The Forgotten
Glen Stasiuk | Australia 2003 | 40 min
The Forgotten examines the prejudice faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait soldiers in the armed forces and the honour they felt representing their nation. It is also a work that explains what prompted Indigenous people to risk their lives fighting to defend Australia even though they had every reason not to, given the backdrop of racism and intolerance they and their family members were forced to endure at home.
Glen Stasiuk was inspired by his family’s own history and the respect he felt for the Anzac “black diggers”. Consequently, The Forgotten contains a personal story about four Nyungar brothers from the South-West of Western Australia, one of whom is acknowledged as the first Aboriginal Soldier to receive a military medal in the First World War.
The Forgotten features war veterans and family member’s personal experiences and thoughts from both World Wars, as well as veterans who served in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf and East Timor.
[The Forgotten] is for [Aboriginal soldiers] and all the other Aboriginal people who have fought for our country and not gotten the recognition that they deserved.—Glen Stasiuk, director
The Forgotten is probably the first serious work committed to film that explains the contribution of Indigenous men and women for Australia during times of conflict.—National Indigenous Times
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Aboriginal veterans and family (WA)
Bevan Rankins - narrator |
| Release dates |
2003 - Australia |
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| Genre |
Documentary |
| Notes |
Glen Stasiuk is a maternal descendent of the Minang-Wadjari Nyungars (Aboriginal peoples) of the South-West of Western Australia and his paternal family are immigrants from post-war Russia.
Glen Stasiuk is director of the Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre at Murdoch University in Perth.
The Forgotten was part of Stasiuk’s honors project at Murdoch University in 2002.
Glen Stasiuk’s great uncle Augustus ‘Peg’ Farmer was one of the first Aboriginal soldiers to receive a war medal.
Another films by Glen Stasiuk: Weewar, which dramatises the first Nyungar man to be tried under white law.
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