First Australians replay

Not often it’s worth mentioning a replay series, but SBS ONE will repeat the awarded documentary series First Australians.

No doubt there are many who have heard about the series since it aired in 2008. Six years in the making, produced by leading Aboriginal filmmakers, the series chronicles the birth of a country and the collision of two worlds.

The story begins in 1788 in Sydney, with the friendship between an Englishmen (Governor Phillip) and a warrior (Bennelong) and ends in 1993 with Koiki Mabo’s legal challenge to the foundation of Australia. First Australians chronicles the collision of two worlds and the genesis of a new nation.

Beautifully filmed, the series blends landscape, art, interviews and first-hand accounts with a vast archival collection to present the birth of contemporary Australia as never seen before, from the perspective of its first people – the first Australians.

Part 1 They Have Come to Stay – Sydney & New South Wales (1788-1824)
Director: Rachel Perkins

The first Australians and the British, the most powerful Empire in history, come face to face in Sydney on January 26, 1788. Their differences are immense but apprehension quickly turns to curiosity.

Friendships form, some between powerful men such as Governor Arthur Phillip and the Aboriginal Bennelong. But by the time this pair leave for London three years later, relations between the two races have soured. The bloodshed worsens as settlers spread out across the land.

It begins again 9:30pm Sunday April 18th on SBS ONE.