Director Judith MacDougall
Country/Production Australia /USA
Release 1980
Length 45 mins
Format Colour / VHS / PAL / All region
Location Austalia, Cape York Peninsula / Pacific
Ethnic Group Australian
Order No RAI-200.295
Sale Info See Film Prices General Collection
Hire Info See Film and Video Hire
When Geraldine Kawanka’s husband died, she and her children left their house at Aurukun on Cape York Peninsula. In earlier times a bark house would have been burnt, but today a ‘house-opening’ ceremony — creatively mingling Aboriginal, Torres Strait and European elements — has evolved to deal with death in the midst of new living patterns. Although sometimes suggesting a party, its underlying purpose is serious. This film records the opening of the house and Geraldine’s feelings about it in her informative and personal commentary.
