| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (25 min. 26 sec.) ; 152936857 bytes |
| Summary |
Footprints in the Sand is a story of love for family, country and culture. Geoffrey Stewart is a wiry, good-humoured Martu man born sixty years ago at an extremely remote location in the Gibson Desert, 600 km northeast of the town of Wiluna. It is over forty years since "Yullala", as Geoffrey is better known, has visited his birthplace. Footprints in the Sand tracks Yullala and members of his community back to that location. It is an emotional journey, whose significance lies not only in the length of time since visiting his birthplace but, also, in Yullala's particular parentage. He is the son of Warri and Yatungka.Warri and Yatungka eloped from a camp near Wiluna in the 1930s and lived as exiles in the desert for over forty years. Theirs was a love-match that was not permitted under Western Desert Aboriginal law. This law prescribes strict rules regarding who can marry whom, and harsh penalties for those who transgress. In 1977, the ageing couple was rescued from starvation and certain death at the climax of the worst drought to hit the region in the twentieth century. "Last of the nomads" stories became news headlines in media reports around the world. Warri and Yatungka died within the year as did the master bushman, Mudjon, their chief rescuer.Their rescue, and its aftermath, have always been problematic for the Aboriginal community of Wiluna. Rescue from what, from whom? The journey undertaken through the filming of Footprints in the Sand provided the opportunity for members of the community to heal old wounds and, for the first time, to tell the story from their own point of view.Footprints in the Sand mixes contemporary interviews with archive footage from 1977. Yullala leads us through his country with precision and dignity. His homecoming is a ceremonial event. Footprints in the Sand is a BlackRussian Productions film, in association with Screenwest and Lotterywest, with the assistance of the Film Finance Corporation Australia, and produced in association with SBS Independent. (Commissioned by SBSi, in Aboriginal and English, English subtitles) (Documentary) |
| Event |
Broadcast 2007-07-04 at 20:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: PG |
| Subject |
Aboriginal Australians -- Psychology.
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Birthplaces.
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Elopement.
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Mardu (Australian people)
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Law, Aboriginal Australian.
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Western Australia -- Gibson Desert.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Stasiuk, Glen, director
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Ngoombujarra, David, cast
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