BURIED COUNTRY Where black Americans turned to the blues to express their stories, Australia’s Aboriginal people were drawn to country and western and made a special music all of their own. Buried Country reveals this largely untold story. It traces six decades of this rich musical tradition, using rare recordings and archival images, and first-hand interviews with singers and songwriters. What emerges is not only a celebration of the music itself, but a poignant record of indigenous Australia. 1 Warning. This film contains images and music of Australian Aboriginal people who have passed away. FILM AUSTRALIA LTD PRESENTS BURIED COUNTRY A FILM AUSTRALIA NATIONAL INTEREST PROGRAM PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH SBS INDEPENDENT Director ANDY NEHL Writer CLINTON WALKER Co-Writer ANDY NEHL Producer LIZ WATTS Executive Producer MARK HAMLYN Commissioning Editor, SBSI JOHN HUGHES Narrator KEV CARMODY Narration Written by CLINTON WALKER ANDY NEHL KEV CARMODY Based on the book, Buried Country by Clinton Walker published by Pluto Press Australia http//media.socialchange.net.au/pluto Many thanks to our participants AURIEL ANDREW TROY CASSAR-DALEY SLIM DUSTY COL HARDY ROGER KNOX JIMMY LITTLE BOBBY MCLEOD HERB LAUGHTON BOB RANDALL BILL RILEY LIONEL ROSE VIC SIMMS WILGA WILLIAMS GUS WILLIAMS THE FAMILY OF DOUGIE YOUNG GALARRWUY YUNUPINGU ERNIE BRIDGE KEVIN GUNN BUDDY KNOX & THE EURABA BAND without whom this film could never have been made The filmmakers regret that space did not allow us to mention the hundreds of other Indigenous country musicians from across Australia. Original Research CLINTON WALKER Editor KAREN JOHNSON Camera WARWICK THORNTON Sound Recordist LEO SULLIVAN Production Manager ANITA SHEEHAN Alice Springs Liaison NEVILLE KHAN Stills Photographers CORRIE ANCONÉ, CLINTON WALKER & ANDY NEHL Additional Camera SIMON HIGGINS, ROBERT HUMPHREYS Additional Sound Recording PAT FISKE Additional Research ANITA SHEEHAN Editor’s Assistant BILYANA SIBINOVSKI Assistant Sound Editor NIGEL CHRISTENSEN Music Mastering WARREN BARNETT, FESTIVAL RECORDS Sound Editor ANDREW BELLETTY Sound Mixer PHIL JUDD, PHILMSOUND Camera Gear & Lighting LEMAC Offline Edit Room FILM AUSTRALIA Transcriptions CLEVERTYPES Titles ANTHONY BATTAGLIA, BOX COMMUNICATIONS Online Operators DAVID TINDALE, CRAIG WILSON Grade PETER SIMPSON Post Facility FRAME, SET & MATCH FILM AUSTRALIA PRODUCTION UNIT Business Affairs Manager PATRICIA L’HUEDE Production Accountant FIONA WHITE Production Liaison KAREN SKEA & HARRY REE Production Assistant ROBERT BRENNAN Executive Producer’s Assistant SALLY CREAGH Program Promotions Manager SUSAN WILSON 2 BURIED COUNTRY – PRODUCTION STORY The idea for making Buried Country came from writer Clinton Walker who had been researching a book on Aboriginal country music for several years. “It was the passion I had for rock’n’roll that led me to its roots in country music and jazz and blues and, inevitably, to Afro-American culture”, says Clinton Walker. “I knew music could build bridges because it’s done it for me, but it wasn’t until the 1980s when I was working as a freelance music writer that I really became aware of Aboriginal Australia, when a wave of Aboriginal bands, in particular Warumpi, Coloured Stone and Roger Knox and Euraba, somehow penetrated Darlinghurst’s inner sanctum of indy rock. Warumpi Band’s debut single ‘Jailanguru Pukarnu’ in 1983 was the freshest blast of roots country-rock I’d ever heard – and I became, in a word, a fan. “I made the trek to Tamworth a few times in the eighties and we always made sure we caught Roger Knox and Euraba. To us – a mob of would-be urban cowboys – Roger Knox was an unsung black superstar. The fact that he is still an unsung superstar is a good part of the reason why this documentary came about. “I’d already edited a couple of books about Australian music, written Highway to Hell, a biography of AC/DC rock legend, Bon Scott, and other books, including one about Australian Rules football. In the mid-nineties I started work on Buried Country and