0:00:02 > 0:00:04BBC Four Collections,
0:00:04 > 0:00:07specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09For this collection, Sir David Attenborough
0:00:09 > 0:00:13has chosen documentaries from the start of his career.
0:00:13 > 0:00:14More programmes on this theme
0:00:14 > 0:00:18and other BBC Four Collections are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02DIDGERIDOO PLAYS
0:01:05 > 0:01:08ABORIGINAL CHANTING
0:01:12 > 0:01:15This is the north coast of Australia,
0:01:15 > 0:01:17but the big modern cities of Australia -
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide - they're a very, very long way from here.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24They're several thousand miles southwards,
0:01:24 > 0:01:26that way, across the desert.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30In fact, they're as far away from me here as London is from, say,
0:01:30 > 0:01:31the centre of the Sahara.
0:01:31 > 0:01:37Across here, across the Gulf, lies the huge island of New Guinea.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40I'm sitting in an encampment of a tribe of Aborigines
0:01:40 > 0:01:42called the Gunavidji.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48The Gunavidji are, in pidgin, called solwara folk, solwara people.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53That is to say, people who spend most of their time down by the sea.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55And they come during the dry season,
0:01:55 > 0:01:59and camp here in bark encampments like this one.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05They spend a great deal of their time around in the sea, fishing
0:02:05 > 0:02:07and hunting among the rocks for food.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10The Gunavidji, in fact, are not desert dwellers
0:02:10 > 0:02:14like many Aboriginal tribes, but are primarily seamen.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19Their craft is about as simple as any in the world, a dugout canoe.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22It was in vessels like this that the Aborigines
0:02:22 > 0:02:24first arrived on the shores of Australia,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26some thousands of years ago.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29The seas here are bountiful, there's plenty of fish
0:02:29 > 0:02:34and even more tasty, in Aboriginal eyes, there are lots of turtles.
0:02:34 > 0:02:35Turtles are reptiles,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38and therefore they must come up to the surface to breathe,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42and it's when they do so that you have a chance to harpoon them.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54The steel point of the harpoon has pierced the shell of the turtle,
0:02:54 > 0:02:56and the detachable shaft has dropped off,
0:02:56 > 0:03:01but pulling a turtle in on one line is risky, and a second harpoon
0:03:01 > 0:03:04makes it more certain that the turtle doesn't escape.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15It isn't a big turtle as turtles go,
0:03:15 > 0:03:19but fishermen like this on a good day may catch five or six of them,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23and that's enough to feed all the men's families for a week or so.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45While the men are out at sea, the women may be down on the shore,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49digging for shellfish, or worms, or crabs.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52It's a job in which everyone can take part,
0:03:52 > 0:03:54including the youngest of the children.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58THEY CHAT IN NATIVE TONGUE
0:04:24 > 0:04:27A BOY SCREAMS
0:04:27 > 0:04:28It may not seem much,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31but meat inland is scarce.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Kangaroos are few and hard to find,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37and there's no other big creature to provide a solid meal of meat.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41At low tide, you can paddle across the shallows to the coral reef,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43and there you will find small oysters.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54Where the rivers meet the sea, they form wide estuaries.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Here, the muddy shores and banks are tangled with mangrove swamps
0:04:58 > 0:04:59and patches of jungle.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02There's food to be found here too.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Sometimes in these long, calm stretches of clear water,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09you can see big fish as long as your arm that can be harpooned.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11But not today.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Up in the trees though,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17there are creatures that are as tasty as the finest fish,
0:05:17 > 0:05:22and with much more tender flesh than cockatoos or parrots.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25RAUCOUS SQUEALING AND SQUEAKING
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Giant fruit bats.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52The houses of the Gunavidji, like their boats,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54could scarcely be more simple.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Merely shelters of eucalyptus bark strengthened with corrugated iron
