Past Programs
History - 2008
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2003 | 2002
First Australians and Double Trouble
04/10/2008
On Australian television, until recently, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 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 film makers, actors and workers in the industry.
Awaye looks at two productions which are evidence of that change; The First Australians about to be shown on SBS and Channel Nine's new children's television drama Double Trouble.
Also well known Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu gives his perspective on Indigenous economic independence.
<em>Pecan Summer</em>
06/09/2008
The first ever mass strike by Aboriginal people, the walk-off at Cummeragunja mission station in 1939, has inspired the soprano and librettist Deborah Cheetham to write an opera, to be performed by an Aboriginal cast. Pecan Summer might be the Aboriginal version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, which the composer stipulated should only ever be performed by classically trained African-American singers, true to the story itself.
Freedom Ride
19/07/2008
In the summer of 1965, a group of Sydney University students led by a young Charles Perkins boarded a bus bound for far north western New South Wales. Their task? To draw national attention to the deeply entrenched racism and segregation that existed in towns like Moree and Walgett. ABC journalist John Cassidy joined the freedom riders as a reporter, embedded with them on the bus. He produced a fly-on-the-wall documentary which, at the time, the ABC declined to broadcast.
Produced by John Cassidy
'Our spirit becomes one'
05/07/2008
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]
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]
Kinship stories
31/05/2008
Kinship is defined as the biological and cultural relationships we inherit through birth. In Aboriginal culture, these bonds run deep - extending like rivulets across the continent. Ali Cobby Eckermann's life has been shaped by her journey to discover her Aboriginal family, while the late Ngarrindjeri senior woman Doreen Kartinyeri once described kinship as her life's passion.
In this program Ali Cobby Eckermann talks about finding her birth mother after more than 30 years - as well as her relationship with her son, who like herself, had been adopted out. Klynton Wanganeen remembers the life of his mother, Doreen Kartinyeri and Jennifer Martiniello reads her poem Birthing Cloth, about the kinship bonds between generations of Arrernte women.
My activist grandfather
05/04/2008
It was the first political organisation to represent the interests of Aboriginal people, but the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association has long been forgotten. Now, Professor John Maynard has produced For Liberty and Freedom, a history of the AAPA and its founder, Fred Maynard.
John Maynard joins us to talk about his activist grandfather.
Also, the writer Sharon Ennis muses about identity, self-loathing and internal racism. And we go to the opening of 'Lines in the Sand', an exhibition which features the work of Daniel Boyd.
<em>The Loner</em> revisited
23/02/2008
Vic Simms has been out of jail for a very long time - but until now, he's hardly ever revisited the songs he wrote as an inmate in the notoriously tough Bathurst jail.
We hear about a new season of the Deadly Award-winning theatre production 'The Dirty Mile', which explores the Aboriginal history of the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.
And we sit down with a highly-respected clan leader from Arnhem Land as she dyes and weaves pandanus to make baskets and dilly bags.
