ABLAZE
****
Directors: Alec Morgan and Tiriki Onus
Screenwriters: Alec Morgan and Tiriki Onus
Principal cast:
Bill Onus (archival)
Tiriki Onus
Jack Charles
Country: Australia
Classification: PG
Runtime: 81 mins.
Australian release date: 26 May 2020.
The Onus family has played important political and cultural roles in Australia for generations. Now, opera singer and filmmaker Tiriki Onus, son of the famed artist Lin Onus, has added to that history with his powerful documentary (co-directed by Alec Morgan) Ablaze. It tells of the life of his grandfather, Bill Onus, a remarkable man who was a jack-of-all-trades: a gifted orator, an entrepreneur and impresario, an entertainer, an expert boomerang thrower and, most importantly, an activist who promoted Aboriginal advancement at a time when Indigenous Australians were subjected to shocking governmental and institutional racism. Tiriki thought he knew his talented grandfather reasonably well until a 70-year-old silent film with no credits was discovered in the vaults of the National Film & Sound Archive; the footage suggested that there might be yet another string to Bill’s bow – could he have been the first ever Aboriginal film director? As Tiriki went about trying to establish who shot the film and why, the fascinating story of his grandfather emerged.
Bill was born on the banks of the Murray River at the Cummeragunja (Cumeroogunga) Mission in 1906. Leaving school early, he went shearing at the age of 16 and then moved to Sydney in his early twenties, working as a rigger and various other trades during the Great Depression. In the late ‘30s he joined the Aborigines Progressive Association and became increasingly involved with the movement to improve Aboriginal rights and living conditions. In 1946 he settled in Melbourne’s Fitzroy and married Mary Kelly, a committed Communist and fellow political activist. During his peripatetic wanderings he had various encounters with the film industry, appearing on screen in Charles Chauvel’s Uncivilised and Ken G. Hall’s Lovers and Luggers. He was appalled by the racist depictions of Black people in those films, so when working on Harry Watt’s 1946 outback classic The Overlanders, he took on more of an advisory role about the way in which the Aboriginal characters should be shown and he picked up a lot of knowledge about the filmmaking process. It was around this time that his play, White Justice, about a ‘walk-off’ by Indigenous stockmen in the Pilbara, was being performed at Melbourne’s New Theatre and the footage discovered at the NFSA recorded some of the on-stage action. These scenes opened up an important line of enquiry for Tiriki when researching the documentary and brought him into contact with Bill’s friends and acquaintances from the past, including Uncle Jack Charles, and what they reveal is fascinating.
Ablaze won an Awgie (Australian Writers’ Guild award) last year in the category of Documentary - Public Broadcast, and it was a well-deserved accolade. Onus and Morgan have employed various techniques in bringing their film to life; to flesh out the current-day interviews they have used a combination of archival footage, still images and animation, tied together with Tiriki’s narration about his journey of discovery. While ostensibly trying to establish the facts behind the origin of the found short film, the co-directors have revealed a much bigger story – firstly, of Bill Onus himself but, perhaps more importantly, about the treatment of Aboriginal Australians during the period of Bill’s life in the 20th century - and it’s not a pretty picture. Also, rather depressingly, the documentary shows how little has changed in some areas and many of the same issues Bill came up against have still not been resolved. Ablaze is an excellent film - should be compulsory viewing for anyone interested in the true history of Australia.
Screenwriters: Alec Morgan and Tiriki Onus
Principal cast:
Bill Onus (archival)
Tiriki Onus
Jack Charles
Country: Australia
Classification: PG
Runtime: 81 mins.
Australian release date: 26 May 2020.
The Onus family has played important political and cultural roles in Australia for generations. Now, opera singer and filmmaker Tiriki Onus, son of the famed artist Lin Onus, has added to that history with his powerful documentary (co-directed by Alec Morgan) Ablaze. It tells of the life of his grandfather, Bill Onus, a remarkable man who was a jack-of-all-trades: a gifted orator, an entrepreneur and impresario, an entertainer, an expert boomerang thrower and, most importantly, an activist who promoted Aboriginal advancement at a time when Indigenous Australians were subjected to shocking governmental and institutional racism. Tiriki thought he knew his talented grandfather reasonably well until a 70-year-old silent film with no credits was discovered in the vaults of the National Film & Sound Archive; the footage suggested that there might be yet another string to Bill’s bow – could he have been the first ever Aboriginal film director? As Tiriki went about trying to establish who shot the film and why, the fascinating story of his grandfather emerged.
Bill was born on the banks of the Murray River at the Cummeragunja (Cumeroogunga) Mission in 1906. Leaving school early, he went shearing at the age of 16 and then moved to Sydney in his early twenties, working as a rigger and various other trades during the Great Depression. In the late ‘30s he joined the Aborigines Progressive Association and became increasingly involved with the movement to improve Aboriginal rights and living conditions. In 1946 he settled in Melbourne’s Fitzroy and married Mary Kelly, a committed Communist and fellow political activist. During his peripatetic wanderings he had various encounters with the film industry, appearing on screen in Charles Chauvel’s Uncivilised and Ken G. Hall’s Lovers and Luggers. He was appalled by the racist depictions of Black people in those films, so when working on Harry Watt’s 1946 outback classic The Overlanders, he took on more of an advisory role about the way in which the Aboriginal characters should be shown and he picked up a lot of knowledge about the filmmaking process. It was around this time that his play, White Justice, about a ‘walk-off’ by Indigenous stockmen in the Pilbara, was being performed at Melbourne’s New Theatre and the footage discovered at the NFSA recorded some of the on-stage action. These scenes opened up an important line of enquiry for Tiriki when researching the documentary and brought him into contact with Bill’s friends and acquaintances from the past, including Uncle Jack Charles, and what they reveal is fascinating.
Ablaze won an Awgie (Australian Writers’ Guild award) last year in the category of Documentary - Public Broadcast, and it was a well-deserved accolade. Onus and Morgan have employed various techniques in bringing their film to life; to flesh out the current-day interviews they have used a combination of archival footage, still images and animation, tied together with Tiriki’s narration about his journey of discovery. While ostensibly trying to establish the facts behind the origin of the found short film, the co-directors have revealed a much bigger story – firstly, of Bill Onus himself but, perhaps more importantly, about the treatment of Aboriginal Australians during the period of Bill’s life in the 20th century - and it’s not a pretty picture. Also, rather depressingly, the documentary shows how little has changed in some areas and many of the same issues Bill came up against have still not been resolved. Ablaze is an excellent film - should be compulsory viewing for anyone interested in the true history of Australia.