0:05:58 > 0:06:02or anything else flat and waterproof that's available.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05By tradition, these people are nomads.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08In the past, they would never stay in one place
0:06:08 > 0:06:09for more than a week or so,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13and would have to move on to find fresh hunting grounds.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17So they never had any need to build anything more permanent than this.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Nor do they have many possessions - a knife,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23an axe, perhaps, a fishing line.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28But most families do have a didgeridoo -
0:06:28 > 0:06:31the drone pipe which only these northern tribes possess.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33DIDGERIDOO PLAYS
0:06:33 > 0:06:37MAN CHANTS IN NATIVE TONGUE
0:06:41 > 0:06:43It's simply the branch of a tree,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47the centre of which has been chewed away by termites
0:06:47 > 0:06:48to form a hollow tube.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51A length of gas piping would do almost as well,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54and indeed, when the Gunavidji can get hold of a length,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56they often do use it as a musical instrument.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00And while their parents play,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03the children practise the stamping, energetic dance
0:07:03 > 0:07:06that they will later perform in their corroborees -
0:07:06 > 0:07:10the ceremonial dances that still obsess their elders.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13PERCUSSIVE TAPPING
0:07:13 > 0:07:15THEY GRUNT
0:07:19 > 0:07:21THEY GRUNT
0:07:29 > 0:07:33The ritual life of the Gunavidji is extremely complicated.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Their tribe is divided into several separate totemic groups,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40each claiming a special or intimate relationship
0:07:40 > 0:07:42with some animal or plant.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45The seasons of the year are marked by very involved rituals,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48which may extend over a period of months.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51The fertility of the people and of the land,
0:07:51 > 0:07:52of the plants and the animals,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55the cycles of the wet and dry seasons,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59all must be safeguarded by the regular performance of dances,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03sacrifices and ordeals, the full meaning of which
0:08:03 > 0:08:06are often properly understood only by the old men of the tribe.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Each man owns highly sacred objects which belong to him
0:08:16 > 0:08:18and to him alone, and which no other man
0:08:18 > 0:08:21belonging to another totem may see.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25He keeps them hidden away, in secret places in the bush,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29and goes regularly to anoint them with pig fat,
0:08:29 > 0:08:31or with the sweat from his armpits,
0:08:31 > 0:08:36and to sit in silent communion with his ancestors and his gods.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Scientists say in fact that the Australian Aborigine
0:08:46 > 0:08:51is the most ancient branch of mankind still surviving in the world.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53They are still living at a cultural level
0:08:53 > 0:08:56of that which was followed by prehistoric man in Europe
0:08:56 > 0:09:00for over a million years, before he devised agriculture.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03These people have no traditional knowledge of growing fields,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07of planting fields for food, or of domesticating animals.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09They have no more permanent settlements
0:09:09 > 0:09:12than these flimsy bark shelters by which I'm sitting.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16Yet, psychologists say that the Australian Aborigine
0:09:16 > 0:09:18is a highly gifted and intelligent person.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20They say that, in any group of them,
0:09:20 > 0:09:24you find as many bright, intelligent people and as many stupid people
0:09:24 > 0:09:28as you would find in a similar group from almost any other race.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32There's the famous case of the estate down in the south,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35where there was a mission in which the pupils of that mission
0:09:35 > 0:09:38topped the examination results
0:09:38 > 0:09:41of this entire state for over three years.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44It's true, too, that the missionary responsible said afterwards
0:09:44 > 0:09:47that the effort involved was so great,
0:09:47 > 0:09:48that he could never tackle it again.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51But why, if these people are so intelligent,
0:09:51 > 0:09:53should they remain so primitive?