came to realise the richness of this material which had, so far, been overlooked. It was probably at this point that I also realised the book had to become a film as well.” Clinton approached Andy Nehl to co-write and direct the Buried Country film. Andy Nehl had worked as a director, producer, writer and journalist in television and radio for the last two decades. “I love the music”, says Andy Nehl. “I already knew the music of Jimmy Little and Roger Knox. I’d been to their gigs and had interviewed Roger Knox for Beatbox back in 1986. I thought that the film would be a powerful vehicle for telling this fantastic story of Aboriginal country music to a broader audience. “Originally I was to produce and direct the film but when we took the project to Film Australia, the executive producer Mark Hamlyn, suggested I concentrate on directing. That’s when Liz Watts came on board as producer. 3 “The richness of the subject area and the material that Clinton and Andy had uncovered, really attracted me to this film” says Liz Watts. “I knew from my own enjoyment of music documentaries over the years, that this film had the potential to celebrate a musical history that has been hidden, and also take the audience into the lives and experiences of the artists themselves.” Andy Nehl continues.“I was working with an excellent team. Warwick Thornton is a fantastic cinematographer with a great eye – as you can see from the beautiful work in the film – and the sound recordist, Leo Sullivan did a great job. Karen Johnson our editor was also really invaluable and contributed a great deal to the finished film. Clinton Walker is a talented writer with a passion for the topic – he knows the music backwards – and Liz Watts’ experience ensured a very smooth production. She has the knack of never missing the smallest of details – and there are plenty of those in a film that uses so much music and archival material. “Shooting the film was exhausting but great fun – long days on the road for five weeks, six days a week – to Tamworth, Armidale, Newcastle, Broken Hill, Brisbane, Melbourne, Alice Springs, Nowra, Narooma and so on. “The collaboration and enthusiasm of the artists was extraordinary. The hardest part about this film was always hearing about more and more singers. Every community has great local country singers – there are hundreds out there that we couldn’t fit in the film. “We were really fortunate in receiving heaps of enthusiasm for the film from the artists themselves, who trusted us in sharing their musical lives and also their personal experiences. By the time we were editing we knew that we had enough material for a whole series of films! But of course, we wanted to delve into more detail with fewer artists, to get fuller stories of their music and experiences. “We decided to concentrate on the stories of the three main characters – Jimmy Little, Herb Laughton and Bobby McLeod. Their stories are the backbone of the film, reinforced with interviews from other artists like Vic Simms, Wilga Williams, Auriel Andrew, Bob Randall, Roger Knox, Lionel Rose and Troy Cassar-Daley. “Kev Carmody narrated Buried Country. He has been a musician for decades and, of course, knows many of these artists. He brought much of his own experience to the film and as well as being intricately involved in the writing of the narration, he was a consultant on different cuts of the film over the editing period. “Aboriginal country music and the changing social, economic and political conditions of each decade are inseparable. We didn’t set out to make a political film, but given the treatment Aboriginal people had experienced over the last 200 years, politics were, and continue to be, intrinsic to the music – whether it’s Jimmy Little singing about a Koori lad trying to get a 4 job and being rejected (a song Jimmy’s father wrote), or Bob Randall singing about being a stolen child, or Galarrwuy Yunupingu singing about land rights.” Clinton Walker continues: “This film is about two cultures intersecting. Getting to know this cast of characters was as rare a privilege. This film is a testament to these people – to their talent, determination, grace and generosity of spirit. We were greeted, uniformly, with enthusiasm and openness. I was humbled and often moved by the way these people could talk with humour, dignity and courage and without bitterness and anger. 