Joe Leahy's Neighbours

Year of completion
1988
Content type
Documentary
Format
Feature
Duration
90 minutes
Production Status
Completed

Synopsis

About 50 years ago, the first European explorers penetrated the densely populated valleys of Papua New Guinea's central highlands. Unaware of the outside world, the highlanders as first thought the strangers were supernatural beings. They were, in fact, the advance guard of an Australian colonial invasions. For the next 40 years, they sought to impose upon the highlanders ideas about how human beings should organise themselves. By the mid 1970s the Australians had left and the highlands formed part of the independent nation of Papua New Guinea. JOE LEAHY'S NEIGHBOURS is the sequel to FIRST CONTACT, in which Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson documented the initial encounters between highlanders and white men. The central figure of FIRST CONTACT was the Australian gold prospector turned explorer, Michael Leahy, and this film revolves around Leahy's mixed-race son, Joe.
Completion Year
1988
Format
Feature
Production Status
Completed