NAIDOC week: ABC / NITV

NITV and ABC both mark National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee Week with docos and specials this week.

NITV:
Between the 6-12 July, NITV will mark NAIDOC Week with an exciting schedule of specialised programing. In addition to bringing audiences the best of the Gold Coast celebrations in NITV News, the channel will kick-off its second series of the grassroots mini-documentary series, Our Stories, Our Way, Every Day, spotlight John Pilger with the Australian free-to-air premiere of The Secret Country: The First Australians Fight Back and question Indigenous identity in Awaken.

Our Stories, Our Way Every Day – Commences Monday 7 July – **New Documentary Series**

Our Stories, Our Way, Every Day is a landmark television initiative of mini documentaries – now in its second series, it is a digital songline about culture, history, elders and youth. The series is produced by Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander filmmakers and media organisations.

Monday 7 July at 6.30pm: Surviving – Stories of Belonging: Eugene Bargo
Finding his escape from the city bustle, a place on his mother’s country, Uncle Eugene Bargo grows a world of beauty around him. With a unique blend of western botanical and traditional bush knowledge and a love for country, Uncle Eugene shares his flowering bush beauties and encapsulated contentment with those who yearn for it in the city.

Tuesday 8 July at 9.00pm: The Secret Country: The First Australians Fight Back **Premiere**
The secret history of Australia is a historical conspiracy of silence. Written history has long applied selectivity to what it records, largely ignoring the shameful way that the Aborigines were, and continue to be, treated. Little of their resistance is recorded. John Pilger tells of their struggles as they were driven from their lands and he follows events throughout this century as they relate to Aboriginal rights.

Wednesday 9 July at 6.30pm: Our Footprint – Stories of Our Country by Our Elders: Barb’s World
Barbara Crismani is the daughter of Joseph Leslie Murray (1900-1975) who was boxing champ of South Australia in 1926 known as The Black Panther in the ring. Barbara has initiated searches for her father’s home country and community with the help of South Australia Link Up but given the lack of written records and child removal policies of those times, it is possible Barbara may never experience the profound home country cultural and familial embrace and resultant closure.

Wednesday 9 July at 8.00pm: Awaken Special – Identity **Current Affairs**
Award-winning journalist and Awaken host Stan Grant kicks off the new series with an Awaken Special – Identity. Filmed in front of a studio audience at the Sydney Opera House, Stan welcomes a guest panel to explore the emotive and at times divisive debate surrounding the question of Indigenous Identity. Panel includes: NSW Deputy Opposition Leader, Linda Burney, respected Aboriginal Elder, Rosalie Kunoth- Monks, Law academic and National NAIDOC Scholar of the Year for 2013, Dr Mark McMillan, researcher and lecturer at the University of Western Sydney, and Dr Anthony Dillon and writer at Defender of the Faith, postgraduate student and teaching assistant at the University of Sydney, Mykaela Saunders.

Thursday 10 July at 6.30pm: Around the Campfire – Stories from Our Communities: Maza’s Got Talent
Raised in the city and inspired to perform from a young age, Lisa Maza, a professional singer and actor heads north to the Maza family reunion in Innisfail, focusing initially on one particular night of entertainment that catches her eye, ‚Maza’s Got Talent‛. She delves further into the complexities of talent, family, environment and how history, skills and knowledge are passed down through the generations.

ABC TV:

The ABC is proud to support NAIDOC Week – Sunday July 6 to Sunday July 13 – and its celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture, history and people. The ABC encourages all Australians to get involved and help recognise the great contribution Indigenous Australians have made to the community.

ABC Managing Director Mark Scott said he hoped all Australians would join in.

“This is a great chance for all of us to recognise those contributions and the important milestones in Indigenous history including the 1967 referendum and the High Court Mabo decision,” Mr Scott said. “But much more than that, NAIDOC week is a chance for Australians to remind themselves of the richness of those cultures and the ABC is very proud to play a role in that.”

Art + Soul (Tuesday July 08, 8:30pm), where a diverse group of outstanding contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists reveal to pre-eminent curator Hetti Perkins how their art practice is driven by culture and heritage, political and personal preoccupations, dreams and imagination.

 The Redfern Story (Thursday July 10, 9:30pm), a look at the events leading up to the setting up of The National Black Theatre in Redfern in 1972 by a small group of untrained political activists, writers, dancers,  with Bob Maza at the helm.