First Australians

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The landmark television series First Australians explores the history of Australia from an Indigenous perspective.

In seven one-hour episodes, it explores what happens when the oldest living culture in the world is overrun by the world’s greatest empire. The series begins in 1788 in Sydney with the arrival of the First Fleet, and ends in 1993 with Eddie Koiki Mabo’s legal challenge to the white settlement of Australia.

Produced by Rachel Perkins and Darren Dale of Blackfella Films, First Australians tells the Australian story from a contemporary Indigenous point of view. It brings to light some of the violent aspects of European settlement of Australia as well as acts of friendship and decency between the early European settlers and Indigenous Australians.

WARNING: this collection contains names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Orange night sky with the silhouettes of people against it

First Australians: They Have Come to Stay - Life before contact, Episode 1

Narrator Rachel Perkins re-tells stories from the Dreamtime and historian Professor Marcia Langton of the Yiman-Bidjara Nation, historian Professor Janet McCalman and writer Bruce Pascoe of Boonwur

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
A painting of one of the tall ships 'Sirius' in the Harbour

First Australians: They Have Come to Stay - 'Can you imagine?', Episode 1

On 25 January 1788 the First Fleet enters Sydney Harbour.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Aboriginal woman Patyegarang

First Australians: They Have Come to Stay - 'A genuine relationship', Episode 1

Narrator Rachel Perkins and interviewees Emeritus Scholar Inga Clendinnen and Associate Professor James Kohen impart the story of a cross-cultural relationship between Lieutenant Dawes and Aborigin

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Aboriginal woman Truganini

First Australians: Her Will to Survive - 'It was the best thing to do', Episode 2

It is 1830 and European settlement has begun in Tasmania.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Image of Charles Darwin wearing a hat

First Australians: Her Will to Survive - A new science, Episode 2

This clip is set after Truganini and George Robinson have moved the remaining population of Indigenous Tasmanians to Flinders Island.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Water with land in the distance and a small package floating

First Australians: Her Will to Survive - 'The last Tasmanian', Episode 2

Narrator Rachel Perkins recounts Truganini’s concerns about her burial and the resting place of her body after her death.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Aboriginal man Simon Wonga

First Australians: Freedom For Our Lifetime - A compromise, Episode 3

Narrator Rachel Perkins gives the historical context to the lives and situation of this episode’s focus individuals – Simon Wonga and William Barak.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Image of an old map of Victoria showing the Aboriginal reserves

First Australians: Freedom For Our Lifetime - 'Soothing pillow for a dying race', Episode 3

 

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
An image of Aboriginal people on a reserve

First Australians: Freedom For Our Lifetime - A 'final solution', Episode 3

Historian Professor Marcia Langton of the Yiman-Bidjara Nation describes the Protection Board as the real enemy of Aboriginal people, particularly in relation to the Half-Caste Act dev

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Wide shot of Uluru with blue cloudy sky

First Australians: No Other Law - 'The Altyerra is their life and their law', Episode 4

Narrator Rachel Perkins tells the Dreamtime stories of the desert people in Central Australia.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Aboriginal man Tjalkabotta

First Australians: No Other Law - 'My father used to spear emus', Episode 4

The experience of Tjalkabotta seeing white people for the first time is told through interviews with author Peter Vallee and readings of diary excerpts.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
An old Aboriginal man

First Australians: No Other Law - 'He calls it the Dreamtime', Episode 4

Rachel Perkins, as narrator, and Max Stuart of the Arrernte Luritja Nation, explain the origin of the term ‘the Dreamtime’ and its importance in Arrernte life.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
A soldier with a gun stands over an Aboriginal man on the ground in chains

First Australians: Unhealthy Government Experiment - The killing times, Episode 5

Author Steve Kinnane of the Miriworng Nation sets the historical context of the clip.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
An Aboriginal child looking into camera holding a chain

First Australians: Unhealthy Government Experiment - 'No thought for the mothers', Episode 5

Sue Gordon AM of the Yamatji Nation describes her experience of being removed from her family and what is recorded in her file.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivering the apology to the Stolen Generations in parliament

First Australians: Unhealthy Government Experiment - Apology, Episode 5

Narrator Rachel Perkins sets the scene for the apology to the Stolen Generations given by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 13 February 2008.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Aboriginal man Doug Nicholls and an older Aboriginal man

First Australians: A Fair Deal for a Dark Race - Aborigines' Advancement League, Episode 6

Historians Professor Marcia Langton of the Yiman-Bidjara Nation and Professor Gordon Briscoe of the Maraduntjara Nation discuss the situation of Aboriginal people in south-east Australia in the 193

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
An Aboriginal soldier

First Australians: A Fair Deal for a Dark Race - 'A bullet doesn't know what colour you are', Episode 6

The Second World War interrupts the fight for Aboriginal rights and many Aboriginal men go to war.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Image of a poster with an Aboriginal child on it which reads 'Right wrongs write YES for Aborigines'

First Australians: A Fair Deal for a Dark Race - Vote YES for Aborigines, Episode 6

The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) has fought for the rights of Aboriginal people to be recognised in line with other civil rights movements

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Aboriginal man Eddie 'Koiki Mabo holding a child

First Australians: We Are No Longer Shadows - 'We'd have to start to get political', Episode 7

Narrator Rachael Perkins gives national and international political context to the times of Edward Koiki Mabo.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
People marching in protest for Aboriginal rights during the bicentennial

First Australians: We Are No Longer Shadows - Discriminatory legislation, Episode 7

Narrator Rachel Perkins and Father Frank Brennan explain legislation brought in by the Queensland government to quash Mabo’s land claim.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
A group of men smiling to camera, Eddie 'Koiki' Mabo in the centre

First Australians: We Are No Longer Shadows - 'Campaign of fear', Episode 7

Father Frank Brennan, Eddie’s daughter Gail Mabo of the Meriam and Manbarra Nations and Donald Whaleboat of the Meriam Nation, talk about Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo and the outcomes of the trial.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous culture
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