Redfern Now Series 2 Portrays Contemporary Inner City Indigenous Life in and Around the Suburb of Redfern in Sydney, New South Wales
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SERIES 2, EPISODE 6 © ATOM 2013 A STUDY GUIDE BY KATY MARRINER http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN: 978-1-74295-390-8 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au Redfern Now Series 2 portrays contemporary inner city Indigenous life in and around the suburb of Redfern in Sydney, New South Wales. The series offers compelling stories of ordinary people dealing with the ups and downs that life brings. Redfern Now is a drama series written, directed and produced by Indigenous Australians. The series was developed in collaboration with UK screenwriter Jimmy McGovern and is produced by Blackfella Films’ Darren Dale and Miranda Dear, and presented by ABC TV and Screen Australia in association with Screen NSW. Now has relevance to units of work in CURRICULUM Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LINKS Studies, Australian History, Cultural Studies, English, Health and Human Redfern Now is suitable for second- Development, Literature, Media, ary students in Years 9–12. The Religion and Society, and Sociology. series offers stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples told by Teachers are advised to direct stu- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dents to complete activities that are peoples, allowing students to develop subject-relevant and age-appropriate. an awareness and appreciation of Indigenous storytelling and to see the issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres BLACKFELLA Strait Islanders from their perspective. FILMS Given its insight into the present expe- For twenty years, Blackfella Films has riences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait created innovative and high-quality Islander peoples, the series provides content across documentary and nar- opportunities for students to engage rative in both short and feature formats in discussions about Aboriginal and for theatrical, television and online plat- Torres Strait Islander identity and be- forms. Its award-winning productions longing and to examine the influences have screened at premier international of family, kinship, community, place, film festivals including Sundance, culture and mainstream Australian Berlin and Toronto, and distinguished society. its team as creators and curators of distinctive Australian content. In addition, the stories told by Redfern Now are those of ordinary people The company was founded in 1992 dealing with the extraordinary chal- by writer/director/producer Rachel lenges of ordinary existence. The Perkins who was joined by producer episodes explore universal themes Darren Dale in 2002. In 2010, former and issues of significance to any ABC Head of Fiction, Miranda Dear audience, regardless of their cultural joined Blackfella Films as producer on background. the company’s drama slate. For students in Years 9–10, Redfern The company’s credits include the Now has relevance to units of work in documentary series First Australians, the learning areas of English, Media the feature documentary The Tall and History, and addresses the Man (Tony Krawitz, 2011), the ABC cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal telemovie Mabo (Rachel Perkins, 2013 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION and Torres Strait Islander Histories 2012), the annual Indigenous film and Cultures. The series can also be festival Message Sticks (2002–2011) used to teach the general capabilities and Redfern Now Series 1. The series, of Intercultural Understanding and which went to air in November 2012, Ethical Behaviour. was the first Australian drama series written, directed and produced by For students in Years 11–12, Redfern Indigenous Australians. 2 SERIES KEY Most Outstanding Drama Series. Dale currently serves on the board of CREATIVES Screen NSW and the Council of the Visit Blackfella Films online at Jimmy McGovern – Australian Film, Television and Radio <http://blackfellafilms.com.au>. Story Producer School (AFTRS). Miranda Dear – Producer Episode Directors: Adrian Russell With his writing often based on real Wills, Rachel Perkins, Leah Purcell, events or socially vital issues, Liverpool- Producer Miranda Dear began her Beck Cole and Wayne Blair. born Jimmy McGovern has built a career with UK public broadcaster formidable reputation writing powerful Channel 4 Television. In 1997 she Episode Writers: Adrian Russell dramas for the stage and screen. Having moved to Australia as Acquisition and Wills, Jon Bell, Steven McGregor, honed his skill working on Brookside, his Production Consultant and negotiated Leah Purcell and Wayne Blair. major breakthrough came with Cracker, Channel 4’s involvement in a number of one of the best-loved UK TV shows film funding and acquisition initiatives. of recent history. McGovern’s other REDFERN NOW television credits include The Accused In 2000, Dear joined SBS Independent (Series 1 and 2) and The Street (Series as Senior Commissioning Editor Drama. Redfern is an inner-city suburb of 1–3), as well as Gunpowder, Treason & Her commissions included Harvie Sydney. It is home to a significant Plot (Gillies MacKinnon, 