5 “Aboriginal people have survived by holding fast to a sense of community, to extended family ties, to their stolen land. And this music has played an important part – but until now it’s been a story hidden from the wider community. Most musicians live on the road, touring, playing to the people, but movement was severely restricted for Aboriginal musicians – in Queensland, until as recently as the mid-seventies. As well, the very concept of collective ownership and responsibility discourages self-promotion. Songs are handed down and shared around only for the common good. In turn, until very recently, the record business didn’t exactly flock to Aboriginal music’s party. The recorded legacy is slim. Uncovering the story of the music and the people who make it is, first and foremost, why I have written the book (published by Pluto Press) and why we’ve made the film. Producer Liz Watts says that there was a period of intense archival research for Buried Country . “A lot of the research was based on the work Clinton had done over the years collecting material on an area he was so passionate about. Clinton, Andy, Anita Sheehan (production manager) and I went on to find more visual material in the archives of ScreenSound, AIATSIS, Film Australia and the ABC. Much of the footage was quite rare – like the scenes of the Gumleaf Band in Ken Hall’s 1933 film, The Squatter’s Daughter, and of tribal people listening to a gramophone at Haast’s Bluff. We had heaps of help from many people at the archives themselves, often from people who shared a bit of a soft spot for country music. “We also had plenty of co-operation from individuals. Mostly we found bits and pieces through word of mouth – people with boxes of photos and cassettes in their garages and that sort of thing. Because they are part of such personal histories, these rarer materials added great weight to the stories in the film. Often the artists had collections of their own, and their contributions to the film are wonderful. “The various music labels were also great. Festival Records was very co-operative allowing us to access their archives and they re-mastered much of the music for us. Of course, other major labels like EMI, BMG and smaller country music labels were of tremendous assistance in piecing together the music.” Buried Country will have its premiere screening at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2000 and is slated to go to air on SBS-TV later in the year. 6 BIOGRAPHIES ANDY NEHL Director/Co-writer Prior to Buried Country, Andy Nehl worked variously as a director, producer, journalist and writer over the past two decades. His film and television credits include: the documentaries Media Rules for SBS TV and Antarctica - The Money Or The Gun On Ice for ABC TV; and the television programs Beatbox, Blah Blah Blah and Attitude for ABC TV, Denton and Paul Keating Unplugged for the Seven Network, The Real Election for Network Ten and Mouthing Off for thecomedychannel. Since completing Buried Country Andy has joined the Australian Film, Television and Radio School as Head of Television for 2000. Director/Co-Writer BURIED COUNTRY Documentary 75 mins, Film Australia/SBSI, SBS TV (1999 – 00); Producer/Writer, MOUTHING OFF PILOTS for ABC TV Artist Services/ABC TV (1999); Interviewer/Field Director HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN ROCK’N’ROLL 6 x 1 hour Documentary Series – ABC TV (1998 – 99); Producer, THE REAL ELECTION (2 x 30 min comedy specials on the 1998 Federal Election) Screentime/ Network TEN (1998); Producer/Writer, MOUTHING OFF series 1, 2, 3 & 4 Artist Services/ thecomedychannel Foxtel/Galaxy (1996-1998); Co-Director/Co-Producer, MEDIA RULES Documentary 86 mins TVG Communications/SBSI