Close to Slavery: Black Work in White History

Australia, 1988

Film

It was government policy for First Nations peoples in Australia to assimilate to the white ethics of education and work. Then came the mission stations, removal of children, forced labour often in the most deplorable conditions, exploitation and even when First Nations Australians were trained in skilled work through the mission stations, white Australians would not employ them - all this most comprehensively portrayed by the archival footage in this film.

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How to watch

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Previously on display

22 April 2019

ACMI Viewing Booths

Credits

creator

Open Channel Productions

Duration

00:10:32:00

Production places
Australia
Production dates
1988

Appears in

Group of items

Another day, another dollar: three short films about the history of work

Explore

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

B1006889

Language

English

Audience classifications

ACMI classified

Mediatheque - all ages (ACMI classified)

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Black and White and Colour

Holdings

MPEG-2 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - presentation

SP Betacam; Master

Digital Betacam; Sub-master

VHS [PAL]; Reference - timecoded

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/114231--close-to-slavery-black-work-in-white-history/ |title=Close to Slavery: Black Work in White History |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=26 March 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}