Subject Guide: First Nations Resources at the AFTRS Library

This film documents the efforts made through activism and theatre to bring the cause of indigenous people to public notice, as a first step towards gaining land rights and better treatment. Redfern became a thriving and vibrant melting pot of politics, art and creativity. This is Darlene's tribute to those pioneers who were at the coal-face to bring about change.

George Rrurrambu, legendary frontman of the Warumpi Band, made an extraordinary contribution to contemporary Indigenous music and awakened the Australian consciousness of a third world in its own back yard.

Jack Buckskin is the teacher of an endangered language. From the northern Adelaide suburb of Salisbury, Jack's mission is to teach the Kaurna language, the language of his ancestors, to as many people as he can in his lifetime. But this is not easy. The language was driven to near extinction over a century ago. Now, Jack and fellow language speakers are sculpting a new Kaurna language and culture, and through that seeking to bring a new way of being to the youth of suburban Adelaide, in the form of a new Aboriginal identity, and with that, hope.

More than 80 years after the brutal slaughter of 100 or more Aboriginal people in Central Australia, their descendants relate their story. Known as 'the last massacre', expeditions set out in 1928 to mow down innocent people across the traditional lands of the Warlpiri people and their neighbours to avenge the killing of dingo trapper Fred Brooks at the hands of a Warlpiri man, Bullfrog, for taking liberties with Brook's wife.

1942, Croker Island, Arafura Sea. As the Japanese bomb Australia's north, 95 Aboriginal children and their missionary carers make a remarkable journey to safety across the Australian continent. This 'little' party sets off on a journey that takes them from Croker Island through Arnhem Land to a Methodist farm at Otford on the edge of Sydney. They travel for 44 days covering 3,000 miles by foot, boat, canoe, truck and train. This is their story, in their own words: a truly heroic and untold journe

Palm Island was established as an Aboriginal settlement in 1918 and it soon became known as Punishment Island. Throughout its history the island has been plagued by controversy, most notably in 1999 when it was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the most violent place on earth outside of a combat zone.

The story of an Australian Aboriginal man who should be as famous as Ned Kelly. In 1894, Jandamarra led a rebellion against invading pastoralists in defence of his people's ancient land and culture. Until his death in brutal retribution, this formidable Bunuba warrior waged a 3 year guerrilla war, earning him both the admiration of his people and international notoriety.

Bringing to light the heartbreaking experiences of Rita Wright, Rita Wenberg, Violet West, Adelaide Wenberg and Valerie Linow, Servant or Slave is a film of courage, strength and the fortitude to pursue justice for the crimes committed against them after being stolen from their families, trained to be domestic servants and forced into indentured labour.

First Australians chronicles the birth of contemporary Australia as never told before, from the perspective of its first people. The series explores what unfolds when the oldest living culture in the world is overrun by the world's greatest empire. Over seven episodes, First Australians depicts the true stories of individuals - both black and white - caught in an epic drama of friendship, revenge, loss and victory in Australia's most transformative period of history.

"In 1972 Marlene Cummins fell in love with the leader of the Australian Black Panther Party. With the break up of that relationship, she spiralled into a cycle of addiction that left her on the streets. 40 years later Marlene travels to a gathering of international Black Panthers in New York. The journey takes her back in time, to her love affair, her time with the Panthers and the question of the place of women in the movement.

The Southern Cross has become much more than just the five stars we see in the night sky in this part of the world. The celestial body has been claimed by some as a symbol of Australian-ness thanks to its use on the national flag and following on as a popular tattoo, but its meaning to and significance for Indigenous people stretches back 100,000 years. Filmmaker Warwick Thornton, who controversially declared the Southern Cross was being used "like a swastika" in 2009, examines the importance of the star pattern as part of what it means to be a contemporary Australian for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

Proving age should be no barrier to learning to read and write, this documentary from writer/director Erica Glynn looks at the work of the Literacy for Life Foundation in regional Australia. The organisation is attempting to make inroads into the estimated 40 to 65 percent illiteracy rate among Indigenous adults. In My Own Words follows a 13-week course held in the tiny outback town of Brewarrina, NSW, as the students and their teachers – locals who have been given classroom training – learn together. It’s a slow and difficult process, but the determination of the participants to succeed make this an inspiring watch.

This film from director Tyson Mowarin highlights the battle undertaken by the people of Western Australias Pilbara region to protect the Burrup Peninsula. The sacred site, also known as Murujuga, is home to the worlds largest collection of rock art but is under threat from the mining industry. Connection to Country delves into the events that led to the current situation, and shows the deep bond the Indigenous people of the region have to the land and their efforts to preserve their culture for all Australians to enjoy.

The majority of Australians grew up with a very one-sided history of our nation. From white settlement to today, that account has mostly been viewed from a single perspective. Occupation Native sets out to change that. Using a range of approaches – some serious, some humorous – filmmaker Trisha Morton-Thomas adjusts the narrative to include the experience and history of Australia’s Indigenous community. There’s always more than one way to look at a story, and this documentary presents – without judgement – a perspective that’s been disregarded for too long.

Two Aboriginal rock bands, Us Mob and No Fixed Address, tour Australia meeting hostility and harassment from white authorities along the way.

A documentary about an Aboriginal man living in Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia that maps out his ancestors' spiritual connection to the land and his family's continuing custodianship of it

First Footprints takes us back to an Australia before Captain Cook. It is the untold story of the original pioneers of all humankind, a history that began in Australia 50,000 years before modern humans reached America and Europe.