“The Whole World is Watching”: 1982

“The Whole World is Watching” (25 minutes)

The idea of the video was to mobilise support for the Aboriginal protests planned to coincide with the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982.

The filmmakers interviewed Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker), Gary Foley, Mick Miller, Josephine Sailor, Gwen De-mal Hall, Henry Collins, Lionel Fogarty, Norman Brown, Cheryl Buchanan, Gracelyn Smallwood, Erica Kyle, Reginald Dodd, Jenny Munro, Isabelle Coe, and Terry O’Gorman.

Alex Friel wrote the script which was read by Tiga Bayles on the sound track (both were prominent in Rock Against Racism and Murri Jama in Sydney at the time).

The finished video was “road showed” to Aboriginal communities between Sydney and Cairns in the lead up to the Brisbane Commonwealth Games (which were held between 30 September and 9 October 1982).

To view “The Whole World is Watching” go to the Radical Times Historical Archive and click on the thumbnail image shown above at position 16B.