ANU recently marked National Reconciliation Week with a number of events. As part of this celebration, on 29 May the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific Reconciliation Committee hosted a well-attended special screening of the film ‘Occupation: Native’, directed by Anmatyerr filmmaker Trisha Morton-Thomas. The screening was introduced by Ben Silverstein, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the RDHP project. He spoke about his work on colonial and Indigenous histories, including research on the deep history of Indigenous peoples, which resonated with the National Reconciliation Week 2019 theme of ‘Grounded in Truth: Walk Together with Courage’.

‘Occupation: Native’ provides new understandings of Australian history, from an Aboriginal point of view. The film inspires pride in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures as the oldest living continuing cultures on the planet, and supports audiences to acknowledge the strength they have demonstrated in the face of colonial injustices.