Descendants

“We don’t need reconciliation, we need a reckoning.”
— Teela Reid, Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman

As a settler-colonial society, Australia has a long way to go in healing from its violent history. Since the invasion of 1788, there has been a long process of erasure of Aboriginal people, their voices, experiences and needs. Following strong political activism in the 1970s, the “Great Australian Silence” shifted, and narratives of Indigenous resistance, survival and experience began to enter the broader public consciousness. More recently, the national push for “Reconciliation” and Constitutional Recognition for an Indigenous Voice has further divided the nation, with a large majority of Australians voting “no” and many Aboriginal people resisting this in favour of justice, treaty and truth telling.

Descendants attempts to reach across these divides, bringing together “both sides” of this ongoing national struggle. Instead of perpetuating opposing black or white versions of history, we are delving into the generative space of “shared history”; a way that we can face the truth of our past and how it lives in people.

Descendants will transform the way that Australians view their history and its relationship to the present. Many people understand the Frontier Wars as a distant past but do not recognise the ongoing trauma this violence has created in people and in our national psyche. The issues of Frontier Wars and colonialism are often represented as an Indigenous issue and therefore neither the concern nor responsibility of white or non-Indigenous Australians — this disregards the truths of our history.

To challenge this, we are creating a feature documentary that activates conversations and reaches across divides to forge new connections in communities across the country. Responding to a great need for local, place-based interventions, community screenings of Descendants will encourage deeper engagement and ownership of our shared history to focus on societal healing. None of us can heal, as individuals or a community, in a society that is unhealed.

SHORT TERM
Proof of concept: Film a time critical narrative of Gunditjmara Elder Uncle Jim Berg and Suzannah Henty, descended from the oldest pioneering family in the state of Victoria. Documenting Uncle Jim and Suzannah’s stories enables us to capture each individual’s narrative and take them on a journey of coming together on Country to confront the other side of their history. This will provide us with a screener for potential funders to support us in securing the capital needed for generating the feature documentary.

LONG TERM
Impact Campaign Delivery: Community screenings of Descendants will be held across the country, in a range of metro and regional locations. These public events are designed to create safe spaces for critical conversations about or shared history and a just future for all. The potential outcomes from these interventions are significant, opening up the space for truth telling, relationship building, social justice, healing and social cohesion.

Since 2021, we have been forging a partnership with and gaining support from DocSociety. We are in the process of initiating a range of partnerships with relevant organisations and institutions including First Peoples organisations concerned with social and emotional wellbeing, healing and mental health. This is key for building our trauma-informed approach and ensuring the cultural safety of our storytellers. As we develop, we have a range of other peak bodies across education, history and culture – intersecting around healing – that we wish to develop relationships with.

We believe that truth-telling is a highly accessible and inclusive process. Our calls to action will strategically direct viewers to engage in various levels of both personal and societal changemaking to ensure there are lasting cultural effects that can influence structural change. These will include:

— Get to know your Elders, the voices of Country and our living archives
— Unlock the truths of your personal history, cultural identity and connection to place
— Seek out trauma informed support to help you navigate these new understandings
— Apply pressure on local councils to include Aboriginal perspectives on historical memorials or representations of frontier wars
— Support the creation of remembrance ceremonies such as those held annually at the Myall Creek Massacre site in New South Wales

As our impact campaign strategy is developed, we will build on these calls to action and design our community engagement plan.