VOICE OVER: Standby

PRESENTER: In February 2011 in remote northern Australia…

HARRY MUNKARA: Tiwi Design Arts and Craft.

PRESENTER: …an innovative mobile journalism program…

RON POANTUMILUI: The catholic nuns have always been a part of our lives.

PRESENTER: …gave a group of Indigenous people living in isolated communities…

GERALD YAWULKPUY: Every Monday to Friday.

PRESENTER: …the technology and the skills to enable them to tell mobile stories from their own perspective.

RON: It’ll be proud for my mum and dad.

PRESENTER: The program was called NT Mojo.

The NT Mojo pilot program was developed because powerful new media technologies may be one way to help Indigenous communities to become less marginalised.  Australian Government support made it all possible. All the project needed was a long-term partner to give it a home in the NT and we found that here an hour’s drive south of Darwin.

IVO BURUM: It’s been a positive response from everybody. Everybody wants to do it. Unfortunately we’ve only got room for six: three remote service delivery communities and three non.

PRESENTER: But for the project to work, the team had to find the right mojos.

IVO: Anybody can operate a camera – we know that – but what we’re going to be teaching them is how to tell stories. It’s not just about the technology but the technology is so strong in this little device, it means everything we know as film makers we can now do on this.

LYNDA MCCAFFERY: We need to purchase some stuff really fast. We have to get the phones. If we don’t have the phones we can’t do the project.

PRESENTER: Fortunately one of the mojos tools, the iPhone 4, was just that: a readily available phone.

HELEN BROWNING: It’s very exciting because it takes away a lot of the technology barriers. It means that storytelling is a lot more accessible and also, in terms of distribution, the fact that you can edit in camera and upload it.

PRESENTER: That’s a real plus in remote communities like Ramingining.

XAVIER ESPAIU: At the same time we can record the voice.

PRESENTER: Satellite communication arrived here and in other isolated NT communities in the late 80s, and was followed closely by remote broadcast centres like this one. This created new job opportunities for local people.

GERALD: Yo, good afternoon Ramingining – ummm – a reminder…

PRESENTER: NT Mojo is a modern and more personal method of creating locally produced media content.

LOUIS KANTILLA: Editing the stuff on this little gadget, you can do it by your hands, you know.

GERALD: Xavier has been here for three years…

LOUIS: Maybe you can go out fishing and just do your editing while you just throw the line. Yeah, it’s great, you know. I wouldn’t mind have those things back home.

PRESENTER: But just getting to Louis home to find the mojos was no easy task in the wet season. Helen and Ivo visited nine remote communities in the Northern Territory – Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island in the north, Gapuwiyak and Galiwin’ku in the east, Anurugu on Groote Eyelandt, Numbulwar and Ramingining in Central Arnhem Land and Lajamanu in the south.

The wet season meant that flying was the only way in except for Daly River. The local community had selected four possible mojos: Jonathan, Jasmine, Desmond and Thomas.

In Lajamanu, a day’s drive south into the western desert, JP turned up to hear about becoming a mojo.

IVO: One or two short stories every week.

PRESENTER: In Numbulwar on the Gulf of Carpentaria, the team met Richard, Rudolph and Delvina.

On Bathurst Island, Harry and Ron were interested in the project.

IVO: And so we’ll plan that story out a little bit.

PRESENTER: On Galiwin’ku it seemed like half of Elcho Island wanted to know how to become a mojo.

IVO: I’m here to talk with you about a new project we call NT Mojo. What this project is about is trying to empower communities to make their own stories. We are going to show you how to make stories on the iPhone. And what’s your name?

JONATHAN: Jonathan.

IVO: Jonathan.

DESMOND: Desmond.

IVO: Why do you think this is important for your community?

WILFRED: I think it can give a better view on our community and how other people can see what’s happening in our community.

PRESENTER: And what the world would see is stories edited and published by the mojos, on the World Wide Web.

JP: What’s your name?

HELEN: My name is Helen Browning.

RICHARD RILEY: What was your name again?

IVO: Ivo

GERALD: What’s mojo mean?

IVO: Mobile journalist.

SHARON GAYKAMANGU: What is your name?

GERALD: What’s your job?

SIFORA: Journalist?

GERALD: Is that something like news?

IVO: We teach you to make your own stories, so if some news people want some stories they may come to you and say, “Hey Gerald, can you get us a story? We’ll pay you for it.”

