Munda Nyuringu: he's taken the land. He believes it is his. He won't give it back.

Australia, 1984

Please note

Sorry, we don't have images or video for this item.

Aboriginal fringe dwellers of the goldfields of Western Australia tell their own story of what happened to their people when they were invaded by tens of thousands of miners in the great Kalgoorlie rush in the 1890s. The film then shows the living conditions of the survivors living in horrific poverty next to flourishing mining developments. The people speak of the destruction of their land, their failure to be compensated and of the kind of assistance they require for the sake of their children. The film concludes with the people telling the story of Maralinga and of those who died there - victims of the British atomic bomb tests. Includes cartoons by Bruce Petty. Cinematography by Marthat Ansara.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

co-producers/directors

Jan Roberts

Robert Bropho

production company

Aboriginal Fringedwellers

Impact Investigative Media Productions

Duration

00:50:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1984

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

016729

Language

English

Subject categories

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Land tenure

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Removal

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Western Australia

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Gold mines and mining

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Mining districts - Western Australia

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Kalgoorlie (W.A.)

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Maralinga (S. Aust.)

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Mining towns

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Australia

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Aboriginal Australians - Social conditions

History → Aboriginal Australians - History

History → History

History → Maralinga (S. Aust.)

History → Western Australia - History

Places → Kalgoorlie (W.A.)

Places → Maralinga (S. Aust.)

Short films

Short films → Short films - Australia

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)

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/78199--munda-nyuringu-hes-taken-the-land-he-believes-it-is-his-he-wont-give-it-back-a/ |title=Munda Nyuringu: he's taken the land. He believes it is his. He won't give it back. |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=21 May 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}