The Contribution of Aboriginal Trackers to Australian Landscape: A Review of One Night the Moon

Running head: THE BLACK TRACKER
The Black Tracker
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

1THE BLACK TRACKER
Introduction
The successive period of the British settlement in Australia was responsible for referring
the individuals to guide them in the Australian region. These individuals came to be known as
black trackers or aboriginal trackers. The black trackers used to lead a lifestyle of hunting and
gathering and therefore, they were well- acquainted with the navigation and routes. This guiding
skill became an advantage to help the settlers in finding proper place and food. The black
trackers were also able to help in finding out a missing person or fight against other native
groups to capture a specific area. In 1791, the European settlers in Australia recorded the
services of the black trackers as employment activities (Babidge 2016).
Based on the services of the black tracker, Rachael Perkins had directed the film, One
Night the Moon. The story of this 2000 era’s film took place in the region of Andyamathanha
land in Southern Australia. The film was inspired from the story of the black trackers or the
aboriginal trackers. This essay will deal with the contribution of the aboriginal tracker to
Australian landscape. The native population of men, women, children, youth and the elderly
person will be taken into consideration while outlining the essay (Cahir, Tout and Horrocks
2017).
Description
The indigenous and the native culture of the Australian aboriginals are considered to be
continuing from 60,000 years ago. They are the oldest living community and played a major role
in the development of Australian community. Black Tracker, the 1997 documentary was
concerned with the issue of the aboriginal tracker in the region of New South Wales in Australia.

2THE BLACK TRACKER
The story was based on the role played by an aboriginal in tracking and finding out a young boy
(Collins 2016). The film also dealt with the underlying issue of racism when the father of the
young boy refused to take help from a black tracker. The role of the aboriginals portrayed in this
documentary bears a sound evident that there is a grand contribution of the aboriginal people in
the life of the Australians. Among different native languages used by the aboriginals, 120- 150
are currently used where the aboriginal words are not captured by variety of dialects. Apart from
language, aboriginals have made major contribution in the arena of sports, theatre, art, tourism,
literature, music, education and politics. They have a rich background of traditional culture and
heritage and they have implemented the same for developing Australian community. This
characteristic of the aboriginals or the black trackers was portrayed in the form of documentary
and movies on which the essay is based. The movie went on a slightly different track by
selecting a girl to play the role of the lost child, whereas the original story included a young boy.
The director felt that the audience would better connect with the story of a missing child by
picturing a girl rather than a boy (Crittenden 2015).
Moreover, it was shown in the movie that the parents of the child were suggested to
consult a black tracker by the police department, as they were more efficient in tracking the wide
range of Australian region. They were acquainted with every lane and streets of different regions
in Australia and therefore, they will be able to carry out the search rapidly and efficiently than
the police. At this point of the movie, there was a hint of racism, which can be clearly related to
Australian aboriginals (Dunk 2017). The father of the young girl opposed the idea of hiring a
black tracker, which represented his racist character. He remarked that no black individual
should enter his land and it was directed at the dominance of the White Australians on the native
aboriginals. The movie progressed by showing that the voyage to find the lost child was started