Cronulla Riots: The Day That Shocked the Nation

SBS has launched its online documentary Cronulla Riots: The Day That Shocked the Nation, the 2005 news story that also featured in last night’s Once Upon a Time in Punchbowl.

This sixty-minute online documentary offers multimedia content using both traditional and new media and has been awarded with 3 AIMIA (Australian Interactive Media Industry Association) awards for ‘Best of Websites & Online Services – Cultural or Lifestyle’, ‘Best Video’ and ‘Best Use of Video.’

In this landmark build by the team that developed the 2013 Walkley Award-winning The Block: Stories of a Meeting Place, users can explore the riots in both a linear and tangential way, with the user’s choices creating an entirely personal viewing experience..

The spine of this interactive is a 60-minute documentary produced by Northern Pictures in association with SBS Online with the assistance of Screen Australia National Documentary Fund.

Divided into nine chapters, the documentary is told through the perspective of those who were there and serves as a springboard to explore the themes that fuelled the infamous Cronulla riots.

Both the riots and retaliation gained global notoriety, making local and international headlines. The documentary and multimedia content work together to investigate the simmering tensions between groups, which led to the racially motivated riot at Sydney’s Cronulla beach on December 11, 2005.

Some of the two hundred and twenty four pieces of original online content in Cronulla Riots -The Day That Shocked the Nation include exclusive interviews with key figures Rex Dupain, Bill Leak, Joe Hildebrand and Damien Murphy, and expert commentators including Professor Catharine Lumby, Professor Kevin Dunn, Professor Greg Noble, and Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas APM, Field Operations, NSW Police.

There are written testimonials from people affected by the events, academic and journalistic commentary, and five additional commissions by emerging writers sourced by Sweatshop Western Sydney Literacy Movement – young voices from Western Sydney.

The online content also incorporates curated photo galleries and news archives, as well as survey questions and findings from the Challenging Racism Project, where users are asked to participate in a survey with their answers compared to national results.

sbs.com.au/cronullariots/