A new documentary which charts the story of Bruce Pascoe’s book ‘Dark Emu’ is available to watch for free on the ABC’s iView site now, directed by Allan Clarke for Blackfella Films.
The film, created almost ten years after the book came out in 2014, spotlights the text which is remembered as a moment in publishing which challenged Australia to rethink its history, sparked debate and had a great personal impact on readers and the author.
It’s been said that ‘Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the ‘hunter-gatherer’ tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession.’
Critics at the time praised the book, Marcia Langton for the Australian wrote “This is the most important book on Australia and should be read by every Australian.”
Check out Pascoe’s TED Talk in 2018 where he speaks on how he used Australian colonial journals as source material to share the nature of Aboriginal innovation and practices, including farming.