Living Black

He was forced to live on the streets after losing his entire family to war and disease by the age of 6. But after living in extreme poverty for most of his young life, Yared Wolde has gone on to defy the odds to become an instrumental visionary for disadvantaged kids and their families. Now he is giving them hope for a better future and a reason to live. Reporter Liz Deep-Jones follow’s Yared as he strives to fulfill his promise to bring education to some of Ethiopia’s poorest children.

Homelessness is something that affects many Australians, and Indigenous Australians are over represented in the homeless population with over 26,000 experiencing homelessness. In this Living Black Special, Karla Grant sits down with actor, musician and writer Uncle Jack Charles about his time living on the streets and how he overcame hardship to become one of our most respected actors.

Dean Gibson is man on a mission. A talented film and documentary maker with a body of work going back more than 10 years. With a background in writing, directing, editing and producing, Dean has made it his mission to tell important stories for Australia’s First Nation’s peoples. Living Blacks’ Karla Grant sits down with the filmmaker to talk about his life, career and his latest documentary, ‘Wik vs Queensland’.

Living Black ventures to Yam Island, the home of Australia's first Torres Strait Islander MP, Cynthia Lui, to find out how a shy young girl from one of the country's most remote communities became a state political leader.

He’s been a world champion boxer and former rugby league player. Now he’s a mental health campaigner who’s out to defy the enemy within. Karla Grant sits down with Wiradjuri man Joe Williams to talk about his success and achievements as a gifted athlete and his battles with addiction and severe mental illness. In this candid interview, Joe shares his harrowing journey which has now been documented in his autobiography titled 'Defying The Enemy Within'.

At the age of 18, dual international Timana Tahu, made his debut in the NRL with the Newcastle Knights before going on to play for the Parramatta Eels and the Penrith Panthers eventually playing a total of 196 games. However, throughout his 15 year footy career there have been highs and lows, including the highly publicised racial incident at the NSW State of Origin Camp in 2010. Timana speaks with Karla Grant about the incident and life after footy.

In September 2016 the Canadian government launched an independent National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Walkley Award winning SBS journalist Laura Murphy-Oates went to the small community of Sagkeeng First Nation, 120km north of Winnipeg, Manitoba to follow a family on a nine year search for their missing daughter.

Samantha Harris shot to fame when she won the Girlfriend Magazine Covergirl competition aged 11. Since then she’s graced the cover of Vogue and featured in many magazines including Harpers Bazaar and has also become a brand ambassador for David Jones. In this candid interview, Karla sits down with Samantha to talk about her life, career and her goal to inspire the next generation of Indigenous women to enter the modelling industry.

In September 2015 the people of Palm Island launched a class action against the Queensland Government, alleging racial discrimination. The case centres around the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee and the actions that followed by the Queensland police, which rocked the small island community. Living Black got exclusive access to the applicants, who stood up in court and told their side of the story and we look back on the case that has helped shape Palm Island’s recent history.

In 2013, artist Bibi Barba decided to do an online search of her artworks. She discovered that two of her artworks from had been replicated in a Polish hotel without her permission. Her designs were used on bar tops, wall paneling and furniture, still in the same colours. Bibi has threatened copyright infringement but the hotel has denied it. Karla Grant sits down with Bibi to talk about her life, her art and her struggle to prove the copyright infringement of her work 5 years on.

A group of former Wallabies created a fellowship to provide young Indigenous Australians a chance to visit South Africa and work alongside local people developing highly innovative community schools. The local children in South Africa may live in a post-apartheid world, but still suffer terribly from the damage it did. Our reporter Elliana Lawford won a fellowship and we follow her journey.

NAIDOC 2018 celebrates the invaluable contributions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have made and continue to make to our communities, our families and our history with the theme ‘Because of Her We Can’. While their role in society has often been invisible, unsung or diminished – Living Black reporter Nakari Thorpe travelled back to her birthplace in Victoria, to ensure the story of the women who inspired her is remembered.

Noel Pearson is a lawyer, academic, land rights activist and founder of the Cape York Land Council and Cape York Institute for policy and leadership. Widely known for his strong views on Indigenous policy, Noel has always advocated for a shift in direction when it comes to welfare reform, substance abuse, child protection, education and economic development. Karla Grant chats with Noel about Indigenous policy, the Uluru Statement and the documentary ‘Wik vs Queensland’ in which he appears.

Men punished for waving to their wives, streets reserved for white people only and a bell to dictate roll calls and curfew; it has the hallmarks of American slavery but this was the reality for one Australian community in the mid-20th century. 2018 marks a hundred years since Palm Island was established as one Australia’s harshest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander settlements. In its centenary year, how has the community coped with its brutal past and what do the next hundred years look like?