La Trobe University, Mallee Family Care and Mildura Aboriginal Corporation are pleased to invite the community to a NAIDOC celebration. This event will involve a free public screening of Fantome Island – The Australian film based around the life story of Joe Eggmolesse, followed by a q and a session with Joe.
At the age of seven, Joe Eggmolesse was taken from his family, put on a train, and sent to a leprosarium on Fantome Island, located off the Queensland coast. Many years later, he returns to confront the memory of his childhood on the island, to pay tribute to those who lived and died there and to inscribe his own unique sotry into official Australian history. Drawing on an evocative archive, the film exposes how an ideology of racism and eugenics worked to justify horrific treatment of Australia’s Indigenous communities. In uncovering this shameful history, Fantome Island, is a testimony of strength and endurance, demonstrating one man’s incredible capacity for forgiveness and love. Register your place by calling 03 5051 4000