Past Programs
Indigenous - Culture - 2008
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999
Ngarukuruwala - 'we sing songs together'
22/11/2008
A rare music collaboration brings together a group of culturally strong women from the Tiwi Islands off Darwin and a 6-piece jazz outfit from Sydney. Ngarukuruwala means 'we sing songs together' in the Tiwi language, and in this program we present a full concert recording from the Sydney Opera House. The Wangatunga Women's Group from Bathurst Island are the heart of this collaboration, and the jazz, blues and swing band led by Genevieve Campbell its musical backbone.
Patrick Dodson: peace warrior
08/11/2008
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.
Casting shadows
25/10/2008
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.
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.
Walking With Spirits Festival
27/09/2008
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.
The 25th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
23/08/2008
If the 25th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award is anything to go by, there's a flowering in the Western Desert and Arnhem Land. But the decision by a group of seven Aboriginal art centres to withdraw their artists from competition has struck at the heart of the awards, otherwise known as the Telstras. Has it affected the quality and scope of the work in the award, or has it missed the mark? We ask the judges and the curator of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, which hosts the Telstra.
'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]
The way of the goanna: mens stories
21/06/2008
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.
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.
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
12/04/2008
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
<em>Kalkadungu</em>
29/03/2008
A 23-minute piece scored for orchestra, electric guitar, solo voice and didjeridu, Kalkadungu is based on a song which the master didjeridu player William Barton wrote in his language when he was 15.
The song was inspired by his Kalkadungu country in north-western Queensland.
William Barton says the song itself is about the passing of Kalkadungu culture from one generation to the next.
He joins us to talk about the new composition, co-written with composer Matthew Hindson, which is being performed for the first time by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra next week.
Also we hear Also, the poet Yvette Holt reads from her newly-published anthology 'Anonymous Premonition'. And curator Djon Mundine ruminates out loud on the significance of water and waterways in contemporary Indigenous art.
Please note that due to copyright restrictions this program is not available as a downloadable MP3.
Frontier stories
16/02/2008
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.
Auriel Andrew live at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival
02/02/2008
Auriel Andrew has been described as "the sex kitten of Aboriginal country music". She even once performed for the Pope. Auriel talks about her early life spent in the outback to becoming the first Aboriginal woman to sing live on television.
We also hear about 'Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word', her unlikely collaboration with country and western cabaret performer Tina C, who Auriel describes as a cross between Dame Edna Everage and Mary G.
