Our Community

Abstract

OUR COMMUNITY is a film that reveals that, despite the cultural diversity and the challenges before them, the people of the Walgett, Lightning Ridge and Sheepyard communities share a pride, passion, resilience and an inexorable spirit of ‘belonging’. Throughout the film, past misconceptions about racial and economic divisions are clarified and benevolent bonds are celebrated.

WALGETT has a population of almost 3,000 people, comprising a large Aboriginal community. It has a proud history of early pioneers who survived against great odds and used their ingenuity to improve their quality of life and to revolutionise industries of the time. Today, it is still remarkable people who make ‘the outback’ their home and who guarantee the future of ‘the backbone of Australia’s economy'.

LIGHTNING RIDGE has a population of more then 4,000 people which is supplemented by over 80,000 visitors who arrive every year either to try their luck at fossicking or to see what an outback mining town is really like. This influx of tourists means that this once rough and ready town now boasts a number of good quality motels, an endless array of souvenir and gift shops, some good restaurants and a veneer of cosmopolitan sophistication.

GLENGARRY-SHEEPYARD is a small mining community which has had people come and go in tides seeking their fortune in search of ‘the rainbow in the rock’. Since 1908, there have been several new strikes, the most recent in 2000 by a local miner and his son. Miners are continuing to find opal today and many ‘old timers’ swear that they are not finished yet and that there a many more strikes just waiting to be found.