Not a lot is known of the difficulties encountered by Australian and British scientists in 1964 while attempting to clear the impact point of the ill-fated Blue Streak missile of people. Even the educated whites who were exploring for oil refused to move out until they were forced to. Contacting the black people was almost given up, as the natives used their knowledge of the land to avoid the searchers. They thought the whites would eat them; the vehicles they used were 'monsters'. Eventually, contact was made, but only after the natives had run out of food and allowed the whites to feed them and escort them to a safer place. This film relies heavily on Peter Morton's 'Fire across the Desert', and the compilation of old amateur footage and some official material. The fascinating commentary by Yuwali who had been a baby when the missiles were fired is truly compelling. One can ignore the imaginative inaccuracies in the concocted story (I wonder if the Aborigines were 'having a lend' of the film-makers), and the sometimes clumsy technical work, but the old and the new are blended well enough. The film does not cover the deaths, or the leprosy, or explain why the aboriginal men had left the women and children to fend for themselves. But this is a film to watch and enjoy and to learn from.