2004), Dockers Krumpet (Adam Elliot, 2003), RAN, So proportion of Sydney’s Indigenous (Bill Anderson, 1999), The Lakes, Close to Home (Jessica Hobbs, 2003), and Torres Strait Islander popula- Sunday (Charles McDougall, 2002), Jewboy (Tony Krawitz, 2005), Martha’s tion. The traditional owners of the Heart (Charles McDougall, 1999) and New Coat (Rachel Ward, 2003) and land are the Gadigal people who Hillsborough (Charles McDougall, 1996). Roy Hollsdotter Live. She was the SBS occupied the sites known today Commissioning Editor for the feature A detailed biography of Jimmy as Redfern, Erskinville, Surry Hills, filmsLook Both Ways (Sarah Watt, McGovern can be accessed at <http:// Darlinghurst and Paddington for up 2005), Ten Canoes (Rolf de Heer, 2006), www.screenonline.org.uk/people/ to 40,000 years before European Somersault (Cate Shortland, 2004), id/510555/>. settlement. Australian Rules (Paul Goldman, 2002), Darren Dale – Producer Walking on Water (Tony Ayres, 2002) Persecution, disease and pollu- and The Tracker (Rolf de Heer, 2002). tion had decimated the Aboriginal Darren Dale has been a company Dear also commissioned a number of population of Sydney by the end director of Blackfella Films – Australia’s Indigenous dramas, including Warwick of the eighteenth century. The area premier Indigenous production com- Thornton’s Mimi (2002) and Green Bush now occupied by Redfern and pany – for over ten years. In 2008 Dale, (2005), Beck Cole’s Flat (2004) and owned by the government of the together with Rachel Perkins, produced Plains Empty (2005) and Wayne Blair’s day became known as Cleveland the landmark multi-platform history Black Talk (2002) and The Djarn Djarns Paddocks. In 1817, Dr William series First Australians. (2005). Redfern, William Chippendale and In 2011, Dale produced the feature In 2005, Dear joined ABC TV first as an William Hutchinson were given documentary The Tall Man for SBS, Executive Producer and then as Head of land grants in the area. Subdivision which premiered at the Adelaide Film Drama. There she executive produced began and the intention was to cre- Festival and screened at the Toronto a number of programs including Rake, ate housing for the upper classes. International Film Festival and the Sisters of War (Brendan Maher, 2010), 3 By the 1840s, government legisla- International Documentary Film Festival Acts of Murder (Rowan Woods, 2009), tion pushed industry into the area (IDFA) in Amsterdam. In 2011, Dale also Curtin (Jessica Hobbs, 2007), Dirt and Redfern became an industrial produced, together with Miranda Dear, Game, Bed of Roses, The Librarians, suburb. The development of the rail the ABC telemovie Mabo. Rain Shadow, East of Everything, line and establishment of Eveleigh Bastard Boys (Raymond Quint, 2007), Dale has also produced a number of ac- Railway Workshops in the latter Valentine’s Day (Peter Duncan, 2008) claimed short films and documentaries part of the nineteenth century saw and The Silence (Cate Shortland, 2006). that between them have screened at the Redfern subdivided yet again to She was the ABC commissioning editor Sundance, Aspen, Edinburgh, Toronto provide housing for the workers at for the feature films Samson & Delilah and Palm Springs film festivals. The the workshops. (Warwick Thornton, 2009), Bran Nue 2010 SBS documentary Lani’s Story was Dae (Rachel Perkins, 2009) Here I Am the recipient of a United Nations Media In 1900, La Perouse was declared (Beck Cole, 2010), Eye of the Storm Peace Award, the second consecutive an Aboriginal Reserve and this (Fred Schepisi, 2011), and the short year Dale was awarded this prize. 2013 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION brought subsequent change in film series The New Black. Dear also Redfern. Aboriginal people be- With his Blackfella Films business commissioned the television series The gan returning from rural areas to partner, Perkins, Dale co-curated the Slap, The Straits, Paper Giants and Miss Sydney in search of employment. film program for the Message Sticks Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Many found work at the Eveleigh Indigenous Festival at the Sydney Since 2010, Dear has worked with Workshops and settled in Redfern, Opera House from 2002 until 2011. Blackfella Films and produced, with until the Great Depression forced Most recently Dale produced Redfern Darren Dale, Mabo and Redfern Now them back into temporary camps in Now Series 1 for ABC TV, which won Series 1. La Perouse. the 2013 TV Week Logie Award for 3 From the end of World War Two, the How does the series portray Aboriginal population in Redfern grew Redfern and the people who live and a sense of community evolved. there? Draw on evidence from By the early 1960s, Redfern was home each episode to support your to over 12,000 Aboriginal people, response. some employed in local industry and • Working as a class, discuss why others who were unemployed and the filmmakers chose to set the underprivileged. New opportunities series in Redfern. and the freedom afforded to Aboriginal • Create an infographic about the people by the National Referendum suburb of Redfern. of 1967 encouraged the migration of Begin your research at the Aboriginal people to Sydney. Redfern’s Australian Bureau of Statistics: population swelled to 35,000 people.