NAIDOC week 2016: More Indigenous faces in TV show positive cultural direction

BLACK AS
New series ★★★☆
Tuesday, iview.abc.net.au

It's been a long time coming, but finally black faces on the small screen feel like they've reached a kind of critical mass. Not that long ago, Aaron Pedersen observed that it seemed like there were only two indigenous actors in Australia – himself and Deborah Mailman – and there was some kind of unwritten rule that only one of them was allowed to be employed at any given time. He knew then that there was actually a wealth of talented indigenous actors out there who – for whatever reason – were simply not being given a chance.

The last two years have proved him correct. Redfern Now, the collaboration between the king of British kitchen-sink drama, Jimmy McGovern, and our own Blackfella Films, was unquestionably a tipping point. Suddenly we were seeing not just a token black face but an entire cast, in stories that were not about noble savages – or the Stolen Generation – but simply ordinary people living complicated urban lives.

Since then there's been a sort of magnificent avalanche: first the rumble, then the trickle, and now a cascade that this week includes the spine-tingling final episode of Cleverman (Thursday 9.30pm, ABC); a Vice documentary, Over Represented (Tuesday 9.30pm, ABC2); Miranda Tapsell in Love Child (Monday 8.30pm, Nine); Deborah Mailman in Offspring (Wednesday 8.30pm, Ten); a whole host of factual programming on dedicated indigenous channel NITV; and a fabulous new web series on the ABC's online portal, iview – Black As.

One of the forgotten gems of 2001 was David Batty's Bush Mechanics, a hilarious and rough-as-guts factual series following the adventures of a mob of indigenous blokes from Yuendumu keeping cars on the road by any means necessary. This time Batty takes us to Arnhem Land, Yolngu​ country, where four young chaps – Chico, Jerome, Dino and their "adopted" brother Joe (who's whiter than me) – attempt to go hunting in the wake of Cyclone Lam. It's all in Language, with brisk English subtitles, and each five-minute bite captures a stage in their adventures, beginning with resurrecting their favourite "hunting car" – a clapped out Suzuki Vitara brought back to life with the help of an axe, a lump of wood, and a wheel brace – and following them out into the Arafura Sea and home again. Almost completely unscripted (a couple of small scenes are clearly set up for comic effect) it's funny, surprising, utterly natural, and an effortless introduction to a way of life that's simultaneously thoroughly modern and deeply traditional.

There is absolutely nothing worthy about it. It's wonderful entertainment. And despite it depicting a way of life completely alien to most of the rest of Australia we're never at any time made to feel like gawkers – we're simply invited to join in the fun. There's a kind of confidence to it that's the bedrock of this new age of blackfella telly.

Rules and expectations have been completely overturned. Black stories might be fantastical and futuristic, like Cleverman. They might be part of the broader fabric of Australian society, like Love Child. They might be deeply rooted in indigenous culture, whether that's the kookiness of Black As or the heartfelt Songlines on NITV. Or we might simply have an indigenous actor whose Aboriginality is completely beside the point, like Deborah Mailman's Cherie in Offspring (or Pedersen's Cam in the Jack Irish series).

The cumulative effect is exhilarating. It provides a far more complete picture of Australia than we've ever had on the small screen. It says something really positive about the direction in which Australian culture is heading. Best of all, it's delivering some absolutely cracking TV.