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Message Stick TV
Mondays at 6pm, repeated on Sundays at 1.30pm on ABC Television
Saturdays at 6.30pm and Mondays at 8.30am on ABC2 Digital Television

The French Connection Monday 4 June
Musee Du Quai Branly is the new museum featuring Australia's Indigenous artworks in Paris, France.

'The French Connection' is a film which follows the key Aboriginal artists as they prepare their works to be featured in this new museum.

Their works were not simply hung on the walls, but woven into the construction of the building itself. It explores the interesting challenges in translating the works from its remote Australian roots into a form that could be incorporated into a contemporary building in a major city on the other side of the world.

From the Message Stick Kitchen:
This week we've selected a delicious meal of Emu Pie for you. Give it a try»

Indigenous Content on ABC TV

May 2007

• Lateline - New Indigenous housing scheme launched in NT Daniel Parry, (3 May 2007)
  A new Federal Government housing scheme will offer Aboriginal families a government loan if they can prove they are able to make repayments.
• 7.30 Report - Martin under fire from Indigenous parliamentarians Murray McLaughlin, (7 May 2007)
  Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin is facing a serious stand-off with Indigenous members of her caucus.
• Australian Story - William the Conqueror  (10 May 2007)
  From an infancy rocking in his playpen to the sounds of Elvis Presley, William Barton grew into a distinctive and multi-talented musician who is taking Australian indigenous music to the world.
• Lateline - Govt launches radical Indigenous welfare plan Tom Iggulden, (11 May 2007)
  Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough and Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson have moved to assure the community of Hopevale in far north Queensland that a radical new welfare plan will achieve results.
• Australian Story - William the Conqueror - Transcript  (14 May 2007)
  
• Lateline - Aboriginal leader urges Govt to consider reconciliation Michael Edwards, (22 May 2007)
  A prominent Aboriginal leader has called on the Federal Government to consider the symbolic aspects of reconciliation in a speech delivered ahead of the 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 referendum this Sunday.
• 7.30 Report - Govt pulls pin on town camp funding grant Murray McLaughlin, (23 May 2007)
  Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough has cancelled his offer of $60 million to upgrade Alice Springs' town camps, after traditional leaseholders baulked at the conditions of the grant.
• 7.30 Report - Web Extra: Extended interview with Noel Pearson  (24 May 2007)
  
• 7.30 Report - Mixed results for Indigenous rights, 40 years after referendum Deborah Cornwall, (24 May 2007)
  This Sunday will mark 40 years since the referendum in which Aborigines were finally given full citizenship rights.
• Lateline - Traditional owners offer NT land for nuclear waste dump Virginia Trioli, (25 May 2007)
  In a breakthrough for the Federal Government, traditional owners have offered their land in the Northern Territory as a potential site for the first nuclear waste dump in Australia.
• Lateline - Govt faces fresh attack over Indigenous affairs Narda Gilmore, (25 May 2007)
  Ten years after the landmark report into the stolen generations, the Federal Government is facing a fresh attack over its record on Indigenous affairs.
• Lateline - 40th anniversary of 1967 referendum approaches Suzanne Smith, (25 May 2007)
  This Sunday marks the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum granting the Commonwealth the right to make laws in relation to Aborigines and to count them in the census, but some are questioning whether the policies have done more harm than good over the years.
• Australian Story - Cry Me a River  (28 May 2007)
  Australian Story lifts the lid on a clash of ideologies over the future of some of the most spectacular and pristine areas of Cape York.
• Australian Story - Cry Me a River - Transcript  (28 May 2007)
  
• Lateline - Indigenous Aust remains discovered in European museum Danielle Parry, (29 May 2007)
  Six Aboriginal skulls have been found in Vienna among tens of thousands of human specimens.

IPU - Indigenous Documentaries

The ABC's Indigenous Programs Unit has over the last few years has produced a number of documentary series.

Primarily these have fallen under the banner of the National Indigenous Documentary Series which has resulted in three series played in prime time on the ABC. These have all been one off, half hour documentaries. The orginal Bush Mechanics was one of these films.

Recently we broadcast in the Reality Bites time slot a four part series entitled "Dreamtime to Dance" on a year in the life of NAISDA College, the Indigenous dance college based in Sydney.

Our aim is to produce powerful stories with a strong emotional resonance and engaging subjects.

Following an initial prime time screening the Indigenous Programs Unit documentaries are re-run in our weekly Sunday 1.30pm series Message Stick.

We are planning to produce more documentaries into the future although, it goes without saying that we are limited by budgetary constraints. These films are likely to be one off stories with a half hour duration.

If you have an idea for a Indigenous Documentary & would like to know more about how to go about sending in a Documentary Proposal to the ABC Indigenous Programs Unit then please feel free to submit your proposal