SABRINA NAYARRI: And I was praying for this job. One lady told me we got job, multimedia job. She tell me, that old lady. And I was, “Thank God.”

PRESENTER: While Sabrina was getting guidance from above, Gerald saw mojo as an opportunity to deliver messages at a local level.

GERALD: Smoking gunja, drinking kava – that’s no good. That’s killing myself. So I want to be someone.

BRENDAN YUNUPINGU: It’s the good work to tell stories all over the world.

IVO: I’m thinking the boy that had the black shirt on, because he was a leader out there when they were doing that funny little video together. And one of the two girls. Both girls are great.

MAVIS: I think that’s a great opportunity for young people to be doing something – that there is something there for them that they can learn, and get something out of it, keep them off from the mischief. The sniffing and all that sort of things that’s happening here. And I’m really happy – very, very happy to see these sort of things happening for young people.

PRESENTER: After four weeks of extensive searching the team had finally found their mojos.

MOJO GROUP: Hello, we’re Galiwin’ku mojos.

PRESENTER: Brendan and Sabrina from Galiwin’ku and seven others from across the NT.

JASMINE PATRICK: Hi, my name is JP and I’m the new mojo in Lajamanu.

RUDOLPH WURRAGWAGWA: Hi, my name is Rudolph Wurragwagwa and I’m the new Numbulwar mojo.

RICHARD: And I’m from Numbulwar and my name is Richard and I’m here to show you my community.

HARRY: My name is Harry Munkarra. I’m taking part in the NT Mojo.

RON: Hi, my name is Ron and I’m from Tiwi Island, Wurrumiyanga

SHARON: Hello, my name is Sharon and I’m the new mojo in Ramingining community.

GERALD: My name is Gerald Yawulkpuy and I’m the new mojo in Ramingining, so stay tuned

PRESENTER: Back at Batchelor, Nicole was putting the final touches to the mojo production kits.

NICOLE OSTINI: There’s quite a lot of bits and pieces to put together and equipment to try and sync up to make sure everyone has got what they need.

HELEN: I know this is the third time I’ve rung but we have a problem now.

PRESENTER: NT Mojo was a world first and the clock was definitely ticking.

HELEN: It’s Friday afternoon. The mojos arriving as we speak.

LYNDA: Thank you so much for agreeing to be part of this. It’s so exciting for us. We have got a strong sense that this is going to be the way in the future that Indigenous people make stories. It may well be a complete change in direction for this little unit as well.

IVO: It’s about your stories. It’s about trying to change the balance, in the way that stories are made from remote communities. We want to give you an opportunity to make your own stories from a very different perspective.

HARRY: It’s very important that we understand journalism because it tells us everything. A lot of companionship with the storytelling. Mojo workshop is a new thing for me. It’s all about to tell stories. The stories could be anything. It could be a dreamtime story. It could be a story of football, a story about an art centre.

OLD MAN: The biggest snake we call it…

HARRY: …or it could be a person.

OLD MAN: This one is part of my dreamtime story.

HARRY: Story is very important.

OLD MAN: It’s like my little child.

HARRY: It’s passed on from generations and generations. My grandfather always told me stories and I tell my young ones.

IVO: I hope with each one of you we will have worked out two or three stories and then you will work with your support people like Ella, like Louis to help develop those stories a bit more.

PRESENTER: So with support people offering encouragement, mojos began developing their stories.

HARRY: I can see what you mean. Like who that was, John…

IVO: …Pye. But he’s not around anymore is he? No. So who are you going to get to talk about this story?

HARRY: Sister Anne.

IVO: Sister Anne. Good.

HARRY: I’d love to talk a lot and I could write it down on a piece of paper and use it to show and tell stories again and again

PRESENTER: Like some of the mojos, Sabrina found storyboards worked best for developing her ideas.

SABRINA: Go back to Elcho, ask my friends to acting.

GIRL: Let’s go get some petrol.

GIRL: Okay, I’m coming.

GIRL: Okay, let’s go.

SABRINA: And also ask my grandfather for that stories. My great grandfather said this is happening because many of our young people have lost touch with our traditional way of life.

GRANDFATHER: The olden day life was the natural life. Olden day life was a life of nature. There’s no drugs, no anything.

ELLA: You’ll find the biggest one.

NICOLE: It’s a fusion between arts and football.

IVO: Then get them off the sniffing and the drugs.

