Pip Starr tributes
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| Yami Lester and Uncle Kevin Buzzacott being filmed by Pip Starr, on a trip to Alberrie Creek in 2006. Photo courtesy of Helen Hill |
Family and friends remember Pip Starr, a Melbourne filmmaker who dedicated his life to documenting the social and environmental issues facing Australia and our Southern seas, and the plight of indigenous peoples and those dispossessed by western society and industry.
Jennie Hill, Pip Starr's sister:
'My strongest memory of my brother's commitment to his work was his total lack of fear in filming what he thought was important. The best example of this that comes to mind was when I asked him to help me film an activity related to my work that I thought was dangerous and should be stopped. I can't say too much even now about what we did - it wasn't illegal, but probably unwise. Suffice to say that Stuart (our family name for Pip) was not only eager to assist but he was positively salivating at the thought of being able to expose unjust work practices and 'bring into line' a prestigious but badly-behaved multi-national company.
I was shaking in my boots, cold, wet and expecting a large hand on my shoulder and a trip in a divvy van at any moment, while Stuart was having the time of his life. He would go anywhere, bluff his way through almost anything, film in any conditions, talk his way out of any kind of trouble, and generally be the sort of person who would make the world a better place by refusing to allow the 'top end of town' to call all the shots. Oh, and what we did worked - and I learned that day from my baby brother that the power of moving pictures is truly awesome in the hands of a committed and compassionate person.' 
Laura Fickling, Pip's eldest niece:
There are a few things I could say about him, but one in particular comes to mind that I find is an appropriate way to remember a trait of his character that was somewhat hidden, not only to myself but to some others who knew him.
In Year 10, I had a difficult decision to make about where I wanted to do my high school work experience. Being a 16 year old girl who didn't really care about school (so much so that I was about to embark on a 10-month student exchange to Italy to get away from it), I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. In fact I was happy for my parents to keep paying for everything for me until I was 34, but as it was compulsory to do work experience, I had no choice but to ring up some companies or shops to work in for a week. This was supposed to be preferably in line with what I wanted to do after high school, or with what I wanted to study at uni.
I had always been interested in photography, and after doing the subject in Year 10 and gaining quite high marks for a photo I took, I decided this was what I wanted to do (this would change many times, right up until now - a year after finishing high school). I was also fairly interested in film making, after Pip had shown me some of the things he did over the years as I was growing up - in particular his film "Fight For Country" which we watched when it was finished and I had loved.
So, I asked Pip if I could do my week's worth of work experience with him.
I would like to say that I was solely interested in basking in the reflective glory of my uncle Pip's amazing and never-ending talent. I would love to say that I was one hundred percent interested in the art of film making and was absolutely thrilled by the idea of learning more about the equipment, industry, processes, etc, from my beloved uncle.
To be honest, if I was to say this, it wouldn't be the ENTIRE truth, unfortunately.
I was mostly interested in slacking off. And it occurred to me that I would be able to with Pip - being my youngest uncle, who for a long time in my memory had dread locks, an eyebrow piercing, "hippie" clothes and, I suppose, in my young suburban-trained mind, a lack of a "normal" life. Pip had struck me as someone who didn't take much seriously; a different person from my own mother and father, who pressed rules and discipline on me. He was also different from my other uncles and aunties (not just Mum's brother and sister, but my Dad's sister as well) - who worked hard in jobs that weren't always particularly liked but necessary for income, had wives and husbands, and children, and this was considered the normal, straight-down-the-line, "just like everybody else" life that Pip didn't lead. However much we say that this is okay, it's fine to be different, we love you anyway, Pip did often feel unhappy with the fact that he wasn't "ordinary". Now I'm ashamed that he felt that way, but also very proud that he was a bit left of centre, because he's taught me a lot about more important things, such as facing adversity, and inequality amongst certain groups, and the way people DO live differently than the "family, children, house, job" that most teenagers I know have grown up with.
Anyway, I got it into my head from all this deep stuff that it'd be an easy way to have a week off, if I did work experience with Pip. How wrong I was.
Firstly, he pushed me for an idea for my own film on the very first day of that week, over coffee somewhere in Brunswick. I proceeded to be very shocked after the first half an hour, because he was still talking about this film I was supposed to make. Weren't we meant to pretend to talk about it for 10 minutes, then get side tracked and end up just laughing about how stupid school was? No, Pip was very serious about this school project and I wasn't going to get away with skirting around it, and he told me so. That shut me up.
I'd never seen him serious before and it was a shock, but also enlightening. Oh, here's another side to Pip that I haven't seen. I was interested. And so, we worked. I worked. And if I hadn't have been horribly sick that week (I wasn't faking, I promise) I would have worked harder, because some time within that first day when he told me he expected me to pull my finger out, it suddenly became supremely important to make him happy, and to create something that he created with the same amount of meticulous care and precision that he used, and that I saw in his films. Unfortunately at the end of that week I hadn't done much since I was sick, as previously mentioned, but I continued with my film after the allotted work experience week, and made a very short film that wasn't what you'd call "up there" with Pip's stellar standard.
But because he'd helped me, I was proud of it anyway.
