''The Fringe Dwellers'' is a 1986 film directed by

Bruce Beresford Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States. Beresford's notable films he has directed include '' B ...

, based on the 1961 novel '' The Fringe Dwellers'' by Western Australian author Nene Gare.Nene Gare, The Fringe Dwellers, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1966 (first published by Heinemann, London, 1961). The film is about a young Aboriginal girl who dreams of life beyond the family camp that sits on the fringe of white society (the term

fringe dwellers The term fringe dwellers has been used in Australia to describe groups of Aboriginal Australians who camp on the outskirts of towns and cities, from which they have become excluded, generally through law or land alienation as a result of colonis ...

having specific application in Australia). The film is acclaimed as being the first Australian film featuring Indigenous actors in all the major roles. It achieved critical and international success when it was released in 1986, but gained only a lukewarm reception in Australia.

Plot

Trilby (Kristina Nehm) is a young Aboriginal woman living with her people on the outskirts of everyday Australian society. Trilby encourages her mother (Justine Saunders) to apply for a Housing Commission home being built in an area inhabited mostly by wealthier white families. Her mother, sister Noonah, and Trilby save enough for them all (father and younger brother as well) to move there from the "fringe". They buy some new furniture for the house and improve their station in life. But there is a culture clash. Trilby learns that her family is actually happier surrounded by their community and extended family, and that her own goals are not necessarily the goals of others in her life. With xenophobic neighbors casting a constant judgmental eye, Trilby and her boyfriend, Phil ( Ernie Dingo), attempt to find happiness in their new environment. Trilby becomes pregnant, gives birth, but drowns her baby, making it look like an accident. Her family leave their suburban house after Trilby's father loses all their rent money in a card game: the family return to their house in the camp. Trilby, however, leaves on a bus bound for the city.

Cast

* Justine Saunders as Mollie Comeaway * Kristina Nehm as Trilby Comeaway *

Kylie Belling Kylie Belling is an Australian stage, film and television actress and voice artist, who has also worked in other occupations. she works as Senior Manager, First Peoples, for ''Creative Victoria''. Biography Belling was born in Melbourne and ...

as Noonah Comeaway *

Bob Maza Robert Lewis Maza (25 November 1939 – 14 May 2000), known as Bob Maza, was an Aboriginal Australian actor, playwright and activist. Early life and education Robert Lewis Maza was born on Palm Island in North Queensland on 25 November 1939, ...

as Joe Comeaway *Denis Walker as Bartie Comeaway * Ernie Dingo as Phil *

Oodgeroo Noonuccal Oodgeroo Noonuccal ( ; born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska, later Kath Walker (3 November 192016 September 1993) was an Aboriginal Australian political activist, artist and educator, who campaigned for Aboriginal rights. Noonuccal was best known for ...

as Eva (billed as Kath Walker) *Marlene Bell as Hannah *Malcolm Silva as Charlie *Michele Miles as Blanchie *Michelle Torres as Audrena *Lisa-Jane Stockwell as Matron *Gordon Beitzel as the Publican

Production

Beresford had been interested in making a film from the novel since he read it in the mid-1970s, buying his copy at a second-hand book shop in London. Funding was difficult to raise but eventually was done through the Australian Film Commission and Queensland Film Corporation.David Stratton, ''The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry'', Pan MacMillan, 1990 p202-204 The Fringe Dwellers was shot in Cherbourg and

Murgon Murgon is a rural town and locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Murgon had a population of 2,378 people. Geography Murgon is in the region of Queensland known as the South Burnett, the southern ...

, Queensland, Australia.

Awards

The film was nominated for seven AFI Awards and won for the Best Adapted Screenplay (Bruce Beresford, Rhoisin Beresford). It was also entered into the

1986 Cannes Film Festival The 39th Cannes Film Festival was held from 8 to 19 May 1986. The Palme d'Or went to '' The Mission'' by Roland Joffé. The festival opened with ''Pirates'', directed by Roman Polanski and closed with '' El Amor brujo'', directed by Carlos Saura ...

. Some Aboriginal activists walked out of the screening at Cannes.

Box office

''The Fringe Dwellers'' grossed $174,433 at the box office in Australia.''Film Victoria – Australian Films at the Australian Box Office''
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References

External links

* *''The Fringe Dwellers'' at th
Australian screen''The Fringe Dwellers''
at Oz Movies {{DEFAULTSORT:Fringe Dwellers, The 1986 films Atlantic Entertainment Group films Australian drama films Films directed by Bruce Beresford 1986 drama films Films shot in Queensland Films set in Queensland 1980s English-language films Films about Aboriginal Australians