Strangers in Paradise

Clip 1: ‘The white man’s here, he’s here to stay’

Taken from the documentary Strangers in Paradise (1989)

Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be G

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

As the tourists sit in their hotel room and watch a broadcast of the re-enactment of white settlement on television, they give their responses to what they are seeing. The most vocal of these is American Paul Crank who says that the white settlers have had it tough and ‘almost didn’t make it’.

The next morning is Australia Day and the group gathers downstairs for breakfast. At the table they discuss what the day might mean for Aboriginals who have called for a day of mourning. Again, it is Paul who speaks, voicing his belief that the ‘country was not as great as it is today’, 200 years later.

We then cut to a group of young people, tinnies in hand, singing ‘Botany Bay’.

Curator’s notes

This clip gives a glimpse of the tour group’s preconceived notions of Australia and its Indigenous population. Paul’s view of Aboriginal culture and history is based on his understanding of his own settler history in the United States. Later in the film he laments the Aboriginals’ ‘pathetic’ way of life and his wife, Carolyn, agrees. The undercurrents of his thinking are based on a Darwinian theory of natural selection where the Aboriginals, a ‘vanishing race’, are inferior to the white man.

Zubrycki’s cut at the end of this clip to a bunch of young people, apparently after a few drinks, singing the ballad ‘Botany Bay’ is a cheeky one, which calls into question Paul’s theories about superiority and progress.

Lauren Williams, curator

Teachers’ notes

provided by The Le@rning Federation

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This clip shows the response of US tourists to events during Australia’s bicentennial celebrations in 1988 in Sydney. Shots of a television Australia Day spectacular that they are viewing in their hotel room are accompanied by their commentary on Australian culture and history. Visuals show them at breakfast the following morning when they reflect on aspects of the celebrations including the response of Indigenous Australians. The final image is of a group of young Australians singing in the street, beer cans in hand.

Educational value points

The clip illustrates an ethnocentric approach to intercultural understanding by the male US tourist explaining Australian culture by relating it to his own experience and knowledge of his own cultural history. Thus Indigenous Australians are ‘like American Indians’ and the tough beginnings of the first settlers in the USA are likened to the experiences of Australia’s early colonists. This viewpoint shows little awareness of cultural differences.

A more empathetic approach to intercultural understanding is revealed in the comments of the female US tourist as she attempts to put herself in the shoes of Indigenous Australians to gain a different perspective on the event being celebrated at the time of her visit to Australia. She is aware that since she has not met any Aboriginal people any view she forms may be flawed. Her more open response indicates an acknowledgement of cultural complexity.

The clip provides an example of the way careful editing can convey a persuasive message. The male tourist advances the argument that the 200 years of white settlement have ‘made a difference’. His intimation is that the difference has been a great improvement. Immediately the film cuts to the young drunken Australians, beer cans in hand, celebrating in the street. The question of what 200 years of progress have amounted to may be raised in the viewer’s mind.

The filmmaker tells the visitors that ‘Mourn, don’t celebrate’ is the motto adopted by many Indigenous Australians in response to the bicentennial celebrations, and this presents a reminder to the viewer that for a significant proportion of Indigenous and for some non-Indigenous Australians the bicentenary commemorated an invasion, not colonisation. This perspective is rejected by the US man but stimulates a more reflective response from the woman.

The clip invites the Australian viewer to consider what represents Australia by observing the tourists’ attempts to understand and interpret their experiences. The tourists view television images of early colonisation and the First Fleet. Then, at breakfast the next day, aspects of contemporary Australia discussed by the visitors include men wearing shorts, Australia’s national colours, Indigenous Australians and 200 years of white settlement.

The context for this film, Australia’s Bicentenary, helps explain the film’s preoccupations. Tom Zubrycki and Gel Scrine made their film of US and UK tourists on a ten-day tour of Australia, confronting Australian culture at a time when Australians were being encouraged to reflect on the achievements and meaning of 200 years of non-Indigenous history.