SBS TV Winner 1996 ATOM Award Best Education in Context Documentary (1996); Editorial Producer, PAUL KEATING UNPLUGGED 30 mins Eastway Communication/ Seven Network (1995); Associate Producer, DENTON show Eastway Communication/ Seven Network (1994); Director, ANTARCTICA — THE MONEY OR THE GUN ON ICE Comedy Documentary 68 mins ABC TV Winner of Bronze Medal New York Festival 1994 (1993-94); Senior Producer, ATTITUDE series 1 & 2 ABC TV Winner of United Nations Human Rights Committee Media Peace Prize 1994 for the program "Indigenous Culture" (1993); Project Coordinator/Co-Executive Producer STOMPEM GROUND '92 (7 hour live national simulcast of Aboriginal music & dance from Broome WA) ABC TV, Triple J Network, ABC Regional Radio (1992); Station Manager, TRIPLE J NETWORK (1988-92); Program concept originator, Producer/Researcher & Interviewer BLAH BLAH BLAH series 1 & 2, ABC TV (1987-88) Reporter BEATBOX 1985, Reporter/Director BEATBOX 1986, ABC TV (1985-86); 7 LIZ WATTS Producer Liz Watts has been working in the film and television industry for over 10 years. Originally from a cinematography background, she moved into the production area where she has been working on a range of projects from dramas to high-end quality documentary series over the last 4-5 years. Positions held have included work at Beyond Television, Film Australia and Southern Star Entertainment, where her role as development and production manager encompassed budgeting, assessing scripts for production financing, scheduling and overseeing the development of projects, as well as supervising production on a long running children series. In 1997 Liz co-founded Porchlight Films Pty Ltd in order to develop and produce independent productions including dramas and documentaries. In 1998 Liz produced an ABC/FFC documentary, The Pitch, which enters the ‘war rooms” of a Sydney advertising agency and Island Style, a documentary for SBS financed through the FFC, looking at Sydney’s growing population of Islander youth and their music. Liz completed production on Help Me in 1999, a short drama financed through the AFC which was a finalist in the 1999 Dendy Awards, and has screened at Telluride in the US amongst many other Festivals around the world. Liz most recently produced the Film Australia documentary, Buried Country which focuses on Aboriginal country music in Australia over many decades. She is now working on a half hour drama for SBS Independent, Delivery Day, and is developing amongst other projects, a feature film, Live and Die (Director Tony Ayres) with support from the AFC and SBS Independent. 8 CLINTON WALKER Writer Clinton Walker has been a writer for over 20 years. In that time he has published five books and is now recognised as one of Australia’s most acute and colourful commentators on popular culture and music. He originated the Buried Country project, co-writing the script for the film and writing the book, his sixth, for simultaneous release by Pluto Press, as well as producing the 2CD soundtrack for Larrikin Records. After dropping out of art school in Brisbane in the mid-seventies, Clinton was inspired to write by the D-I-Y ethic of punk. His first book, Inner City Sound (Wild & Woolley, 1981), is now regarded as a classic. During the eighties, Walker worked constantly as a freelance journalist for The Age, Rolling Stone, The Bulletin, Playboy, New Woman, Follow Me, Stilleto and Ram. He’s also lived the low-life. He has worked in food as infrequently as possible; more often he has worked as a DJ. In 1987, he played the Tamworth country music festival as a member of the hillbilly-grunge band The Killer Sheep, and was run out of town. In 1990, Walker moved to Sydney’s inner-west. In 1991, he was married. In 1994, he had his first child, and Pan-Macmillan published his third book, the biography of Bon Scott, Highway to Hell and in 1996, Stranded: The Secret History of Australian Independent Music, and in 1998, Football Life. Walker has won no prizes, has never been asked to write a column and never appeared on a TV opinion show. He is currently working as co-presenter of ABC-TV late-night live music show Studio 22. 