Past Programs
Religion and Beliefs - 2008
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2003
Up north: Gali Yalkirriwuy Gurruwiwi, Priscilla Collins and Turtle Dreaming
15/11/2008
Gali Yalkirriwuy Gurruwiwi has won the Kate Challis Award for a haunting series of morning star poles, which have deep spiritual meaning within Yolngu culture. Also in this program we hear why many people up north are disillusioned with the new Federal Government. And we present the first in a series of dreaming stories, 'The Turtle Dreaming' from Maningrida on the north coast of Arnhem Land.
- Watch Turtle Dreaming.
Ships Of The Desert
20/09/2008
Nazmeena Cummings grew up in an Afghan cameleer family in Central Australia. Her unique nomadic childhood, traveling with the Muslim cameleers, at the beginning of the twentieth century, is captured in this radio feature.
Her father, Fiad Mulladad, traveled with his extended family, delivering supplies to places beyond the train line. She describes a harsh but exotic lifestyle that revolved around the work, the camels and Muslim worship.
They managed up to 50 camels in one camel train, with the camel breeding season causing some problems. The families lived in what was called Ghantown, which was always on the edge of town. Male members of the community would go to the Mosque in Ghantown where they cooked spicy curries that were then distributed amongst the rest of the families.
She also remembers living and working with Aboriginal families, who were employed by the Afghan cameleers. Nazmeena's mother would assist at their births as the local white settlers would not assist the Aboriginal people with medical problems.
Nazmeena told her story to her grand nephew Adrian Shaw, who wrote:
"Ships of the Desert' is probably the most important radio documentary that I will ever produce because it's about my family history. It was a privilege to be able to tell this wonderful story about how the camels and Afghans helped build this country, delivering fences, wool bails and food to people in the bush"
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.
