Writer/director Donna Ives wanted to make a film about brothers Bill and Mick Thaiday, who have worked for 20 years in the development of Indigenous broadcasting, because she was so impressed by their passionate belief of the importance of Aboriginal culture being reflected in the media.

Donna first heard of the Thaiday brothers over a decade ago while training at Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Media Association (TAIMA), the first Indigenous video production house in Queensland, conceived by the brothers in the early 80s. The three subsequently met four years ago when the brothers returned to Townsville from working in the Broadcasting in Remote Communities (BRACS) system.

The older brother Bill, aged 58, is a deep thinker who delivers powerful messages when he speaks. Younger brother Mick, aged 49, is a big man with a deep, beautiful voice. He's the entertainer and singer, with a fun-loving spirit.

Bill runs the Wooribinda BRACS from a small community radio station called Radio Broadarrow, two hours inland from Rockhampton. After 20 years of living a nomadic existence, he has now returned to where he feels at home. Mick manages Radio Station 4UM (Us Mob Radio) in Cherbourg, three hours north-west of Brisbane, and for the past three years has lived nearby in the mission at Murgon with his family. He trains local people in radio and he broadcasts daily.

"We have so few Indigenous male role models portrayed in mainstream communities, that I feel proud to take this opportunity to promote their achievements," remarks Donna. "I had a great need to acknowledge them personally and to tell their story of overcoming alcoholism, finding a direction in life and maintaining grass roots level contacts through teaching media."

To tell their story, the filmmakers had to go back to the brothers' beginnings: their mother is from an Aboriginal tribe near Cardwell, Queensland and their father is a Torres Strait Islander, originally from Badu Island.

In 1957, when the brothers were children, their father was involved in a strike on the infamous Palm Island off Townsville. Bill remembers "seeing power" for the first time in his life when he saw Aboriginal people standing together and speaking up about the atrocities that affected their daily lives.

Donna explains, "In my heart I realised that it would be hard to provide a balance between these two personalities, who both have big individual stories to tell. Bill was 10 years older and did things well ahead of Mick...[and] he reached out to Mick when an opportunity came along. So the story starts with Bill and tends to follow him.

"I began by focusing on the Palm Island strike in 1957 and their father's inspiration, which they both identified as important influences in their lives. That and the shared radio dream gave us the starting point to move through their years of achievements."

Ives continues, "Fortunately, Mick had lots of personal archival footage from his years of work - we accessed quite a bit of it to include in the story. Bill talked mainly about the people.

"I was also able to access footage from a number of other sources, in particular the films Protected, the story of the strike on Palm Island, and Waiting for Bill, a story about Bill's wife, Rose Thaiday, filmed at Bachelor College in the Northern Territory in the late 80s."

Both men have suffered the growing pains of black radio, overcoming health issues, constant separation from their families and lack of financial support. They worked in under-funded organisations which directly affected their incomes, to maintain the focus of their original dream, while many of their offsiders have moved into better paying jobs. Bill and Mick chose not to, realising that the role they played was important to the people they were training.

To many communities struggling to recover from the impact of colonisation, Bill and Mick are unsung heroes who opened the doors to technology.

As Bill says, "Life is a one way street: you got to get out there and give it your best shot. Nobody is going to do these things for you - you got to do it yourself."

The six-part Everyday Brave series was designed not only to celebrate Indigenous Australian achievers but also to offer production opportunities and skills development to Indigenous filmmakers.

• About the filmmakers
• About the production companies
• Behind the scenes: production stories
• Back to Indigenous Voices Showcase home

For more about the series and specific episodes, see our program detail pages where you can also purchase video copies online:

• Everyday Brave: The Series
• For Who I Am-Bonita Mabo
• Jetja Nai Medical Mob-Naomi Mayers
• Media Nomads-The Thaiday Brothers
• Mistake Creek-Steven Craig
• Saltwater Bluesman-Uncle Kiddo Taylor
• Stranger in My Skin-Ray Cotti

Download a copy of the Everyday Brave teachers notes (Acrobat pdf, 392kb)

Download a copy of the Everyday Brave press kit (Word file, 336k) which includes:

• synopses
• production stories
• filmmaker biographies
• full credit list

for each episode

Note: detailed information is available for many titles in press kits that are downloadable from program detail pages.