In 1964, the Australian military was conducting missile tests when they discovered people were living in the remote section of the outback where the weapons were expected to land. A reconnaissance team was sent into the area to clear out the small band of natives who called the desert home. However, the Martu, the indigenous people who were being relocated, had never seen white men before; they lived as their ancestors had hundreds of years before, doing without clothing, and at first they were convinced the rescue team were devils who had come to kill and eat them. Eventually the Martu were rounded up and turned over to Christian missionaries, who taught them to wear clothes and gently introduced them to life in the 20th Century. Yuwali was a seventeen year old Martu girl when the arrival of the Australian military agents put an end to her people's way of life; at the age of 62, she shares her story with filmmakers Bentley Dean and Martin Butler in the documentary Contact. Contact combines newsreel footage of the 1964 evacuations and the relocation of the Martu with interviews with Yuwali as she discusses what became of her and her family. Contact was voted Best Documentary at the 2009 Sydney Film Festival.
by Mark Deming
synopsis
