"Old Country New Country - The Journey of a Raft"

Old Country New Country -- The Journey of a Raft is the poignant and politically powerful story of Bardi Elder Roy Wiggan passing on to his nephew Albert the traditional aboriginal craft of raft-making. In the process, they travel from their country – the rugged and ancient beauty of the Kimberley region, one of the few remaining wildernesses on the planet -- to the once pristine, now industrialised Pilbara to the south.

Albert Wiggan and Uncle Roy devastated at their first sight of an LNG plant (Pilbara) after their trip down from Country on the Dampier Peninsula. Screenshot from film 'Old Country New Country -- The Journey of a Raft'.

As Roy instructs Albert in Bardi raft-building, the land of their people is being destroyed by mining developments. To the Bardi people, "country" is not real estate to be bought and sold. It is the essence of their aboriginal being. But, now, Roy and Albert believe that mining “will ‘destroy our lifestyle, our culture."

Roy and Albert’s dialogue in this beautifully-shot piece revolves around not just raft building, but their thoughts on the destructive impact of “new country” industrialisation on their “old country.” 

According to George Negus, the program’s presenter and Co-Executive Producer with Kirsty Cockburn, the story highlights two countries, two Australias – “theirs and ours that we call progress.”

“This short-film asks: Do these people stay with the old ways and continue their traditional lifestyle and culture? Or do they take the new ways and give up the very thing by which they define themselves ?” he asks.

Old Country New Country -- The Journey of a Raft screens on SBS at 6pm, Monday 8 June 2009.

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