0:09:53 > 0:09:54Well, the answer may be
0:09:54 > 0:09:57that they were never able to develop agriculture
0:09:57 > 0:10:00because their land is so harsh and so sterile.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03That they were never able to get for themselves domesticated animals
0:10:03 > 0:10:07because there are no large animals here suitable for domestication,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10like sheep or cows.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Yet the world of the Aborigine is now changing very rapidly indeed.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16Only a few hundred yards up this beach,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19the Australian government is building a settlement.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Two years ago,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26there was nothing here but mud flats and eucalyptus scrub.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31Now, teams of Europeans are building a hospital, a school, a store,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35and houses, that together will form one of the most modern and up-to-date
0:10:35 > 0:10:38of all the Aboriginal welfare stations in Australia.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41The Aborigines themselves are helping in the work,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45and are quick to learn under the instruction of the European builders.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Every few weeks, stores arrive by sea from Darwin,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12300 miles away to the west.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Boat days are exciting occasions for everybody.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19For the Aborigines, newly arrived from the bush, it's a revelation.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22The ship has come from a place they have never seen,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25and can't imagine, and it brings real treasure -
0:11:25 > 0:11:28cloth and flour, tea and sugar.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36For the Europeans on this remote outpost, boat days mean mail
0:11:36 > 0:11:38and fresh supplies of food and drink.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42Drums of petrol for the cars,
0:11:42 > 0:11:47and kerosene for refrigerators are towed ashore in a long floating line.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50Here in this small plot on the rim of Arnhem Land,
0:11:50 > 0:11:55the government is sending drugs and tinned fruit, books and machinery,
0:11:55 > 0:11:57tractors and transistor radios -
0:11:57 > 0:12:01the most modern products of 20th-century technology.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Yet you don't have to walk far beyond the station boundary
0:12:04 > 0:12:07to find country that no European may have seen before.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39Inland from the station, the Aborigines are being shown
0:12:39 > 0:12:43how to coax the dry, sandy soil into fertility.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Special strains of drought resisting grass,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12selected and developed by government research workers,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15have been sent here to be planted in experimental plots.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31A small donkey engine pumps up water from the creek
0:13:31 > 0:13:33to provide moisture for the grass cuttings.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Soon they hope this land, sterile since history began,
0:13:37 > 0:13:42will be covered by pasture rich enough to support herds of cows.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52In the station itself, water pumped into sprays makes it possible
0:13:52 > 0:13:54to grow cabbages and coconuts,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58melons and oranges, bananas and carrots.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00None of these vegetables and fruits
0:14:00 > 0:14:03were known to the Aborigines before the white man came.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05None could have survived here,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08except by the use of modern techniques
0:14:08 > 0:14:11of watering and fertilising. The men who now tend these crops
0:14:11 > 0:14:13were, a mere 20 years ago,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16simply gatherers of wild roots in the desert.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18It had never occurred to them, until now,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21that mankind was able to dominate nature,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24and plant, cultivate and harvest.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26It was the inability to solve this problem
0:14:26 > 0:14:28that prevented the Aboriginal
0:14:28 > 0:14:30climbing onto the first rung of the ladder
0:14:30 > 0:14:32that leads to civilisation,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35and doomed them, until now, to remain nomads.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40But though the country is so poor in edible fruits,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43it still possesses riches highly prized by the modern world.
0:14:43 > 0:14:44In the station's sawmill,
0:14:44 > 0:14:46huge hardwood trees,
0:14:46 > 0:14:48felled in the surrounding bush, are cut into planks.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54These planks, when shipped to Darwin, will fetch a good price,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56and offset to some extent,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59the enormous sums of money being spent here by the government.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05The Aborigines who work here, and on the land, in the gardens,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08and on the construction, receive a weekly wage,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10and they spend it at the station's store.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13MEN CHATTER IN NATIVE TONGUE
0:15:13 > 0:15:18In return for their money, they buy mostly tobacco and tea,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21knives and sugar.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26MEN CHAT IN NATIVE TONGUE
0:15:43 > 0:15:48Every man who works, receives each day regular meals for himself
0:15:48 > 0:15:50and his family.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53In the past, most of his time was spent hunting for game,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56or gathering food away in the bush.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Now that the government is changing his way of life,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03his family would starve unless food were provided for them.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Only those men who work on the station projects
0:16:06 > 0:16:08are entitled to food.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10When Aborigines from the bush come in,