Ursula Rakova:
Lukim yu wantok (see you friend)
Your words ring clear in our ears
Your struggles for our cause also your cause of concern
Wantok you hear our silent words of anxiousness
The ears of a true wantok
Your smiles and laughter send echos of wisdom
Your smiles and jokes about a hard days work are infectious
Made simpler and interesting due to understanding
Your smiles and laughter of a true wantok
You have sailed the rough Solomon seas with us
You have sat down and eaten our simple island food
Slept in our simple thatched huts, shared our struggles
A sea farer and a true wantok
Taken our images to the international world
To view and learn of our issue and how
We have become victims of climate change
Your legacy must continue to grow to new heights
Wantok we the people of Carterets will dearly
Miss telling you of our ordeals and sufferings
Miss your smiles and laughter
Miss your company sailing on the rough seas
But we will treasure these fond memories of you
Wantok your legacy will live on for a long time
May we meet again wantok
Nicholas Hansen:
I first met Pip when he guest lectured to our multimedia class at University. Pip shared his philosophy, working methods and technical understanding of cameras with great enthusiasm; he was inspirational and made documentary filmmaking accessible.
Many years later as we became colleagues I programmed his outstanding documentary 'Through the Wire' into a film event where it was voted audience favourite.
To me Pip saw fences not as a boundary and so he ventured far bringing back with him pertinent stories to share.
Tamara Jungwirth:
Around 2003 I saw Pip's documentary about the exploitation of coffee growers - how big corporations had pushed the price of coffee so low that family farms could not cover the cost of growing the coffee, but yet had few other options. And how there was a growing movement called Fairtrade Coffee, where coffee growers were paid a fair price that covered their costs and also enabled their children to go to school.
At that time I was a commercial manager at Melbourne Museum and I was inspired by Pip's film to introduce Fairtrade Coffee into the museum cafe so that 550,000 people in Melbourne could have the option of buying Fairtrade Coffee each year. We were the first museum in Australia to embrace Fairtrade Coffee. Now it's commonplace, with Starbucks and Gloria Jeans offering Fairtrade blends.
Hats off to Pip for his social action film making - creating big and little ripples in the most unexpected places.
The Sound of Outback Music, from Helen Hill:
"We have to go back along the Oodnadatta Track going home. I need to go to Alberrie Creek again and record playing on that big xylophone made out of bits of metal. I want Mark to hear the sound and use it for the music."
I wasn't thrilled at this news. Pip and I were in Alice Springs and about to head back to Melbourne. We had already driven along the Track getting there with a group from Friends of the Earth in three small buses while we travelled in Pip's Falcon sedan. The purpose of the trip was to see the effects of uranium mining in South Australia, meet other people who were protesting at the mining operations and be at a meeting about proposed nuclear waste dumps in Central Australia. To do this we had been camping, every night putting up our tents, setting up communal cooking areas, digging toilets then getting wood, cooking, eating and sleeping.
I hadn't visited this part of Australia before, the scenery and the atmosphere was mind-blowing. We had aboriginal people with us and met others along the way and heard their stories. Uncle Kevin Buzzacott is an Arabunna man from Central Australia and a Keeper of Lake Eyre. With him we visited some mound springs that he remembered from his childhood as bubbling out of the earth and flowing along the ground. We saw these at a trickle, the water from the Great Artesian Basin is being taken for mining operations at the rate of 33,000,000 litres a day. We had also visited the mine and seen the tailings dam where the water had been transformed to a dark, still pond, its clarity impaired for ever.
We had also met Yami Lester, a Yankunytjatjara man, who recalled that as a 12 year old he could remember a black cloud coming over him and his people that caused skin and eye irritations. A nuclear explosion had taken place at the Maralinga Testing Facility and the nomadic aboriginal people living in the area had not been told. When the authorities responsible found out their mistake, they were taken and scrubbed to remove the radiation that they must have absorbed. As well, their dogs were shot. Later, one of the group said that this was devastating for them, their dogs were their friends and companions.
Serious health problems developed, miscarriages, skin infections, ill-health. In Yami's case, he developed a serious eye irritation and a few months later, it was decided that this was was so serious, his right eye would have to be removed. He went to a hospital in Port Augusta where a huge mistake was made, they removed the wrong eye. The next operation removed the diseased eye.
Pip's task was to film the places we visited and the people we met. So he could have some flexibility, he needed his car. I was pleased that while travelling around we had been with other people, especially as his car was getting elderly. But I was also fully supportive of his dedication to making the very best film he could, to bring the sights and sounds of all we had seen and experienced to others. He and Mark had a great collaberative partnership, marked by respect for each other's talents. In his words, "I see music as the key element of structuring a piece. It also creates an emotional space for the audience to be in that words and pictures alone can't create."
So we retraced our steps. Pip had been to Alberrie Creek more than once, the first time in 1997 as part of "Earthdream". With like minded people they were with Robin Cook, an artist from Melbourne with a dream to create a sculpture park, later named "Mutonia Park". Its purpose is to remind us of the long term effects of uranium mining and the subsequent problems that develop with the disposal of waste. Each winter, Robin aims to install a new piece made from scrap metal and discarded materials. Railway lines and sleepers are often part of the creations as Alberrie Creek was a water stop on the old Ghan Railway, now rerouted since the train's conversion to running on diesel.
So we went back and it was wonderful. Being by ourselves we had a freedom to travel at our own pace, stopping where we fancied. He realised it was the time of the full moon and decided that he needed to get a shot of the moon rising over Uluru. So we did. Then we went to Alberrie Creek and we both played on the huge instrument, eight chunks of metal hanging from a frame making a music scale when belted with another chunk of metal. It was fun, in fact all the trip was fun, not the least was spending hours in the car, talking, singing, sometimes silent.
The film took a while to get finished, life took over when we got back, but it did get finished. It is another part of his legacy to all of us. I am so priveleged to have been a part of it.
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