''First Contact'' is an Australian

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

documentary series that aired on

SBS One SBS is a multicultural public TV network in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally. In 2024, SBS had a 9.3% audience share, compared to 2023 when SBS had an 8. ...

SBS Two SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS V ...

and

NITV National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the six-day-a-week ''NITV News Updat ...

from November 2014. A second season aired in 2016. The show, produced by

Blackfella Films Blackfella Films is an Australian documentary and narrative film production company headquartered in Sydney, founded in 1992 by Rachel Perkins. The company produces Australian short and feature-length content for film and television with a part ...

and presented by Ray Martin, takes six

European Australian European Australians are citizens or residents of Australia whose ancestry originates from the peoples of Europe. They form the largest panethnic group in the country. At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categorised within E ...

s on a journey across Australia, challenging their preconceived ideas about

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

. In the second season, the non-Indigenous participants are all well-known Australians.

Synopsis

The show documents the journey of six

s who are challenged over a period of 28 days about their pre-existing perceptions of

. ''First Contact'' shows some of the cultural divisions that exist between

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

and non-Indigenous Australians, and highlights the lack of awareness many non-Indigenous Australians have about Indigenous Australians and the various different cultures and lifestyles they currently maintain. A stated premise is that 60% of

have never had any contact with Indigenous people, a statistic that may explain the prevalence of the racist, unsympathetic and generally prejudicial attitudes that are often directed towards Indigenous Australians. In making their "first contact" with Indigenous Australia, the selected six participants are taken to Aboriginal communities both in the city and the country, and are even processed into a regional prison at Roebourne in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, where social problems are particularly acute, resulting in incarceration of large numbers of Indigenous Australians, often for quite minor offences. The relationships between Indigenous people and local police in Roebourne are notoriously poor.

Cast

(As themselves)

Participants 2014

Series 1 participants were: *Alice Lardner *Bo-Dene Steiler *Jasmine Johnston *Trent Giles *Sandy Clifford *Marcus Solomon

Major Indigenous contributors 2014

Indigenous contributors on series 2 included: *Sharyn Derschow – Co-founder Linkidge Cross Communication Training Company *Margaret Gudumurrkuwuy – Elcho Island Arts *Marmingee Hand – School Teacher & Foster Carer for F.A.S.D children *Marcus Lacey –

traditional owner Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title right ...

, Teacher & Tourist Business Operator *Debra Maidment – Safe & Sober Support Service Program, Central Australia Aboriginal Congress *Victor Morgan – Senior Educator, Education Centre Against Violence & Chair Link-Up NSW * June Oscar AO –

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre *Emily Carter – Deputy CEO Marninwarntikura Women's Resource Centre * Shane Phillips – CEO Tribal Warrior & Local

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government-owned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the state and territor ...

2013 *Geraldine Stewart – Yipirinya School HIPPY Coordinator * Tangentyere Council Night Patrol

Participants 2016

Participants in the second series were: *

Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian and British singer and actress. Born and raised in New South Wales, Imbruglia became widely known in the early 1990s playing Beth Brennan in the soap opera ''Neighbours''. A ...

* Ian Dickson * David Oldfield *

Tom Ballard Thomas Ballard (1630–1689) was a colonial Virginia landowner and politician. Thomas or Tom Ballard may also refer to: * Thomas Ballard Jr. (1654–1710), member of the Virginia House of Burgesses * Thomas Ballard (MP for Coventry), member of P ...

Renae Ayris Renae Ayris (born 17 September 1990) is an Australian dancer, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe Australia 2012 and placed 3rd Runner-Up at the Miss Universe 2012 pageant. In 2014 she appeared in the starring ro ...

*Nicki Wendt

Production

''First Contact'' was filmed and set in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, home to the largest Indigenous Australian population of any state/territory, the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, where Indigenous Australians make up a higher percentage of the population than in any other state or territory and

Darren Dale Darren Dale is an Indigenous Australian film and television producer. He joined film production company Blackfella Films as a producer and later co-director (with founder Rachel Perkins), and is managing director. Dale is known for co-producin ...

produced both series, while Jacob Hickey was series producer and writer for both.

Rachel Perkins Rachel Perkins (born 1970) is an Indigenous Australian film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. She founded and was co-director of the independent film production company Blackfella Films from 1992 until 2022. Perkins and the ...

was executive producer on the first series, while Ronan Sharkey and Dora Weekley directed. Jacob Hickey was executive producer on the second series, while David Grusovin and Bruce Permezel directed.

Broadcast

''First Contact'' aired on

, and

, from 18 November 2014.

Discussion

After the first series aired, ''First Contact'' was the topic of an ''

Insight Insight is the understanding of a specific causality, cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of se ...

'' episode, hosted by Stan Grant and featuring a discussion involving many of the people who were involved in the show.

Series overview

The show is estimated to have had a cumulative reach of 1,847,000 Australian viewers.

Episodes

Season 1 (2014)

Season 2 (2016)

Adaptations

The series was adapted for Canadian television by APTN, which premiered '' First Contact'' in 2018."‘First Contact’: TV docuseries seeks to shatter Indigenous Canadian stereotypes"

Global News Global News is the news and Current affairs (news format), current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as ...

, 12 September 2018.

References

External links

* * (archived)
"SBS's First Contact is the real 'festering sore' of the nation"
by Chelsea Watego on

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...

, 1 November 2014 {{Films and television series about Aboriginal Australia Australian English-language television shows Special Broadcasting Service original programming 2010s Australian documentary television series 2010s Australian reality television series 2014 Australian television series debuts Television shows set in the Northern Territory Television shows set in Western Australia Television shows set in Sydney Indigenous Australian television series