Airdate: The Great Australian Race Riot
Author Peter FitzSimons looks back on the country’s "forgotten race riots" for SBS ONE.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Programming
While other networks are heavily treading water over summer, SBS is making an early push with new local content.
Next Sunday it has not 1, not 2 but 3 new locally-produced premieres: two on SBS ONE (The Great Australian Race Riot / Prison Songs) and one (Danger 5) on SBS 2.
The Great Australian Race Riot is a three part series presented by author and columnist Peter FitzSimons, reliving the country’s “forgotten race riots.”
In his inimitable style, FitzSimons exposes heroes and villains on a journey that spans more than 170 years, and the breadth of the country. Along the way, he demonstrates how mobs of every ethnicity have transformed our nation.
FitzSimons sets out from the sands of Cronulla beach, site of Australia’s most notorious recent race riot, to quickly reveal that this riot was no aberration. He visits original riot locations retracing both the social context and the path each mob takes, be they Japanese, British, Timorese, Russians, Italians, Yugoslav, Iranian, or Indigenous Australians.
In this shocking, heartfelt, and at times humorous journey, FitzSimons shows that The Great Australian Race Riot is a consistently revealing window into who we are – and what kind of Australia we want to be.
Peter starts his surprising journey in colonial Australia, where old world hatreds, gold fever and migrant dreams make race riots critical to our quest for nationhood.
8:30pm Sunday on SBS ONE.
- Tagged with Danger 5, Prison Songs, The Great Australian Race Riot
6 Responses
Wracking my brain trying to remember that last time 7, 9 or 10 broadcast anything that made views think, or was confrontational in any way. Nope, never happened… although the commercial networks PR depts would say their content is “always fresh, new and (yawn) entertaining”.
Thank the Great Pumpkin for Aunty and SBS. Might also go some way to explaining another item in today’s blog about GOT being the most pirated program of 2014. Rocket Science 101 it is not.
GOT would be the most pirated show worldwide regardless of how good Aus commercial networks were or weren’t. People flock to it because it’s good, not because other offerings are bad.
Why am I now picturing colonial Alan Jones sitting at a Telegraph sending out typical Alan Jones type messages to other Telegraph users?
Cue faux outrage from Alan Jones and his ilk.
I watched a bit of a preview but had some concerns. Mr Jones gets a mention with reference to a colonial stirrer…. the Alan Jones of his time.
This sounds like interesting viewing.