Perth Voice Interactive

FREMANTLE will play host to an Aboriginal film festival over the Australia Day weekend, addressing Australia’s painful history of colonisation and the resilience of First Nations people dealing with its consequences.

Hosted as part of the City of Fremantle’s Truth Telling Program, the event will feature a series of First Nations films and documentaries over two days. 

Films include Dhakiyarr Vs The King, Whispering in Our Hearts, Wee War, and The Skin of Others, and music from the Kiwirrkurra Band will also be featured. 

Notable director Tom Murray, who directed Dhakiyarr Vs the King and The Skin of Others, will be speaking as part of a panel hosted by Ron Bradfield Jnr. 

As a non-Indigenous Australian, Mr Murray says film and documentary are an “immediate media” with which to “address the truth deficit” of Australian history and its ramifications. 

“My personal view is that the challenge of truth telling in Australian history is one that requires as many people as possible to put their shoulder to the wheel of understanding and appreciation [of First Nations culture and colonisation],” Mr Murray said. 

“The predominant view that was expressed [to non-Indigenous Australians] was that Australia was peacefully settled, when it wasn’t…the ramifications of those myths and factual inaccuracies have bene further devastating to Aboriginal people as they seek to live in a new Australia.” 

“As a white fella, I feel that it’s part of my duty as a person interested in history, and as a person who has spent a lot of time researching, to do my part to address the fundamental mistruths of Australian historical storytelling.” 

 City of Fremantle senior Aboriginal engagement officer Brendan Moore says Focus will be an opportunity to for non-Aboriginal people to understand why January 26 is a “hurtful” date to celebrate Australia, and to learn about some of the negative effects of the colonisation that began on that date. 

“When Australia 26 was chosen to celebrate Australia, it excluded how Aboriginal people feel about it, because many of us view it as Invasion Day, because that’s exactly what it was,” Mr Moore said. 

“It creates a really hard time in the psyche of Aboriginal people, because if you dwell on it, it can feel as if we don’t really matter in this country.” 

Mr Moore says Focus, and the City’s refusal to celebrate Australia Day, is “not about blaming” non-Indigenous people for the pain and suffering of Aboriginal people after European colonisation. 

“We don’t want non-Aboriginal people to feel threatened or shamed,” he said. 

“People are busy, and one of the best ways to engage people is entertain them and at the same time provide [the truth] about Australia’s true history. 

“You don’t necessarily want to be sitting down to a lecture, and watching a documentary or film is a good way for people to come and relax and enjoy the films while learning relevant facts about the history of the country that they live in.” 

Focus will be held over the Australia Day long weekend, January 25 and 26 at the Fremantle Arts Centre. 

Tickets are free. For more info see the Fremantle Arts Centre website.

by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER