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A rousing testament to First Nations resilience

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2:00PM

Synopsis

A panoramic yet intimate portrait of Aboriginal Elder Maitland Parker and his fight to heal his mining-impacted homeland in the Pilbara and preserve his culture for future generations.

Join us for a Q&A Live in Cinema screening, Sunday, 9 November, at 2.00pm, Luna Leederville with special guests Traditional Owner Coreen Parker and Director/Producer Yaara Bou Melhem, recipient of the UN Media Peace Award and five-time Walkley Award winner. The event will be moderated by Yamatji man Ernie Dingo.

A rousing testament to First Nations resilience. Directed by two-time UN Media Peace Award and five-time Walkley Award winner Yaara Bou Melhem, Yurlu | Country, is a powerful documentary that bears witness to Australia’s very own Chernobyl-style disaster, through Banjima Elder Maitland Parker’s fight to reclaim his asbestos-tainted homeland.

Banjima Elder Maitland Parker calls his yurlu (homeland) in the Pilbara region “poison country”; this haunting truth is etched into his body as he lives with terminal mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer resulting from asbestos exposure. Six decades prior, the Wittenoom mines left behind more than three million tonnes of waste rock laced with deadly asbestos fibres, turning 46,840 hectares of Banjima Country – an area 17 times the size of Sydney – into a toxic exclusion zone. Today, Aboriginal communities in Western Australia have the world’s highest mortality rate from mesothelioma. Yurlu | Country follows Maitland as he confronts government inaction and corporate greed in the hope of allowing his people to reconnect with and heal their ancestral lands.

Viewer Advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this film contains images, voices and names of deceased persons.


Opening Date

Sunday, Nov 9, 2025

Rating

CTC

Length

79m

Genre

DocumentaryNew Release


Reviews

“Deeply personal and emotionally affecting,”
Matthew Eeles, Cinema Australia
“Panoramic yet intimate,”
Sydney film Festival
“A testament to First Nations resilience.. a rousing call to action,”
Melbourne International Film Festival

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