Mr Strehlow's Films (ATOM Study Guide)

Mr Strehlow's Films is a documentary film about the life and work of the late Professor TGH Strehlow (1908–1978). The film uses an episodic style to tell the story of Strehlow's life, from his childhood when he was born and raised at Hermannsburg Lutheran mission, where his German father Carl and mother Frieda were missionaries. Mr Strehlow's Films provides glimpses into the period of his life when he developed a close relationship with Arrernte women and children at the mission, his family life, the time when Strehlow was educated in Adelaide, and his return to Central Australia as an itinerant traveller, patrol officer and translator.

TGH Strehlow became Australia's most controversial anthropologist and linguist. Over a period of 40 years he produced a massive body of print, film, sound and still photographic work of Aboriginal (largely Arrernte) ceremonial performance – an archive unparalled in this country and the world. He meticulously documented many facets of Central Australian Aboriginal life. The film tracks the challenges posed by the tasks Strehlow set for himself as anthropologist and filmmaker; the controversies surrounding the Strehlow Collection; and the contemporary work underway to return these documents to appropriate communities in Central Australia.

Mr Strehlow's Films will have interest and relevance for students of Indigenous studies, Australian History, Studies of Society and Environment, Media studies and Cultural studies from middle to senior secondary school, and at the tertiary level.