NICOLE: Art is on show.

IVO: Where? Numbulwar in the sea?

NICOLE: The sportsmen are on show.

IVO: Why do they do it?

ELLA: His totem is the turtle, but he can’t catch it until Henry says yes he can get it.

PRESENTER: This was two way learning at its best: the mojos received journalism skills and they gave the team a glimpse into an ancient way of life.

OLD LADY: [in language] We teach our children about the bush, our traditional way of life.

SABRINA: They are learning the right way to live at a young age.

OLD LADY: [in language] Come here and learn with us.

GERALD: What’s the culture mean? To tell outsiders in the world, to tell outsiders what is culture. That was Brian Adams. Best [language] of me. So [language] just give me a call. Culture is very special for us. We can teach kids not to do bad things through mojo work.

XAVIER: When you have to think about what you are going to put in your story, the five W’s, they really start to think about what they want to say. That mean that they will have forgotten something but because they have to do the five W’s there is no way out – they have to do all the things and then the story looks good. And he says, “Oh yeah, I forgot about my uncle and that’s the ‘who’,” and so on.

IVO: And you did it all yourself. With you. Well, there’s our first story. Well done mate.

PRESENTER: In fact, during training our nine mojos developed.

IVO: 12, 13, 14…18, and I know that JP’s got another six. Good work. Thanks mate. Thank you for all your help today.

HARRY: Thank Louis for supporting us, Louis.

IVO: Really good day. I just can’t wait for the next couple of days.

PRESENTER: With initial journalism training over it was time to get the mojos working.

To enable the mojos to control every stage of production, Ivo developed a mojo training package that included a production kit.

HARRY: Hi, my name is Harry Munkarra. I’m taking part in NT Mojo.

PRESENTER: The kits are based around the iPhone 4 and developed to make mojos self-sufficient in remote locations.

GERALD: Yo, good, eh. My name Gerald [language].

IVO: The Owle is an important part of the production kit. The iPhone 4 slots into the Owle with this extra-wide lens. It’s much better for filming and it also is a sturdy device that enables smooth pans and tilts. Into the Owle 4 we plug a little mini directional mic that can be swivelled around and helps the audio quality. We have a light – a rechargeable light that screws into the top of the Owle.

SHARON: Hi, my name is Sharon and I’m taking part in a mobile journalist workshop.

PRESENTER: Critical to the process is the 1^st Video editing app. This enables mojos to edit their own stories right on the phone.

Ivo: Down to 35.

PRESENTER: With help from trainers…

IVO: Make the wide shot smaller than the gap.

PRESENTER: …and community support people, the team was quickly walking away, and leaving the editing in their hands.

IVO: You can move it left or right, okay.

LOUIS: Small mojo, portable, digital, you know, that screen is better than camera where you take out a cassette and do it in a mixer, computer. But this little gadget, you can do everything, you know, just like that, just snapping the fingers, bang, you can do it.

PRESENTER: Indigenous stories…

RON: Have you got a story you want to tell?

PRESENTER: …made by Indigenous people for a global audience.

GERALD: So be proud Yolongu.

HARRY: Thanks Ivo. May in the future it will be a good thing for my community.

PRESENTER: And that’s where trainers were headed to complete mojo training, back to communities like Wurrumiyanga, on Bathurst Island in the Arafura Sea.

PRESENTER: Wurrumiyanga is home to Ron and Harry, who are already hard at it, recording their first story.

HARRY: I’m here standing outside one of the oldest art centres in the NT. This is the story I’m going to tell you today. Let’s take a look. Tiwi Arts and Craft started 30 years ago. Today it’s the place where people come to see and buy our arts and craft.

PRESENTER: Like many of the mojos, Harry’s first story focused on culture and specifically the role Tiwi art plays in passing on tradition.

HARRY: For these two sisters it’s all about keeping the culture strong for the young ones.

SISTER: It’s important to teach our younger ones so that when we pass away then their turn to carry on.

PRESENTER: This transfer of knowledge is exactly what’s happening here in Lajamanu, in the centre of Australia, where JP is recording the exchange of an ancient art form.

JP: This is Jerry Jungala and Doi Jungarai, and they are working and helping each other to make that Kurlumpurrungu at the arts centre. Kurlumpurrungu was used in the early days and it was lost in our days. It’s very important that our generation has to learn from our fathers and our grandfathers.

