Madarrpa funeral at Gurka'wuy

In the small Aboriginal community of Gurka’wuy, 170 kms. south of Yirrkala, a baby dies. Subtitled “a way of coping with death in north-east Arnhem Land through ties of clan, religion and land”, this film, photographed by Dean Semler, depicts the three day long preparations for the funeral, and the funeral itself. The ceremonies, dances, songs and paintings are described in detail, as the child is symbolically returned to its clan lands further south.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Ian Dunlop

production company

Film Australia

Duration

01:28:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1976

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

303255

Language

English

Subject categories

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Northern Territory

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Rites and ceremonies

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Funeral rites and ceremonies

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

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Australia

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Ethnology - Australia

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - Australia

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Funeral rites and ceremonies

History → Funeral rites and ceremonies

Places → Yirrkala (N.T)

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/82117--madarrpa-funeral-at-gurkawuy-a/ |title=Madarrpa funeral at Gurka'wuy |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=10 June 2023 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Australia, 1976

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