Land of the Lightning Brothers

In the sandstone country, southwest of Katherine in the Northern Territory, lies a spectacular concentration of Aboriginal rock art. The Lightning Brothers, Yagjadbula and Jabaringa, with wide dark eyes and dramatically striped bodies are ancestral beings who in the Dreamtime helped shape the traditional land of the Wardaman Aboriginal people. This multi-award winning film shows how the Wardaman people see the Lightning Brothers as part of their living culture, and it features the music of “Gondwanaland”. Narrated by Bob Maza.

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

producer

Janet Bell

production company

Film Australia

director

David Roberts

Duration

00:26:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1987

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

300385

Language

English

Subject categories

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Legends

Aboriginal Australia → Art, Aboriginal Australian

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Aboriginal Australians - Legends

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Katherine (N.T.)

Crafts & Visual Arts → Art, Aboriginal Australian

Crafts & Visual Arts → Rock paintings

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Australia

History → Aboriginal Australians - Legends

Places → Katherine (N.T.)

Short films

Short films → Short films - Australia

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

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/79435--land-of-the-lightning-brothers-a/ |title=Land of the Lightning Brothers |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=26 September 2023 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Australia, 1987

Please note