Island Home Country (ATOM Study Guide)

'I am white, born on a stolen island. This is my story of a journey.'

So begins Jeni Thornley's very personal exploration of Australian history, Island Home Country. The film is a searching examination of the ways in which traces of the past are always to be found in the present, and continue to gesture towards the future. In her own unique way, Thornley frames the most important questions of all: who are we and how did we come to be? This is ultimately a study of identity, memory and truth, and the complex interplay between the forces that shape our sense of home. The peaceful island of Thornley's memory – her childhood behind the protective green hedge – begins to come into irreconcilable conflict with what she discovers about Australia's colonial history. Looking at happy family snapshots, she now sees the forced removals, families ripped apart and destroyed – a traumatic shadow history that stands close alongside her own personal story. Towards the end of the film, Thornley reaches a new place of insight and understanding. Her film offers hope for refiguring our damaging and exploitative relationships with the environment by learning from Indigenous notions of country and by making a genuine approach towards meaningful reparation and reconciliation.