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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'In 1999, after 24 years of forced occupation, East Timor won the right to vote for independence from Indonesia. The ballot would be supervised by the United Nations. The UN promised the East Timorese that they would stay after the vote, regardless of the outcome. It was a promise they couldn't keep. Australian policeman Mark Waldman, Canadian police officer and a young East Timorese translator named Ismenio Soares are brought together by the UN's fateful effort to give the Timorese a voice in their own future.' (Libraries Australia)
Notes
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Mini-series.
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Australian – Canadian co-production.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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History and Shame : East Timor in Australian Fictions
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Interventions : International Journal of Postcolonial Studies , November vol. 12 no. 3 2010; (p. 401-414) This essay examines a series of Australian texts in an attempt to perceive the ways in which East Timor has functioned as a test of the operation of Australian memory and the processing of national shame over the failure of the nation to aid a neighbouring people who had aided Australia at great cost during the Second World War. After introducing the notion of shame and the contrast between official Australian policy and public sentiment over the issue of East Timor from the date of the Indonesian invasion in 1975, a contrast rooted in the nation's sense of itself as being a sponsor of freedom, democracy and the fair go, the essay examines a series of fictional texts dealing with East Timor in some way, and then returns to the concept of shame and its relevance in this context. The texts dealt with include fiction for adults and children: Tony Maniaty's The Children Must Dance (1984), Gail Jones's Other Places (1992), Bill Green's Cleaning Up (1993), Kerry Collison's The Timor Man (1998), Libby Gleeson's Refuge (1998) and Josef Vondra's No-name Bird (2000), along with the Australian-Canadian miniseries Answered by Fire (2006) and the Australian film Balibo (Robert Connolly, 2009). As expected, concerned observers share many features of their reaction to events in East Timor, but inevitably, as they read East Timor they are also reading Australia and its relation to an ethics of conviction that might have dealt more honourably with the invasion and oppression on its doorstep. The analysis draws on the work of Jeffrey Olick, Avishai Margalit and Michael Morgan in its approach to regret, shame and memory. -
Writing for Performance : Privilege, Politics and Goose Bumps
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Just Words? : Australian Authors Writing for Justice 2008; (p. 118-136) -
Burning Issue
2006
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Limelight , June 2006; (p. 26-28)
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Burning Issue
2006
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Limelight , June 2006; (p. 26-28) -
Writing for Performance : Privilege, Politics and Goose Bumps
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Just Words? : Australian Authors Writing for Justice 2008; (p. 118-136) -
History and Shame : East Timor in Australian Fictions
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Interventions : International Journal of Postcolonial Studies , November vol. 12 no. 3 2010; (p. 401-414) This essay examines a series of Australian texts in an attempt to perceive the ways in which East Timor has functioned as a test of the operation of Australian memory and the processing of national shame over the failure of the nation to aid a neighbouring people who had aided Australia at great cost during the Second World War. After introducing the notion of shame and the contrast between official Australian policy and public sentiment over the issue of East Timor from the date of the Indonesian invasion in 1975, a contrast rooted in the nation's sense of itself as being a sponsor of freedom, democracy and the fair go, the essay examines a series of fictional texts dealing with East Timor in some way, and then returns to the concept of shame and its relevance in this context. The texts dealt with include fiction for adults and children: Tony Maniaty's The Children Must Dance (1984), Gail Jones's Other Places (1992), Bill Green's Cleaning Up (1993), Kerry Collison's The Timor Man (1998), Libby Gleeson's Refuge (1998) and Josef Vondra's No-name Bird (2000), along with the Australian-Canadian miniseries Answered by Fire (2006) and the Australian film Balibo (Robert Connolly, 2009). As expected, concerned observers share many features of their reaction to events in East Timor, but inevitably, as they read East Timor they are also reading Australia and its relation to an ethics of conviction that might have dealt more honourably with the invasion and oppression on its doorstep. The analysis draws on the work of Jeffrey Olick, Avishai Margalit and Michael Morgan in its approach to regret, shame and memory.
Awards
- 2007 nominated Logie Awards — Most Outstanding Miniseries or Telemovie
- 2007 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting Katherine Thomson for Part II.
- 2006 winner AWGIE Awards — Television Award
- 2006 winner AWGIE Awards — Major Award
Last amended 13 Jan 2015 11:52:20
Subjects:
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cTimor-Leste,cSoutheast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
- 1999
Settings:
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cTimor-Leste,cSoutheast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
- 1999
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