Indigenous women in sport documentary released

Wurundjeri Women and Sport: Aunty Joy Murphy, a documentary about indigenous women in sport, has been released through Swinburne Commons.

Produced by a team of researchers at Swinburne, the documentary explores women, sport and how highly Wurundjeri people value their land and culture.

The documentary follows Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin AO, an Aboriginal Elder of the Wurundjeri people who has been involved with Aboriginal issues for more than thirty years.

Aunty Joy shares her insights into the past, present and future to give viewers informative stories about indigenous culture. Joy’s love of the land is expressed by showing the traditional everyday nature of women’s activities and sports.

“The film shows how Indigenous knowledge is embedded in narratives held by Elders,” says the film’s producer and Swinburne Professor of Writing Dr Josie Arnold.

Dr Arnold was inspired to create the documentary to show how narrative discourse is important to Aboriginal people and to the decolonisation of knowledge in the academy.

Swinburne’s Reconciliation Action Plan

Swinburne launched its Reconciliation Action Plan in 2014 and Vice-Chancellor Professor Linda Kristjanson is proud this documentary is another example of how Swinburne is working towards reconciliation.

“Our Reconciliation Action Plan was developed with the wisdom of our internal and external Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and Elders, including Aunty Joy,” Professor Kristjanson says.

“This documentary will give people an insight into a Wurundjeri person’s experience of sport in Australia.”

Wurundjeri Women and Sport: Aunty Joy Murphy is available at Swinburne Commons and will be made available through the Indigenous Knowledge Hub.

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