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Boxing for Palm Island (ATOM Study Guide)

Name: Boxing for Palm Island (ATOM Study Guide)
SKU: SG660
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SKU: SG660

Streaming Content: Boxing for Palm Island

In the late 1990s, Ray Dennis arrived on Palm Island, fleeing an alcohol problem and a failed marriage. The location may seem an odd choice, as the island does not exactly have a reputation as a tourist destination or retirement zone. It may also seem strange given that many of the problems on the island are blamed on alcohol. Still, geographically, it is a tropical paradise just sixty-five kilometres from Townsville.

The ex-boxer was seeking a new life. What he found was an Indigenous community marred by street violence, drunkenness and gambling, crippled by unemployment and failed businesses, weighed down by a dark history and dreadful reputation.

His response was to use his skills as a boxing trainer to try and draw the island's youth away from a life of truancy, petty crime, 'free-fighting' in the streets, and drug and alcohol abuse. Building on a long tradition of amateur boxing teams within Indigenous communities and on the island specifically, Dennis believed the training would provide a much-needed sense of purpose – possibly for himself as well. Little did he realise that he would become a legend, both on the island and in Australian amateur boxing.

Boxing for Palm Island (Adrian Wills, 2010) follows the fortunes of Ray and four of his boxers as they make the journey from the gym to the State Amateur Boxing Championships and finally the National Titles. Along the way there are successes and failures, and we see the difficulties of staying straight and clean in a community considered a prime example of all that can go wrong in Indigenous affairs.

The documentary's participants become real people rather than statistics, people trying to live decent lives, though most have present difficulties and a troubled past. Of particular interest is 27-year-old Noby, the only female boxer. She is very well aware of the parallels between the film Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, 2004) and her own relationship with Ray – only she's hoping for a better ending! We also meet a father who wants a future for his son and encourages him to train, having been a less-than-successful boxer himself; a youth who is trying to avoid slipping into a wasted life; and an older fighter who, after the birth of his child, wants to turn his back on booze and drugs.

The triumph of Boxing for Palm Island is not just the successes of the boxers, but also the way in which it allows the audience to step inside an Indigenous community as few cameras have done before – and as Ray Dennis did himself years ago. Moreover, the films presents a real and positive situation rather than the ugly, grainy images familiar from television news broadcasts.

Curriculum Applicability

SOSE/HSIE