Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
4 Episodes 1982 - 1982
Episode 1
This story brings its audience closest to the customs and culture of tribal Aborigines, and gives a fascinating insight into rituals and legends which has no previous screen counterpart. The lives of the Nyari people are completely disrupted when two convicts are washed up on the beach of their tribal lands. This initial encounter between the two peoples highlights the unique customs and culture of tribal Aborigines. They provide food and shelter to the convicts despite the possible threat to the tribe and the warnings of some of the tribe's elders. The Nyari people subsequently meet other white settlers who arrive with the intent of settling their land. The episode emphasizes the spiritual and ancestral value of land to the Nyari people, in sharp contrast to the importance of land as a source of wealth and power for the white settlers. In the end, the settlers annihilate the tribe and only Alinta remains with her child.
Episode 2
The story opens with the escape of Maydina and her half-caste daughter, Biri, from seal hunters who enslaved them. Their intent is to escape back to their traditional lands, but they quickly learn that these lands have been settled and their people have scattered. Without food or shelter, Maydina and Biri are ultimately delivered to a Christian mission run by a woman called Mrs McPhee. While Maydina is put into service at the mission, Mrs McPhee takes a special interest in Biri's religious education and separates her from her mother. Sickened by her existence at the mission, Maydina escapes with Biri and another Aboriginal man to re-establish a tribal way of life. Mrs McPhee dispatches troopers to return the escapees. They shoot the man and separate Maydina and Biri forever.
Episode 3
The story of Nerida Anderson is set in 1939 and references an event known as the Cumeroongunga Walkout. Nerida is a young and rebellious woman who returns to the government mission where her family lives, the Koomalah Aboriginal Reserve, after spending several years in the city. She is shocked by the conditions on the mission and attempts to motivate her people to improve them. The Aboriginal community first presents a petition to the governing body of the mission, the Aboriginal Protection Board, but when their plea is ignored Nerida decides drastic measures need to be taken. She convenes an illegal meeting to discuss collective actions that might be taken to improve the situation. The reserve manager retaliates by having Nerida and her family tried for treason. The court judges the charge to be inappropriate and questions why the issue has not been taken up by the Aboriginal Protection Board. While the charge is dropped, the manager continues in his post and life on the mission continues to get worse. Realizing that nothing will change through due process, Nerida motivates all Aborigines on the mission to 'walk-out' and establish independent lives.
Episode 4
Ann Cutler is the 18-year-old adopted daughter of middle-class parents in an Australian country town. She has been told that she is French-Polynesian and that there is no record of her birth parents beyond knowledge of their nationality. The truth is that she is born of her adoptive father, Doug Cutler, and an Aboriginal woman called Alice Wilson, who lives locally. A land dispute with the indigenous community where Alice lives brings her back in contact with Ann's father, who is responsible for representing the issue to the local government. Alice states her wish to be reunited with Ann, whose Aboriginal name is Lo-Arna, forcing Doug Cutler to reveal the truth to Ann. Ann's trusting relationship with her parents changes dramatically when the situation is explained to her. She feels conflicted and insecure, and attempts to resolve her emotional turmoil by establishing contact with Alice. Ann drives to Alice's home, but when she arrives there she finds the situation too confronting and turns to leave. Alice chases after Ann's car as she drives away. The film ends when Ann stops the car to finally meet her birth mother.