Directed by Cecil Holmes Country Australia Initial release 1961 (Australia) Story by Douglas Lockwood Cast Max Meldrum | Produced by Kip Porteous Language English Director Cecil Holmes Producer Kip Porteous | |
Awards Australian Film Institute Award for Best Documentary Similar Jindalee Lady, Yajilarra, My Survival As An Aboriginal | ||
I, the Aboriginal is an Australian book and television film about the life of Aboriginal Australian Phillip Roberts (or Waipuldanya).
The 1962 book, written in first person, is described as the autobiography of Waipuldanya, a full-blood Aboriginal man of the Alawa tribe at Roper River (Ngukurr) in the Northern Territory, as told to Douglas Lockwood. The book concerns Waipuldanya's traditional upbringing and his training to become a skilled medical assistant for the Department of Health at Darwin Hospital. Lockwood wrote the book from more than 100 hours of interview with Roberts. I, the Aboriginal won the major literary award at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts in 1962.
An ABC television film, in which Roberts played himself, was based on the book. Directed by Cecil Holmes, the film won the Australian Film Institute's Gold Award in 1964.