0:16:10 > 0:16:12they will receive food for a week free,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15then, if they want to continue taking their rations,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18they must start work on the station.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21If they don't, then their rations are stopped.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26That's the theory. In practice, no-one is ever turned away.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42Very special rations are given to the children,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45and, every morning, they gather outside the hospital.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51BACKGROUND CHATTER AND LAUGHTER
0:17:06 > 0:17:09There's powdered milk and, when it's available, pawpaw,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12or some other fresh fruit from the station garden.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53As more people from the surrounding country
0:17:53 > 0:17:55are attracted into the station,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58and desert their old nomadic way of life,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01the problem of housing them all becomes more and more acute.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04Some of the wood from the sawmill is retained for building.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07The new houses, so different from the shelters
0:18:07 > 0:18:09that have served these people until now,
0:18:09 > 0:18:12are highly valued and, as yet, they are in very short supply.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16This one belongs to the foreman of the sawmill,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19and no-one could be more meticulously house-proud than he.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29The hospital is staffed at the moment by girls from the tribe,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33under the guidance of two European nursing sisters.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02A doctor pays regular visits by air, to advise on difficult cases.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06And in an emergency, an aeroplane can be summoned by radio
0:19:06 > 0:19:10to take a patient who is seriously ill back to Darwin for treatment -
0:19:10 > 0:19:13a mere three hours away by air.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34The station's main concern, however, is with the children.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38And the building which dominates the place at the moment is the school.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43Here, each day, the children come for extra rations of milk and fruit.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53The history of the Aborigines in Australia is a tragic story
0:19:53 > 0:19:58of total misunderstanding and too often of brutality.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02A century ago, battles between them and the white settlers
0:20:02 > 0:20:05were so frequent as to be almost unremarkable.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09It was a fight between boomerangs and rifles,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13between spears and chemical poisons put secretly in waterholes.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17And the outcome of such unequal battles could never be in doubt.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20When Europeans first arrived here,
0:20:20 > 0:20:25there were about 250,000 Aborigines in Australia.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Now, a mere 45,000 are left.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Few Europeans wanted to settle
0:20:31 > 0:20:35in this barren, savagely hostile wilderness of Arnhem Land,
0:20:35 > 0:20:37and so this is one of the last places
0:20:37 > 0:20:40where the Aborigines have survived in any number.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43The teacher at the school is the wife
0:20:43 > 0:20:47of one of the government staff administering the station.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51CHILDREN CHATTER IN NATIVE TONGUE
0:21:03 > 0:21:05TEACHER CLAPS
0:21:08 > 0:21:09That's good.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Good morning, boys and girls.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15CHILDREN: Good morning, teacher.
0:21:15 > 0:21:16How are you today?
0:21:16 > 0:21:18THEY ANSWER
0:21:18 > 0:21:23Very well, thank you. Now we'll say our prayer.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27- We thank you, God... - CHILDREN: We thank you, God...
0:21:27 > 0:21:30- ..for the world so sweet. - ..for the world so sweet.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33- We thank you for... - We thank you for...
0:21:33 > 0:21:36- ..the food we eat. - ..the food we eat.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38- We thank you for... - We thank you for...
0:21:38 > 0:21:41- ..the birds that sing. - ..the birds that sing.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44- We thank you, God... - We thank you, God...
0:21:44 > 0:21:46- ..for everything. - ..for everything.
0:21:46 > 0:21:52THEY SING: # Land of freedom Land we cherish
0:21:52 > 0:21:57# Wearing beauty like a crown
0:21:57 > 0:22:01# Where in Heaven, brightly shining
0:22:01 > 0:22:05# All the stars of God look down
0:22:05 > 0:22:10# Like a vision they abide
0:22:10 > 0:22:15# Symbol of our hope and pride
0:22:15 > 0:22:19# Send our songs to Heaven above
0:22:19 > 0:22:23# Land of mine, freedom's shrine
0:22:23 > 0:22:29# God be with you Dear land we love. #
0:22:29 > 0:22:34Yet, in a way, it's not just the Aboriginal who has to be educated.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36The white man has to be educated, too.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41For the Australian government has embarked on a policy of assimilation.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44The Australian Aborigine is not to be cut off
0:22:44 > 0:22:48in his own tribal reserves, like some living museum specimen,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52he is to be encouraged to become assimilated into the community
0:22:52 > 0:22:55around him, and to take his place in the 20th century.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Yet you don't have to go far in a town to find people
0:22:58 > 0:23:01who will tell you that the Aboriginal is dishonest,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04drunken - if he gets the chance - unreliable,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07and little better than an animal.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10It's these people who will have to be educated to realise
0:23:10 > 0:23:13that the problems of leaping within the space of a couple of generations
0:23:13 > 0:23:17from prehistory into the 20th century are enormous.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21To realise that these people here have their own code of behaviour
0:23:21 > 0:23:24and morals, which they adhere to strictly,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27and which are suitable to a primitive nomadic existence.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30And that to change these morals to the morals suitable for
0:23:30 > 0:23:36a 20th-century town, to make such a change, is enormously difficult.
