Welcome to Australia
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox television
| image = WelcometoAustralia.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Title card
| writer = John Pilger
| director = Alan Lowery
| starring = John Pilger
| narrator =
| music = Dominic Murcott
James Ambler
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| producer = John Pilger
Alan Lowery
| cinematography = Preston Clothier
| editor = Andrew Denny
| runtime = 50 minutes
| company = Carlton Television
| released = {{Start date|1999}}
}}
Welcome to Australia is a 1999 Carlton Television documentary, written and presented by John Pilger and directed and produced by Alan Lowery that demonstrates the injustices endured by Aboriginal Australian sportsmen and women who were, until recently, denied a place on Australia's olympic teams.{{cite web |title=Welcome to Australia |url=http://johnpilger.com/videos/welcome-to-australia |work=johnpilger.com |access-date=2010-06-11 }}{{cite web|url=http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/welcome-to-australia/ |title=Welcome To Australia |publisher=Top Documentary Films |access-date=22 December 2014 }}
Synopsis
In the build-up to the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics, Pilger finds that the elaborate preparations for the Olympics are overshadowing the reality of many Australia's Aborigines, who he argues continue to remain excluded, impoverished and mistreated in Australia.{{cite web|url=https://shop.abc.net.au/products/documentaries-that-changed-the-world-vol-2-john-pilgers-australia |title=Documentaries That Changed The World - Vol. 2: John Pilger's Australia |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=22 December 2014 }} The film uses sport as a mechanism to draw attention to and tell the story of the injustices endured by Aboriginal Australians while also arguing that Aboriginal Australians could have had a much more significant impact on Australian sport if they had not been deliberately prevented from doing so.{{cite web|url=http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/1999/sportsf/sf990924.htm |title=Heritage Sports At The Royal Shows |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=22 December 2014 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/sport-on-tv-shameful-past-of-australias-forgotten-black-athletes-1116024.html |title=Sport on TV: Shameful past of Australia's forgotten black athletes |last=Maume |first=Chris |work=The Independent |date=4 September 1999 |access-date=22 December 2014 }}
The documentary mentions the official recognition of the stolen generations with the release of the Human Rights Commission report Bringing Them Home. It reports on the ongoing prevalence of the eye disease trachoma within the Aboriginal community and the fact that Aboriginal life expectancy is 25 years less than for whites. Pilger says: "Civilisations are judged by how they treat all their people, especially the most vulnerable, who are often the bravest... Why is it not possible for a nation’s leaders to behave honourably towards less than 2 per cent of the population?"{{cite web |title=Welcome to Australia |url=http://johnpilger.com/videos/welcome-to-australia |website=johnpilger.com |access-date=9 June 2020}}
Production
Much of the information presented in Welcome to Australia comes from a book called 'Obstacle Race: Aborigines in Sport', written in 1995 by Colin Tatz. His view of Australia's treatment of Aboriginal athletes and the impoverished conditions faced by many Aboriginal Australians in 1999 lead Tatz to declare that Australia was not worthy of hosting the 2000 Olympics. Tatz argues that if China had made an issue of Australia's human rights record in the way in which Australia chose to make China's human rights an issue, it is unlikely that Australia would have been selected to host the games.{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/node/135845 |title=Welcome to another Australia |publisher=New Statesman |date=11 October 1999 |access-date=22 December 2014 }}
Reviews
"Whatever one may think of Pilger's style," stated Richard Ackland of ABC's Media Watch, "his film reminded us of a shameful and tragic history".{{cite web |title=John Pilger's "Welcome to Australia" |url=http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s57482.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010126191200/http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s57482.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 January 2001 |work=ABC Media Watch |access-date=2010-06-11 }}
Awards
| class="wikitable" |
| Ceremony
! Category ! Year ! Result |
|---|
| New York Festivals TV Programming & Promotion Competition
| National/International Affairs | 1999 |
| WorldFest - Flagstaff
| Television Documentary & Information Programme: Political/International Issues | 2000 |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/aug/21/weekend7.weekend?INTCMP=SRCH Fixed Race] by John Pilger at The Guardian
- {{IMDb title|1791680}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X316VZupQhs Welcome to Australia - Youtube]
{{John Pilger}}
{{Films and television series about Aboriginal Australia}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Welcome To Australia}}
Category:1990s English-language films
Category:1999 television specials
Category:British documentary television films
Category:Documentary films presented by John Pilger
Category:Documentary films about Aboriginal Australians
Category:Films set in New South Wales
Category:Documentary films about sportspeople