9 THE MUSIC “Blackman’s Stories” Written by Buddy Weston Performed by Roger Knox & The Euraba Band Courtesy of Opal Records “Royal Telephone” (Trad) Arr H. Saunders, R. Iredale, T.Tycho Performed by Jimmy Little © 1963 Crown Publishing Pty Ltd. All rights by Belinda Music Aust. Pty Ltd under license by EMI Music Publishing Aust. Pty Ltd Licensed from Festival Mushroom Group “I’m Happy in The Land Where I was Born” Written by H. ‘Smokey’ Dawson Performed by Jimmy Little © 1953 Allans Music (Aust) Pty Ltd under license by EMI Music Publishing Aust. Pty Ltd Licensed from Festival Mushroom Group “Give the Koori Lad A Chance” Written by Jimmy Little Snr Performed by Jimmy Little Courtesy of Jimmy Little “The Black & White Cat” (Trad.) Performed by The Brown Brothers under Control “Gumleaf players” From the film The Squatters Daughter Courtesy of Cinesound Movietone Productions “Mule Skinner Blues” Written & Performed by Jimmie Rodgers Courtesy of Peermusic Australia & BMG Music Pty Ltd “Noah’s Ark” Written by Gene Autry & Smiley Burnette Performed by Gene Autry from the film The Phantom Empire courtesy of Movieland & Universal Music Publishing “Cream in Between” Written & Performed by Tex Morton © Courtesy of ABC Footage Sales & EMI Music Publishing Aust. Pty Ltd “The Plains of Peppimenarti “ Written & Performed by Slim Dusty from the film The Slim Dusty Movie Courtesy of Slim Dusty, Joy McKean Kent Chadwick & EMI Music Publishing Aust. Pty Ltd “Old Aboriginal Stockman” Written & Performed by Herb Laughton Courtesy of Herb Laughton “Ghan to Alice” Written & Performed by Herb Laughton Courtesy of Herb Laughton “Baby Blue” Written by J. Bouwens Performed by Auriel Andrew from the film, Frontiers Downunder, The Country Outcasts Courtesy of Film Australia Footage Library & © 1974 Witch Music/EMI Music Publishing Holland BV, Licensed by EMI Music Publishing Aust. Pty Ltd “Love’s Gonna Live Here” Written by Buck Owens Performed by Auriel Andrew From the television show, Reg Lindsay’s Country Hour © 1963 Blue Book Music Inc. All rights by Belinda Music (Aust) Pty Ltd under license by EMI Music Publishing Aust. Pty Ltd & Reg Lindsay & Geoff Mack “Cut A Rug” Written & Performed by Dougie Young Courtesy of AIATSIS & the Young Family “ Just A Closer Walk with Thee” Trad: Arr N. Gilmour Performed by The Assang Brothers under Control “Brown Skin Baby” Written & Performed by Bob Randall Courtesy of Bob Randall & ABC Footage Sales “I Thank You” Written by John Young Performed by Lionel Rose © Chappell Morris Ltd. Used by kind permission of Warner Chappell Music Australia Licensed from Festival Mushroom Group “Jackson’s Track” Written by Laurie Allen Performed by Lionel Rose Published by Festival Music Pty Ltd Aus. Licensed from Festival Mushroom Group “Gurindji Blues” Written by Ted Egan Performed by Galarrwuy Yunupingu Courtesy of ABC Footage Sales & BMG Music Pty Ltd “Namatjira” Written by Slim Dusty & Jim Wesley Performed by Gus Williams from the film Frontiers Downunder, The Country Outcasts Courtesy of Film Australia Footage Library © 1964 EMI Music Publishing Aust. Pty Ltd “Stranger in My Country” Written & Performed by Vic Simms Courtesy of Vic Simms 10 “Wayward Dreams” Written & Performed by Bobby McLeod Courtesy of Bobby McLeod “Malabar Mansion” Written by Dave Duncan Performed by Mac Silva Courtesy of Enrec Studios (control) “Midnight Special” Written by Leadbelly Performed by Mac Silva from the film Frontiers Downunder, The Country Outcasts Courtesy of Film Australia Footage Library & Rondor Music Australia “Black & White Tangle” Written by Terry Hall Performed by Col Hardy Courtesy of Prime TV & Festival Mushroom Records “Koori Rose” Written by Merv Lowry Performed by Roger Knox & The Euraba Band Courtesy of Steve Newton under Control “Waljar, Jiddin Jiddin” Written & Performed by Kevin Gunn Courtesy of ABC Footage Sales, Goolarri Media Broome & Kevin Gunn “Streets of Tamworth” Written by Harry Williams Performed