Becoming Mullamar

Many significant Aboriginal community histories remain under-documented in Australian screen storytelling, particularly the leadership of Aboriginal women who established and sustained community institutions.

Kalaya Children’s Centre is a major example of Aboriginal community-led education and self-determination, yet the stories of the women who built it are not well known outside the local community.

At the same time, the opportunity to record this history directly is finite. Elders with first-hand knowledge of mission life, the establishment of Kalaya, and subsequent community leadership are now in their later years.

Without timely intervention, these stories risk being lost or only partially recorded.

Becoming Mullamar addresses this gap by documenting intergenerational cultural knowledge while it can still be shared directly, contributing to cultural preservation, truth-telling and greater public understanding of Aboriginal community leadership.

Becoming Mullamar will create a permanent cultural record of the Aboriginal women whose leadership helped establish and sustain Kalaya Children’s Centre, and the history which made it a revolutionary act.

By documenting Elders’ oral histories alongside contemporary artistic practice, the film connects past and present, demonstrating how cultural knowledge continues to evolve across generations.

The project is designed to deliver impact across three levels:

Community: returning the story to the families and communities it represents through screenings and cultural engagement.
Cultural preservation: recording intergenerational knowledge at a moment that cannot be recreated later.
Public awareness: increasing understanding of Aboriginal community-led education, cultural leadership and resilience.

Through festival, educational and community distribution, the film will ensure these stories remain accessible and relevant beyond the life of the production.

At a community level, Becoming Mullamar will support Aboriginal families connected to Kalaya Children’s Centre and the Port Adelaide and Point Pearce communities to preserve and access their histories in a culturally appropriate way, strengthening intergenerational knowledge transfer.

At an individual level, the project will create opportunities for Elders to have their stories recorded and preserved, while supporting First Nations artists and creatives through paid roles, including key creative positions such as Caleena Sansbury and the film’s director.

At a broader level, the film contributes to cultural preservation and truth-telling by documenting an underrepresented history of Aboriginal women’s leadership and self-determination.

Through festival, educational and community screenings, Becoming Mullamar will increase visibility of First Nations stories and create an engaging, visually compelling work that reaches a wide and diverse audience.

The project has been developed in close collaboration with the families and community connected to Kalaya Children’s Centre.

The filmmaking team previously produced the short documentary 50 Years of Kalaya, which documented the history of the centre and received the Local Hero Award and Audience Choice Award at the Australian Film Diversity & Inclusion Foundation (AFDIF) Festival. That project established strong relationships with Elders, including Aunty Joan Lamont-Williams (Aunty Mary’s daughter), and other Williams family descendants, Kalaya educators and families connected to Kalaya.

Caleena Sansbury, the film’s central subject and creative lead, is the great-granddaughter of Aunty Mary Edith Williams-Cooper and has longstanding relationships within both the Port Adelaide and Point Pearce communities.

These relationships provide the project with trusted access to family histories, community knowledge and cultural guidance.

The film will encourage audiences to:

– engage with and learn about Aboriginal community institutions such as Kalaya Children’s Centre
– support First Nations storytelling and cultural leadership
– participate in community screenings and cultural discussions about the history and legacy of Aboriginal education initiatives.

Educational screenings and discussions will invite audiences to reflect on the role of community-led institutions in shaping cultural identity and resilience.