0:23:36 > 0:23:37Yet, in spite of this prejudice,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41the Australian government is going ahead with its bold policy.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Already, legislation has been passed to give the vote to the Aborigine.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Now, people, I've come along here today
0:23:48 > 0:23:51to tell you about a new law which gives to you,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55the Aboriginal people, the right to vote,
0:23:55 > 0:24:00and elect members of the Legislative Council in Darwin,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03and the member in the House of Representatives,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06which is the Commonwealth Parliament in Canberra.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10Now, I've brought along with me these pictures,
0:24:10 > 0:24:17and I'm going to use them, in my talk to you, to tell you about
0:24:17 > 0:24:22these elections, and the meaning and purpose of voting.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Now, this first picture that I have here,
0:24:26 > 0:24:32it shows the position, as it has been in the past.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37You'll notice here that this is a building,
0:24:37 > 0:24:42and outside is a sign with the words "polling booth".
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Now, you will see white people here
0:24:45 > 0:24:48are going into this polling booth,
0:24:48 > 0:24:53and they are going in there to elect, or choose the men
0:24:53 > 0:24:56who will go into the Legislative Council,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00and make the laws which we must all obey.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05Now, over here, you will see Aboriginal people...
0:25:06 > 0:25:09..standing out here under the tree,
0:25:09 > 0:25:13and they have had no right to have a say
0:25:13 > 0:25:15in who these men will be
0:25:15 > 0:25:19that are chosen to go into the Legislative Council.
0:25:19 > 0:25:26Now, I have here two men who you all know, Peter and Mick -
0:25:26 > 0:25:31two of your own people, and they understand about it,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35and they will talk to you, if you sit down with them,
0:25:35 > 0:25:40and help you to learn and understand about this voting.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45HE TALKS IN NATIVE TONGUE
0:26:04 > 0:26:09Now there has been a new law which gives to Aboriginal people,
0:26:09 > 0:26:14those who are 21 years of age or more, the right to vote...
0:26:14 > 0:26:20'to have a say in choosing these men who sit in the Legislative Council,
0:26:20 > 0:26:26'and also to have a right to say who will be the member
0:26:26 > 0:26:31'for the Northern Territory in the House of Representatives at Canberra.
0:26:32 > 0:26:39'Now, this next picture that I have shows you one of these men
0:26:39 > 0:26:41'who have accepted this right -
0:26:41 > 0:26:45'an Aboriginal man, he has accepted this right -
0:26:45 > 0:26:49'and he is advancing up the stairs,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52'because this is a step forward.
0:26:53 > 0:26:59'Now, before we can do this, we must learn
0:26:59 > 0:27:06'and understand about elections, the purpose and the meaning of elections,
0:27:06 > 0:27:13'and how you vote. And to do this, this is why I have come along here
0:27:13 > 0:27:17'to ask you people to sit down with us here and talk about it'
0:27:17 > 0:27:20until we understand about voting,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and that's just what this picture shows you.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27It shows men and women,
0:27:27 > 0:27:32because women have just as much right to vote as men,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36but it shows them sitting down and talking about it,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40learning about it, and understanding about it,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45so that, when the time comes, they can make a free choice
0:27:45 > 0:27:50of whether or not to accept this right and get on the roll,
0:27:50 > 0:27:56so that they can vote when an election comes along.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02People, now that I have explained this voting
0:28:02 > 0:28:03and election to you...
0:28:05 > 0:28:08..I'm going to ask you now to go away
0:28:08 > 0:28:11and think about it and talk about it.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14And for those who do not understand,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17I would like the others to explain to them.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21I'm not going to say much more now, except this.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27I think that this right that you have been given
0:28:27 > 0:28:31is the most important right possible that could have been given to you.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37I have told you before that you have the right to accept it
0:28:37 > 0:28:40or reject it, that is your choice...
0:28:41 > 0:28:46..but it is very important that you think very carefully about it.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Thank you very much.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55DAVID: Perhaps it's too much to hope that many of the adults
0:28:55 > 0:28:58on this station will ever fully understand
0:28:58 > 0:29:00their responsibilities as voting citizens,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03or be in any position to fulfil the obligations
0:29:03 > 0:29:07that joining the society of the 20th century imposes on them,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11but the rights of these people, the first Australians,
0:29:11 > 0:29:13are the rights of all human beings.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16And the full effectiveness of Australia's policy
0:29:16 > 0:29:20will be apparent not now, but in 20 years' time.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24DIDGERIDOO PLAYS AND ABORIGINAL CHANTING