[null, {"document_url": "https://itvs.org/films/first-australians", "unformatted_src": "https://cdn.itvs.org/first_australians-01.jpg", "src": "https://cdn.itvs.org/first_australians-01.jpg", "formatted_filename": "first australians", "alt_text": "First australians 01"}, null, {"document_url": "https://itvs.org/films/first-australians", "unformatted_src": "https://cdn.itvs.org/darren_dale-filmmaker-bio.jpg", "src": "https://cdn.itvs.org/darren_dale-filmmaker-bio.jpg", "formatted_filename": "darren dale filmmaker bio", "alt_text": "Darren dale filmmaker bio"}, null, {"document_url": "https://itvs.org/films/first-australians", "unformatted_src": "https://cdn.itvs.org/perkins_rachel-filmmaker-bio.jpg", "src": "https://cdn.itvs.org/perkins_rachel-filmmaker-bio.jpg", "formatted_filename": "perkins rachel filmmaker bio", "alt_text": "Perkins rachel filmmaker bio"}, null]
First Australians

Interviews, art and archival footage are combined to present the birth of contemporary Australia from the perspectives of its first peoples. Premiere Date
March 6, 2010
90 minutes
Funding Initiative

Show morefewer awards Darren Dale

Darren Dale is the current series producer of Australian Film Commission’s National Indigenous Documentary Fund of five half-hour documentaries. Darren previously produced two dramas, Mimi and Flat through Blackfella Films, which screened at international festivals including Sundance, Edinburgh, and Berlin. Prior to that was employed as a… Show more production manager at Australia’s public broadcaster SBS on Eat Carpet, Alchemy, and ICAM amongst other series. Show less Rachel Perkins

Rachel Perkins is an Aboriginal filmmaker from the Arrernte and Kalkadoon nations of Australia. She has independently produced and directed a number of documentary series and international co-productions and is currently directing and producing a nine-hour documentary series on the history of Aboriginal Australia titled First Australians. She has… Show more worked an executive producer at SBS and ABC TV, Australia’s two national television networks and is a founding member of the newly established Indigenous TV service in Australia. She has directed two dramatic features, Radiance and One Night the Moon, which premiered at Sundance in 2002. Show less

We fund untold stories for public media.

Learn more about funding opportunities with ITVS.


The Film

Produced by Australia’s top Aboriginal filmmakers, First Australians chronicles the birth of a country and the collision of two worlds. This epic story combines landscapes, interviews, art, and archival footage to present the birth of contemporary Australia from the perspectives of its first peoples.


Related Films