FILM AUSTRALIA COLLECTION

Title Details

For Who I Am - Bonita Mabo Out Takes

Bonita Mabo, widow of Eddie Mabo, is fighting a campaign of her own - to gain recognition for Australia's South Sea Islander people.
Series : Everyday Brave | Episode : 1 | Year : 2001 | Total Duration : 26 Minutes | Producer : Priscilla Collins
Director : Danielle Maclean |
Tape 1 - Interior of Betty Barret's home. Mary Lopez, Betty Barrett and Bonita Mabo in kitchen cutting cake and sitting at table reminiscing,talking about the loss they have suffered after the death of their husbands and looking at family photographs. Other issues discussed were religion and missions, and the days of sugar cane farming using Kanaka slave labour. Truck fertilising prepared soil paddock. WS on sugar cane crop. Sugar cane fields and area called The Gardens
Access No. 129939 | 63 mins 40 secs | 2000s | Halifax, Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 2 - Mary Lopez and Bonita Mabo talking at area of Halifax called the Gardens. Bonita reminiscing about the use of medicinal plants. Bonita and other woman fishing from wharf. Mary Lopez interview about her friendship with Bonita Mabo and the book she is writing. Interview with Bonita Mabo about the South Sea Islanders being brought to Australia as slave labour. Mary and Bonita in bedroom.
Access No. 129940 | 65 mins | 2000s | Halifax Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 3 - Sugar cane harvester at work in cane fields. Sugar cane train , close shot of goods carriages travelling left to right across frame, low angle shot of goods train carriages past camera showing undercarriage and wheels on line. Palm tree tops, coconuts in tree, fallen coconuts on ground, bananas on tree, tree tops against blue sky, spider's web, CU on palm fronds, CU on brown leaf falling onto ground, full screen of brown leaves, Bonita Mabo interview about the Gardens and their life in this area. Rippling water, complex behind cyclone wire fence, full screen CU of wire fence. CU on digging in soil with stick.
Access No. 129962 | 58 mins | 2000s | Halifax, Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 4 - Bonita Mabo interview about her early life in Halifax and her quest to have South Sea Islanders recognised as a group in Australia. She describes the treatment Eddie Mabo received during his fight for land rights. She also talks about her memories of life in ÒThe GardensÓ - a fruit & vegetable growing area near Halifax. She describes how the South Sea Islanders were coaxed on ships and brought to Australia as cheap labour for the sugar cane industry. CU on sugar cane, travelling shots of countryside and cane fields. Sunset shot of exterior of Commercial Hotel (country pub). Interior shots of hotel bedrooms. Good shots of mountains reflected in still water. Halifax road sign. Train crossing sign.
Access No. 129970 | 59 mins | 2000s | Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 5 - Ploughed field of dirt soil. Main Street of Halifax. Sugar cane train towards and past camera. CU on wheels on train line, train crossing signal flashing stop, rural houses and out buildings, VS of church service with band and singers. CU on guitar, sermon, interview with man about his association with Bonita's family, tractor and farm machinery. Betty Barrett interview.
Access No. 129977 | 59 mins | 2000s | Halifax, Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 6 - Betty Barret interview. Bonita Mabo interview describing her wedding to Eddie Koiki Mabo. Oranges, bananas, pan along fruit and vegetable display in fruit market. Coastal shots around Townsville, travelling shot along watersedge, palm tree lined walk and buildings showing streets of Townsville. High angle shots of Townsville showing harbour.
Access No. 129984 | 35 mins | 2000s | Townsville, Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 7 - B/W stills used in program.
Access No. 129988 | 17 mins | Unknown | © Contact Film Australia Collection Library | B&W |
Tape 8 - Bonita Mabo at home talking on telephone, watering garden. Interview with Bonita (audio problems) on Eddie Koiki Mabo's illness and death and the Land Rights Case win.
Access No. 129990 | 59 mins | 2000s | Halifax, Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 9 - Bonita Mabo interview about her fears of losing her eye sight, her trip to Vanuatu, her desire for a memorial to be built for the South Sea Islander people. Interview with member of Bonita Mabo's family .
Access No. 129994 | 66 mins | 2000s | Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 10 - Shell windchimes,country house, CU on louvered windows, Bonita Mabo in taxi cab, meeting, Bonita and other woman in interview about the land rights. Townsville waterfront, large canoe at sea, palm trees, seagulls, single seagull in flight, Mabo family photographs,
Access No. 129996 | 84 mins 49 secs | 2000s | Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 11 - Bonita Mabo meeting with Townsville City Mayor, Tony Mooney discussing the placement of a memorial to the South Sea Islander people. Sign to Mayor's office, brass sculpture of coats of arms for for City of Townsville, council chambers building with water fountain, Bonita Mabo and family at car ferry crossing, ocean and distant islands, clock, bell and wheel of ferry, wake behind ferry and full screen of swirling water and white wash. Bonita visit to Palm Island.
Access No. 129997 | 59 mins | 2000s | Townsville, Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 12 - Bonita Mabo, Maleta West and her children trying to catch prawns in sand flats on Palm Island. VS of Palm Island with palm trees, mangroves, Bonita on car ferry. B/W photographs used in program. CU on sharpening a cane knife and gardening with small hoe. Bonita cutting cane. Man cutting cane and stripping stalk. Exteriors of Townsville buildings. Bonita interview about life as Eddie's wife, her hobbies, and her fight for recognition as a South Sea Islander
Access No. 130016 | 57 mins | 2000s | Palm Island and Townsville, Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 13 - Interview Bonita Mabo about government control over the lives of her ancestors and her description of who she is. Backyard barbeque at night in Bonita's home. CU on chops cooking on barbeque plate and VS of Bonita's family at BBQ. Children whipping cream in kitchen. Good shot of moon against cloudy sky. Interview with Bonita's daughter, Maleta West about her mother. Children performing dances to electric guitar playing
Access No. 130017 | 54 mins | 2000s | Townsville, Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 15 - Ode to Bonita Mabo by Toni Bell., pan down handwritten ode., ATSIC meeting, VS of monument in Townsville. Bonita taking eye test, exterior of Townsville General Hospital
Access No. 130028 | 28 mins | 2000s | Townsville, Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 23 - Bonita Mabo visits school 25th September, 2001
Access No. 130029 | 55 mins | 2000s | © NFSA | Colour |
Tape 22 - Road trip
Access No. 130030 | 2000s | Qld, Australia | © NFSA | Colour |