Save the Kimberley recently informed us about
OLD COUNTRY NEW COUNTRY
-The Journey of a Raft
This is the poignant and politically powerful story of Bardi Elder Roy Wiggan passing on to his nephew Albert the traditional aboriginal craft of raft-making. In the process, they travel from their country – the rugged and ancient beauty of the Kimberley region, one of the few remaining wildernesses on the planet — to the once pristine, now industrialised Pilbara to the south.
As Roy instructs Albert in Bardi raft-building, the land of their people is being destroyed by mining developments. To the Bardi people, “country” is not real estate to be bought and sold. It is the essence of their aboriginal being. But, now, Roy and Albert believe that mining “will ‘destroy our lifestyle, our culture.”
Roy and Albert’s dialogue in this beautifully-shot piece revolves around not just raft building, but their thoughts on the destructive impact of “new country” industrialisation on their “old country.”
‘Our job was to look after this country. Our job was to respect this land. It’s in our dreaming. It’s in our songs passed on for thousands of years. Now they want to take it all away — the last bit of Australia: The Kimberleys,’ Albert Wiggan says.
According to George Negus, the program’s presenter and Co-Executive Producer with Kirsty Cockburn, the story highlights two countries, two Australias – “theirs and ours that we call progress.”
“This short-film asks: Do these people stay with the old ways and continue their traditional lifestyle and culture? Or do they take the new ways and give up the very thing by which they define themselves ?” he asks.
Click here to preview a short trailer of the SBS documentary Old Country, New Country
‘There aren’t many traditional elders still around today unfortunately, especially ones who are willing to speak on camera, so this film is really special …’ Missy Higgins, May 2009.
Click here to familiarise yourself with James Price Point and see pristine coastline we are trying to save.
