From the Gove Peninsula down to Groote Eylandt, First Nations People have long been passing down stories of their ancestors’ trade with the Macassans from modern-day Indonesia. Now some traditional owners hope a new documentary will educate Australians about the ancient trading partnership to help address concerns about illegal fishing.
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00:00Under the Sulawesi sun, a young marine scientist helps reconstruct traditional ships it's believed
00:08her ancestors used to sail to the top end long before the British arrived.
00:18Across the Banda and Arafura seas, their stories were passed down in songlines to Yolngu leaders.
00:24Yolngu people would sit with macassans and draw in the sand and talk about locations, maps,
00:33you know, where to find water, access to food.
00:39The history of trade shown in rock paintings of Indonesian ships and early photographs of
00:44First Nations people in Southeast Asia. A new documentary screened in Bali and Darwin
00:50explores the two cultures' ongoing connections.
00:53A huge privilege to have so many different cultures and languages kind of involved in this.
01:01It's also really challenging at times on a language level.
01:04A recent spike in illegal fishing boats discovered in top end waters
01:08has caused alarm among traditional owners, with some hoping recognition of Indonesia
01:14and the Yolngu people's long ties will help foster mutual respect for sea country.
01:19We're very, I guess, protective, where Yolngu people were very open towards,
01:28you know, relationship building. We love to have schools seeing the film.
01:34Participating in the film was an educational journey for one of its stars
01:38who spoke to the ABC through a translator.
01:42Oh, we are deeper than we thought. This relationship is way much deeper than
01:47we understand. This relationship is beyond transactional.
01:52The team's now crowdfunding in hopes of screening the documentary around Indonesia.