Documentary

Making A Bark Canoe

An ethnographic documentary directed by Roger Sandall, recording the construction of a bark canoe by two Aboriginal men, Djurkuwidi and Wangamaru, on the north coast of Arnhem Land. Filmed in the coastal swamps of Buckingham Bay near the end of the wet season, the film follows the process from the selection and stripping of a stringybark gum tree through to the completed canoe in use for hunting magpie geese and collecting eggs. Sandall’s narration explains the techniques involved and notes changes from earlier practices.