Actor David Gulpilil talks about the treatment of Australia’s indigenous population in Another Country. Ramingining is an isolated indigenous community 500 kilometres east of Darwin, Australia. The area was once the centre of Yolngu culture, where the people lived a self-sufficient lifestyle in the bush. However, the Australian government came in and built the community, forcing the Yolngu to “live the white fella way.”
The mistreatment of indigenous people is a story that has been repeated in countless countries, including Canada. Australian indigenous actor David Gulpilil narrates with some level of perplexity about how the Australian government seems to act like they know more about Yolngu culture than they do. In the community of Ramingining, the people have nothing to do, except shop in the one general store in the area, with the Yolngu people not really having much of a future.
While David Gulpilil’s narration is somewhat on the monotonous side, Another Country is a quite informative film about the way the indigenous population of Australia is treated. Before government intervention, the Yolngu’s life was quite self-sufficient and now they have become dependent on this new culture that has invaded. Nothing can be done to change the culture back and it might end up taking generations for the Yolngu to move forward.
FAIR