
Vinnie (Kelton Pell) is sitting beneath a tree in the park, sketching from an old photograph. Franky (Bruce Hutchison) approaches him with a photo of his own. In the photograph are both their mothers, who it turns out, are sisters, and the two men cousins. Summary by Romaine Moreton
All of the elements of the eventual disclosure of Franky and Vinnie being cousins are present; the elder who knew both the parents and the grandparents (oral tradition), and the photograph that is evidence that the two men are related (textual tradition).
A drama about two Indigenous men – Frank (Bruce Hutchison) and Vinnie (Kelton Pell) – who seek revenge for the repeated beheading of the statue of their ancestor warrior Yagan.
Based on the short story of the same name written by Archie Weller, Confessions of a Headhunter is a film that speaks about the conflict between Indigenous people or Noongar of the Perth area, and colonial culture. The symbolic violence that is the artefact of an actual war that took place – and as the film suggests – is still taking place, is represented here by the Indigenous characters, who retaliate to the disrespect shown to their ancestor warrior Yagan, an important part of Noongar heritage and culture.
Yagan, a member of the Whadjuk Noongar people and believed to have been born around 1795, was a warrior who resisted the colonisation of Perth. The real Yagan’s head was smoked and sent to England as a trophy, where it was on display in Liverpool until 1964 as an 'anthropological curiosity’. In 1993 Yagan’s remains were repatriated, but remain unburied due to a disagreement between the Indigenous people of the Perth area over issues of proper burial.
Weller was inspired to write the short story after the statue of Yagan itself was beheaded twice. Sally Riley and Archie Weller’s adaptation won the script category of the 2001 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards, and was the winner of the Cinema Nova Award and the 2000 Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Short Fiction Film. Riley’s other films include Fly Peewee Fly, and In Search of Archie.
Other films in the AFC Indigenous Branch drama initiative On Wheels are Dust and Road (both 2000).
This program has also screened on NITV, National Indigenous Television.
Notes by Romaine Moreton
This clip shows an encounter between Vinnie (Kelton Pell) and Franky (Bruce Hutchison) in which the two men learn that they are cousins. Vinnie is sitting in a park with an Elder making a sketch from a black-and-white photograph when Franky approaches with a photograph of a group of Indigenous women. Franky says his foster parents gave him the photograph when he turned 18 years old and told him that the women were his family. Vinnie recognises his mother in the photograph and the Elder tells the men that Vinnie and Franky’s mothers were sisters. Vinnie warmly embraces Franky, calling him ‘Cuz’.
Educational value points
Notes by The Learning Federation and Education Services Australia
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.