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The House-Opening

Publication date

Monday, 30 June 1980

Type

DVD

Judith MacDougall

When Geraldine Kawanka's husband died she and her children left their house at Aurukun on Cape York Peninsula. In earlier times, a bark house would have been burnt, but today a 'house-opening' ceremony - creatively mingling Aboriginal, Torres Strait and European elements - has evolved to deal with death in the midst of new living patterns. This film records the opening of the house and Geraldine's feelings about it in her informative and personal commentary.