Town of Victoria Park - Kolbang Yanginy

Kaatijiin film screenings create powerful platform for truth-telling in Victoria Park

Truth-telling is central to Aboriginal culture, playing a key role in preserving knowledge and tradition, and helping to strengthen relationships and communities.

With deep roots in truth-telling, a series of film screenings in the Perth suburb of Victoria Park in 2024 captivated the local community. Aptly named the Kaatijiin Screenings (meaning knowledge in Noongar), two locally made films provided a thought-provoking look into two distinct stories of Country and its people.

How the film screenings came about

In May 2024, a local community member’s idea sparked a broader collaboration involving Elders from the Mindeera Advisory Group, the Town of Victoria Park, the Victoria Park Community Centre, Connect Victoria Park, the Vic Park Collective and Friends of Jirdarup Bushland.

Two locally made films, Mammung and The Grey Line, were screened in September and October 2024 revealing powerful truth-telling stories of Australia since ancient times.

Mammung tells the story of how the Noongars would journey to Wadjemup (Rottnest Island) to listen to whale songs before sea levels rose. The film highlights Noongar knowledge of caring for Country, and explores the impact of the Stolen Generation on the loss of cultural heritage and ancestral knowledge.

The Grey Line tells the story of Helen Dwyer who was taken from her parents due to the Government mandated policy at the time. Helen was raised by a middle-class family in the suburbs of Perth and believed she was their biological daughter until the age of 14. Despite being raised by a very loving foster family, Helen never felt like she truly belonged; not white, not black, she walked a very lonely grey line.

Each screening was complemented by yarns which provided the audience important local context and knowledge to each of the films.

Following Mammung screenings, Elder Roni Forrest yarned about Mindeera Spring, a significant cultural site in Victoria Park, which highlighted the impact of physical access to areas of cultural significance.

Following The Grey Line screenings, Helen (who featured in the film) and her daughter Kayah shared their personal accounts of the raw impact of generational trauma.

Feedback from the local community

Importantly, feedback was gathered from attendees through video and Culture Counts surveys, and highlighted the significant positive impact the Kaatijiin screenings had on the wider community, including:

95% of survey respondents who attended Mammung screenings said it helped them better understand the place and people where they live, while 94% said they gained a new insight or knowledge from watching the film. One respondent, Dylan, said that Mammung “…shows what can be in modern Australia if Indigenous and non-Indigenous people converse and listen to one another.”
89% of survey respondents who attended The Grey Line screenings said it made them feel connected to a shared history/culture and 89% said they gained a new insight or knowledge from watching the film. One respondent, Sarah, said that “…it sets the scene for telling the story so that all Australians can understand what happened, not just the people that have experienced it.”