- by C Bartholomew
- The Guardian
- Issue #2139
Australia: An Unofficial History is an uncomfortable watch in an important way. This may seem odd for a documentary series which presents itself as a fun, but insightful glimpse into the seventies through archived footage from the Commonwealth Film Unit (later renamed Film Australia). A lot of SBS’ own promotion for the series focused on narrator and host Jacki Weaver. However, it’s the series’ promise to make audiences question the creation of the Australian identity which makes it truly worth a watch.
WARNING
Anyone who doesn’t care for Jacki Weaver, be warned. There’s a lot of her in this series. Also frustrating is the supposedly candid, behind-the-scenes approach to the way it handles Weaver and the various guest commentators, which I found tiresome. You have probably seen this sort of thing before: shots of the set, little left-in moments of film crew directions, or off-script comments here and there. This was a rather lazy and obvious attempt at approachability. Perhaps the style was chosen to relate to the documentary’s focus on filmmaking. It’s annoying, but doesn’t take away from the show’s strengths.
COMPETING IMAGES
The first episode introduces us to the Commonwealth Film Unit and their mission to advertise Australia to the world, which typically meant films of white Australians on the beach. The documentary then takes us through the many voices of the seventies who challenged this official image carefully constructed by more than two decades of conservative rule. For example, the fight for women’s liberation reached new heights. While the Film Unit targeted foreign women with ads for exciting prospects like casserole dishes and bedsheets, Australian women were taking to the street to demand action on abortion rights, domestic violence, equal pay, and other issues still relevant today.
On the topic of queer rights, we get a taste of what the series does really well. The documentary positions its main topics of women’s liberation, queer liberation, Indigenous rights, and migrant rights as interconnected struggles with shared critiques of Australian society. The series also does a solid job of interweaving the films of these movements with events in political history. For instance, when discussing an Ian Dunlop film produced alongside the Yolgnu people, the documentary connects the film to the courtroom battle of the Yolgnu against exploitation by mining companies.
STRUGGLES TO BE HEARD
The Whitlam government and an increasingly radical and experimental Film Unit, now focused on local audiences, become the main topics for later episodes. The documentary discusses the emergence of silenced voices like queer filmmakers who asserted their identities while navigating a society that was in many ways actively hostile. One of the women featured in these films talks about using a pseudonym and only daring to hold hands with another woman while the crew was present to avoid assault. Later on, we’re shown young men boasting about going on “poofter bashing” trips.
A similar story is presented in films featuring migrants, who contradict the government’s projected image of Australia as a land of opportunity. Films about the first Indigenous voice to parliament, the National Aborigines Consultative Committee, present a powerful example of community strength. These films, ignored in the recent referendum, also show the political establishment disregarding Indigenous voices and suppressing protesters, exposing the limits of even the progressive Whitlam government.
The final episode opens with films made by women calling attention to post-natal depression, domestic violence, and other issues not meant to be talked about in a society which demands women perform the role of social reproduction. These feminist film projects also showed the extent society was willing to go to keep women in line, with confronting images of wives and mothers doped up on Valium.
FINAL VERDICT
It’s sad to see how many of the films featured in Australia: An Unofficial History would still be considered radical today. On the other hand, it can be a source of strength for those of us fighting for a better Australia to be able to draw from this history. What this documentary shows is that Australia has always had a habit of trying to construct an official image for itself, usually within a culture of wilful forgetfulness. I would have liked to see some of the series’ analysis go deeper (shows such as these could always use a bit more Marxism), but I was pleasantly surprised by what I got. As an opportunity to take a closer look at how exactly the image of Australian identity gets made, I would say Australia: An Unofficial History is one worth taking.