JERRY JUNGALA: [in language] Warnayaka people have made one of these so they can use it in a ceremony called Jalurinjirri.

JP: Kurlumpurrungu has its own songline and Jerry is sharing that knowledge to the kids by singing it.

JERRY: [Singing]

JP: Having that knowledge within you, it helps you know who you are and where you’ve come from.

PRESENTER: Showcasing his pride in where he comes from was Ron’s aim, when he chose to make My Island Home.

RON: Our tourist season starts next week, so I’m your private tour guide and I’ll show you my favourite spots around the island.  The catholic nuns have always been a part of our life. And this museum is one of my favourite places here. Sister Anne has been with us for 50 years. She taught my whole family.

SISTER ANNE: Ronny, you should know this man here, because this is your father and he was a great, great mission worker.

RON: All the old stories, all the old photos of my people makes me feel happy inside me – makes me feel proud of our people.

PRESENTER: In Numbulwar, in east Arnhem Land, the whole community was bending over backwards to help mojos make their stories.

RICHARD: Hi. My name is Richard and I’m from Numbulwar and this is how we spend our time. We started teaching kids to flip and when they got older they start doing their own flips. Really wanted to do something like videoing and stuff and putting our community together and showing people how we live out here and do stuff out here. Numbulwar Night Patrol is a shire program run by hard-working local people.

WOMAN IN CAR: Come on Lolly Girla, let’s go home.

RICHARD: I feel happy and I love it and I had a dream of this mojo, doing this.

PRESENTER: A few hundred clicks north in Ramingining, they also had a dream that became a reality and the focus of Sharon’s first mojo story.

SHARON: Every morning Jessica and Albert are up early. They come to this place and spend the day helping people. It’s very busy here but everyone loves their work.

ALBERT: [in language] We like this job. We look after old people and wash their clothes. And that’s really important.

SHARON: While the kitchen prepares 26 lunches Albert and Brian deliver breakfast and medicine to old people.

PRESENTER: Just east in Galiwin’ku, Sabrina was helping Brendan look for medicine of a different kind.

Brendan’s traditional “stop the rain” dance almost worked long enough for him to record his bush medicine story.

BRENDAN: Today many of our people shop here for food, for medicines off the shelf, and go to the clinic if we are very sick. But back in the old days, when we live in the bush, things were different.

My people have lived off the land for 40,000 years and the bush is our natural pharmacy. My sister Egi learnt all about bush medicine from our parents.

EGI: [in language] When my kids get sick I use our bush medicine.

BRENDAN: My little daughter Marcia has a terrible cough so Egi was looking for this plant.

EGI:  [in language] Cut and boil the leaves and pour them into the bath.

BRENDAN: I couldn’t wait to give little Marcia her first bush medicine bath. Bush medicine’s keeping our community strong. From Galiwin’ku, see you next time. I will do this work: Mojos telling people stories all around the world.

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PRESENTER: But getting the stories finished and uploaded to our web site…

BRENDAN: Our subtitles.

PRESENTER: …meant working long into the night.

SABRINA: To show them our culture

PRESENTER: And that’s what all nine mojos were doing day and night for four weeks, right across the Northern Territory. A modern technology providing a unique perspective of an ancient world.

IVO: It’s more than that, isn’t it?

HARRY: Yeah.

IVO: It’s about teaching.

HARRY: Teaching the young children.

IVO: Ok, who talks about them?

HARRY: The ladies.

IVO: You’ve got control over everything.

HARRY: Yeah.

IVO: Isn’t that good. Going up to the website.

HARRY: And that’s the first story for me.

IVO: And probably the first one for the mojos.

HARRY: Yeah the first one for the mojos.

IVO: It’s a beautiful story.

HARRY: I loved it.

IVO: You did love it didn’t you.

HARRY: It made me proud – not only proud for myself but proud for the whole community of Wurrumiyanga.

IVO: Good on you – I’m sure they’re proud of you too.

PRESENTER: After Harry uploaded his story, many others continued working late into the night to complete their work.

RON: The catholic nuns have always been a part of our life and this museum is one of my favourite place here. All this painting, they have different meanings different stories. That’s my story. Hope you like it. See you next time.

IVO: Good on you mate.

RON: It touches my heart. It’s unbelievable. I wish my dad and mum would be alive. They’d be proud of me. But I’ve got Tanya, see she’s my wife and she’ll be proud of me.