Hacker Cinema
First Australians
2008 · TV series · documentary · 60 min episodes · 1 season
Created by Rachel Perkins, Beck Cole
First Australians is an Australian historical documentary series produced by Blackfella Films over the course of six years, and first aired in October 2008. The documentary is part of a greater project that further consists of a hard-cover book, a community outreach program and a substantial website featuring over 200 mini-documentaries. The series chronicles the history of contemporary Australia, from the perspective of its first people, or Aborigines. The series is essentially a synthesis of well documented historical information. It relies heavily on archival documents and interpretations from historians and members of both the Indigenous and European community and leaders. The story begins in 1788 in Sydney, with the arrival of the First Fleet and ends in 1993 with Koiki Mabo's legal challenge to the foundation of Australia. The series comprises seven episodes in which it explores what unfolded when the oldest living culture in the world was confronted by the British Empire. It explores the lives of particular individuals and uses their stories as a vehicle to explain the larger situations of the time. It explains violent aspects of European settlement of Australia, such as killings, battles, wars, as well as acts of friendship and decency between the early European settlers and Indigenous Australians. Indigenous Australian history has until recently been clouded by the "great Australian silence" where ignorance of the real history of Australia can be seen as a way for non-Indigenous to hide shame for their own history. In this respect it has been controversial in that many of these stories have not been portrayed on Australian television before and the Indigenous Australian perspective of European settlement is confrontational for many.
3 neutralfrom 3 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
3 comments on Hacker News
> any Australian hearing the term would assume it's referring to the First Fleet
Nope.
I've been here for 60 years, my father's still kicking and he's been here since 1935, we're both agreed you're talking out of your rear end.
Some Australians might, most would not.
Your own documentary link disagrees with you and explicitly refers to the indigenous people as the First Australians
Furthermore why would a thoroughly American 72 year old journalist be using an "odd Canadianism" in The New York Times ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Lidz
> any Australian hearing the term would assume it's referring to the First Fleet [of English convicts] and there's even a well-known documentary that uses the name: https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/first-australians
But isn't that documentary using First Australians to refer to the Aboriginals, rather than those on the First Fleet:
> The 1788 arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney results in cautious friendships being formed between the First Australians and the British Empire. Yet within three years, relations sour as settlers spread out across the land.
Random sidenote: the article's use of "First Australians" for Aboriginal/Indigenous Australians is an odd Canadianism (cf. "First Nations"), any Australian hearing the term would assume it's referring to the First Fleet [of English convicts] and there's even a well-known documentary that uses the name: https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/first-australians