray cod.
*[pronounced JIN-juh PAW-tuh]
Return to the Narran Lakes
10/05/2008
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.
'We can never have enough stories': a conversation with Sally Morgan
03/05/2008
It's been more than 20 years since Sally Morgan wrote My Place, a memoir of her search for identity. It was an unexpected hit with the Australian public and is now even a prescribed text in schools.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Sally Morgan speaks about a new anthology she's edited, Heartsick for Country, the protection of rock art sites in the Pilbara threatened by mining and her personal journey since My Place was first published.
Rivers, lakes and plains
09/02/2008
This week, we travel to the Narran Lakes in north-western New South Wales, one of Australia's most threatened freshwater wetlands.
Nick McClean has been working with the traditional owners of the area since 2005, and today we join him for a journey to the Lakes, and a journey through the lives of the Murris who call it home.
And the irrepressible Lou Bennett talks about 'Show Us Ya Tiddas', a theatrical version of her life story.
Fear of a Black Planet - part 2
12/01/2008
In part two of 'Fear of a Black Planet', Tony Collins weighs up the economic prospects for a future north Australia.
While demographers predict a sharp increase in the Aboriginal population in the north over the next fifty years, economists point to a distinct lack of jobs and education in the growing black townships.
This program was first broadcast on February 10 2007
