Steven McGregor
2021Servant or Slave
Steven McGregor
During the time of the Stolen Generations, thousands upon thousands of Aboriginal girls were taken from their families and pressed into domestic servitude by the Australian Government. They were supposedly employed as servants, but with total control over their movements, wages and living conditions, their lives all too frequently became an inescapable cycle of abuse, rape and enslavement, with consequences that echo powerfully to this day. Recounting the stories of five of these women – Rita, Violet and the three Wenberg sisters – Servant or Slave is a commanding piece of first-person testimony to a dark and unacknowledged corner of Australian history. Shot with admirable craft and humanity by documentarian Steven McGregor (Croker Island Exodus, MIFF 2012), Servant or Slave is a work of great sadness and urgency, bringing to forceful life the human tragedy of Australia's Indigenous history in the unadorned words of those who lived it.
Servant or Slave
Intervention 2 Years On
Steven McGregor
This impassioned documentary was rejected for broadcast by ABC TV as "biased" and lacking "balance". John Howard introduced the Intervention legislation in July 2007. Two years later, an official United Nations rapporteur on human rights, Professor James Anaya, described the policy as an "extraordinary measure which infringes on the rights and determinations of Indigenous People". In this film, two Aboriginal spokespersons - Barbara Shaw from the Mount Nancy Town Camp, Alice Springs, and Richard Downs from the Alyawarr Nation - give their views on the effect of the legislation over its first two years of operation. Their stories are accompanied by archival footage and news broadcasts of key moments in the history of the Intervention. Richard Downs speaks especially of the shame and humiliation that came with Howard's unsupported allegations of child abuse in Aboriginal communities, and of the disillusionment that came with the Rudd government's continuation of Howard's policies.
Intervention 2 Years On
Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky
Steven McGregor
Steven Oliver, Danielle Rankine
A new songline for 21st century Australia - a fresh look at the Cook legend from a First Nations' perspective - the songline tells of connection to country, resistance and survival and features the cheeky, acerbic and heartfelt showman - Steven Oliver and a host of outstanding, political Indigenous singer/songwriters.
Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky
5 Seasons
Steven McGregor
Moses Numamurdirdi
In these fast and modern times, the Numurindi people are still guided by the seasons and stories of the Dreamtime. This observational documentary focuses on Moses Numamurdirdi and his family's fight to hold onto their culture and ways in an ever-changing world.
5 Seasons
