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TOO MANY CAPTAIN COOKS

Year: 1988

Classification: G

Runtime: 18 min

Produced In: Australia

Directed By: Penny McDonald

Produced By: Penny McDonald

Language: Rembarrnga and Kriol dialogue, English subtitles

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In this film, Paddy Fordham Wainburranga of the Rembarrnga tribe from the centre of Arnhem Land in Northern Australia relates and paints the Rembarrnga history of Captain Cook.

For both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, Captain James Cook is a figure of great historical significance.

Non-Aboriginal histories of Australia generally regard Captain Cook as the person who discovered Australia, although historical records show that he was not the first European to step onto Australian shores.

Contemporary Aboriginal accounts of Captain Cook that survive bear little relationship to this history upheld by non-Aboriginal Australians. In Northern Australia white people are referred to in slang as 'Captain Cooks'.

Between Cook discovering Australia and Aboriginal people discovering Cook, there are clearly various historical truths.

For non-Aboriginal people, Cook is the progenitor of European settlement; for Aboriginal people he is the archetypal first white man to invade Australia.

The new era that Cook introduced is seen very differently by black and white Australians.

Produced and directed by Penny McDonald
Cinematography – Sarah Borsellino
Editing – Penny McDonald, Mary jane St.Vincent Welch
Songs by Roger Kelly Madarnggu, Paddy Forham Wainburranga, Joli Laiwonga

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