Couldn't Be Fairer

Clip 3: Sacred tree

2 min 59 sec

Taken from the documentary Couldn't Be Fairer (1984)

Original title classification M – this clip chosen to be PG

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Availability of the complete title

Please be aware that this clip may contain the names, images and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may now be deceased.

Curator’s clip description

Historical footage of Gove mine. In the middle of the mine is a roped off tree, preserved ‘at great cost to the mine’ because it is sacred to the Aborigines.

Curator’s notes

The conviction with which miners and ordinary punters discuss issues such as land development, mining and Aboriginal rights to traditional land allows the viewer to glimpse the racial tension that occurs as a result of one culture (Western) invested in exploitation of the land for economical reasons, and an Indigenous culture that continually asserts that to be able to live on tribal land again would support them in a healthier lifestyle that includes Indigenous folk being allowed to practice cultural tradition once again.

Romaine Moreton, curator

australian screen