Crossing Tracks - Wind: Hat

A moment in the film where the relationship between the Tracker and Boss is consolidated with the gift of the hat, which symbolises the status of the colonial forces, and concretises the affiliation of the Tracker with the police force, to be invested in the capturing of what are deemed Indigenous criminals or outlaws. The passing of the hat to the Tracker is symbolic of the passing on of the white man’s law, where the boss can trust that the Tracker will continue to uphold colonial morality, and subjugate Indigenous tribal laws. The Tracker in this sense inherits an alien law, or one that intends to annihilate the presence of Indigenous law.

Wind Synopsis

A short drama about the relationship between a black tracker and his 'boss’. They are tracking an Aboriginal man accused of murder.

Wind Curator's Notes

The story of a black tracker (Bradley Byquar) – an Indigenous man employed by white society to hunt and track fellow Indigenous people – who in the end is a man trapped between two cultures, his loyalties equally divided. Director Ivan Sen’s other films include Tears, Dust, Yellow Fella and Beneath Clouds for which he won the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for both Best Director and Best Cinematography.

Other films in the AFC Indigenous Branch drama initiative Crossing Tracks(1999) are Harry’s War and Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.

Notes by Romaine Moreton