by Roger Knox & The Euraba Band Courtesy of Yeldah Music “Streets of Old Fitzroy” Written by Harry Williams Performed by The Country Outcasts Courtesy of Yeldah Music & BMG Music Pty Ltd “The Resurrection” Written & Performed by Bobby McLeod Courtesy of ABC Footage Sales & Bobby McLeod “Guitar Instrumental” Performed & arranged by Harry Williams Performed by The Country Outcasts from the film Frontiers Downunder, The Country Outcasts Courtesy of Film Australia Footage Library “Blue Gums Calling Me Back Home” Written by Harry Williams Performed by The Country Outcasts Performed by Roger Knox & the Euraba Band Courtesy of Yeldah Music, Hadley Records “One Big Land” Written by T. Cassar-Daley, G. Porter, C. Buchanan Performed by Troy Cassar-Daley Courtesy of Troy Cassar-Daley, Rondor Music and Warner/Chappell Music Publishing “Yorta Yorta Man” Written & Performed by Jimmy Little Courtesy of Jimmy Little Soundtrack available through Larrikin / Festival, Australia ARCHIVE FOOTAGE AND MATERIALS COURTESY OF ABC Footage Sales Screensound Australia CAAMA Productions Filmworld Goolarri Media Enterprises Broome Cinesound Movietone Productions Gaylord Entertainment USA Festival / Mushroom Group Film Australia Footage Library Alick Jackomos Collection, Audio-Visual Archives, AIATSIS Kirby Collection, Audio-visual Archives, AIATSIS The Australia Council BP Australia Ltd Wanda Braybrook Excerpt from “The Slim Dusty Movie” courtesy of Kent Chadwick , Slim Dusty & Joy McKean Excerpt from “Yothu Yindi: Tribal Voice” courtesy of Mushroom Pictures National Trust of Australia, Alice Springs W. Boehm collection The Hon. Mr Justice B.S.J O’Keefe, AM Russell Kennedy, Ross Close - ONSET Productions Prime TV Quadrant Magazine The Seven Network The Hon J.J. Spigelman, QC NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND IMAGES REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF John Fairfax Holdings Ltd News Ltd Northern Daily Leader Country Music Association, Nashville, USA Fairfax Photo Library Centralian Advocate Department of Aboriginal Affairs Ian Hands Jimmy Little Moviebank 11 THANKYOU TO THOSE WHO SUPPLIED ADDITIONAL MATERIAL Patricia Davis-Hurst Enrec Studios Hadley Records Cole Joye Geoff Mack & Reg Lindsay. Opal Records Heather Perryman Evelyn Silk Brian Young Margo Young AND THEIR OWN PERSONAL RESEARCH James Wilson Miller Chris McGuigan MANY THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING FOR THEIR HELP IN MAKING THIS FILM Maisie Kelly Simon Drake Qantas Airways Gary Seeger, Festival Records Warren Fahey Belinda Yates, EMI Music Alana Harris AIATSIS AND Tiga Bayles, Korina Ashbrook, Mark Bin Bakar, Blackbutt Reserve Newcastle, Buddy & the Knox Family, Paul Boyd, Caroline Brown, Geoff Brown, Ernie Bridge, Jacqueline Bethel, CAAMA Radio, Steve Cannane, Buddy & The Knox Family, The Central Land Council, Clohesy Country Gardens, Kuranda, Australian Country Music Foundation, Country Music Association Aust., Country Music Gallery of Stars, Tamworth, Leon Concannon EMI, Martin Delaney, Department of Corrective Services - Bob Stapleton and John Patridge, Elizabeth Durack, Ted Egan, Wendy Farley, Sally Galway, Erika Glynn, Friends of Edithvale Wetlands, The Golden Guitar Tamworth, Kevin Gunn, Gavin Jones Communication, ICAM SBS, Dalys Jacobsen, David Jowsie, Dempsey Knight, Sashka Koloff SBSI, La Pa Lapa Aboriginal Land Council, Mayfield Ex-Serviceman’s Club, Marj Little, Matthews Music, Joy McKean, Melbourne Water, Menindee Land Council, Merrimans Land Council, Dolly Morcillo, Narooma Kinema, Neville Progress Association, Newcastle City Council, Steve Newton, Adler and Rosemary at Northern Land Council, Parks & Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory, Kathleen Phillips, Jim Ridgeway, Archie Roach, Eric Scott, Vanessa & Angela at Sony Music, Chris Sullivan, Tiddas, Tamworth City Council, Doug Trevor, Ian Walker, The Warumpi Band, Diana Williams, Sue Wye, Governor of Bathurst Prison and Robbie Young Music Licensing LIZ WATTS Music Consultant CLINTON WALKER © Film Australia 2000 12