Help Honour Australian Light Horse Regiments of WW I

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    I am sharing this important – and inspiring - film project that needs your support.


    The project is from the Bush to Beersheba.

    The project is about honouring the young aboriginal men who served in the Australian Light Horse Regiments of World War I – even taking part in the famous cavalry charge at the Battle of Beersheba in modern day Israel - only to be forgotten and disrespected when they returned.

    It's about building pride and meaning in a community where pride is a scarce commodity.

    And it’s about the transformative power of relationships - with the wild bush horses of the Northern Territory at its heart.

    For as long as anyone can remember, horses have been part of life in the remote Northern Territory town of Ntaria (Hermannsburg). Though most run wild in the harsh and beautiful ranges, many too have been tamed and live among the people. But it was when the community invited master horseman Chris Barr and his family to start a riding program at the local school that the hardy and humble bush horse became the catalyst for profound social change in this remote place.

    Helping students to come to know these beautiful animals on a deeper level – creating trust and understanding – has opened the door to greater self-respect, pride and hope in the young people themselves. It has also created true friendship between people from different worlds.

    Young men and women who would have been lost to school, education and opportunity began to turn up – regularly. And when a chance to take part in something really big arrived, things went to a whole new level. The young people developed the Aranda Ride for Pride – each year in April, riding their bush horses 125 kilometres into Alice Springs to take part in the ANZAC day commemorations – on horseback and in full Light Horse uniform.

    This feature-length documentary follows the growth of the Aranda Ride for Pride, from humble beginnings to a nationally known event. In October this year, a select few of those young riders will travel to Israel to complete their quest – to commemorate the sacrifices of their forebears.

    The centenary anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba is a major historical event and is set to attract worldwide media coverage. But it is the journeys of the young indigenous men from the bush that engage us on a personal level and take us inside their complex relationships: with their present, their past and most importantly with themselves.

    It is part of the emotional complexity of the journey that one of the young riders widely considered a future leader in his community, and chosen to travel to Israel in October, took his own life in May this year. His brother will go to Israel, as planned, but the journey will be very different in the absence of this beautiful young man.

    The project has been privately funded to date, but it now urgently needs financial support to meet the costs of the overseas shoot and to ensure its completion. Part of the profits from sales of the film will go towards funding the bush riding program in the Ntaria School, NT, and the annual Aranda Ride for Pride.

    from the Bush to Beersheba has been accepted by the Documentary Australia Foundation to be hosted on its site to enable corporate and private supporters to make donations which are tax deductible.

    Here is a link to our project’s page on the DAF site: https://www.documentaryaustralia.com.au/films/4125/from-the-bush-to-beersheba


    There you can see the short promo about the project, and read more about it.



    **** all donations above $2 are tax deductible.*****

    Please consider donating. Every donation counts no matter how small.
    Last edited by grangeh: 11/09/17
 
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