GREENSKIN ~ Warrior Traditions in Defence of Country
2019 - 2027
‘GREENSKIN - Warrior Traditions in Defence of Country’, focuses on a special yet largely untold moment in Australian social history. Adopting a hybrid observational-poetic mode of ethnographic filmmaking, the project will trace and re-map the journeys, adventures and clandestine activities of the miriŋu (Yolŋu warriors) from the once Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit (NTSRU). Established in 1942, when Australia was under imminent threat of attack from the Japanese Imperial Army, the NTSRU was a special force of Yolŋu men trained by anthropologist Donald Thomson to defend the North Australian coastline. Led by Thomson and Rraywalla Mildjiŋi on behalf of the Australian Army, this unique force was organised along clan principles and guided by miriŋu tradition. Altogether, the NTSRU recruited 51 Yolŋu men organised according to clan structures. Their service was only made possible by conducting a culturally and historically significant ceremony (makarraṯa), which brought together previously warring groups to make peace with each other and defend the country as a unified group.
ŊAMBI, 2017
Ŋambi is part of the sacred law of the Wägilak people and is found in their home country called Ŋilipitji. Ŋambi was necessary for the Yolŋu economy and a valuable trade item spread across the land. The Djuŋgaya (managers) were experts at handling Ŋambi. They would sing the correct songs to help the stone split cleanly without shards injuring the craftsman. It was used to make very effective spears for hunting, and the shards were used in initiation ceremonies. Roy Wuyŋumbi Ashley shares an all-encompassing story of identity, culture and law.
2018 winner of ‘Best Documentary Award’.
First Nations Media Awards, Sydney, Australia.
Waṯa Burrmalala, 2016
The film shares Yolŋu and non-indigenous world views about this incredible phenomenon. The film pays tribute to the ancient knowledge of an ongoing culture that has lived with cyclones forever. A celebration of the community resilience shown through Cyclones Lam and Nathan in 2015. Excerpts of the film are featured in the National Museum of Australia Great Southern Land Exhibition collection, Canberra.
