First Contact (Australian TV series)

First Contact is an Australian reality television documentary series that aired on SBS One, SBS Two and NITV from November 2014. A second season aired in 2016. The show, produced by Blackfella Films and presented by Ray Martin, takes six European Australians on a journey across Australia, challenging their preconceived ideas about Indigenous Australians. In the second season, the non-Indigenous participants are all well-known Australians.

The show documents the journey of six European Australians who are challenged over a period of 28 days about their pre-existing perceptions of Indigenous Australians.^[2][3]

First Contact shows some of the cultural divisions that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and highlights the lack of awareness many non-Indigenous Australians have about Indigenous Australians and the various different cultures and lifestyles they currently maintain. A stated premise is that 60% of European Australian have never had any contact with Indigenous people, a statistic that may explain the prevalence of the racist, unsympathetic and generally prejudicial attitudes that are often directed towards Indigenous Australians.^[4]

In making their "first contact" with Indigenous Australia, the selected six participants are taken to Aboriginal communities both in the city and the country, and are even processed into a regional prison at Roebourne in Western Australia, where social problems are particularly acute, resulting in incarceration of large numbers of Indigenous Australians, often for quite minor offences. The relationships between Indigenous people and local police in Roebourne are notoriously poor.^[5][6][7]

(As themselves)

Series 1 participants were:^[8]

• Alice Lardner
• Bo-Dene Steiler
• Jasmine Johnston
• Trent Giles
• Sandy Clifford
• Marcus Solomon

Indigenous contributors on series 2 included:^[8]

• Sharyn Derschow – Co-founder Linkidge Cross Communication Training Company
• Margaret Gudumurrkuwuy – Elcho Island Arts
• Marmingee Hand – School Teacher & Foster Carer for F.A.S.D children
• Marcus Lacey – traditional owner, Teacher & Tourist Business Operator
• Debra Maidment – Safe & Sober Support Service Program, Central Australia Aboriginal Congress
• Victor Morgan – Senior Educator, Education Centre Against Violence & Chair Link-Up NSW
• June Oscar AO – CEO Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre
• Emily Carter – Deputy CEO Marninwarntikura Women's Resource Centre
• Shane Phillips – CEO Tribal Warrior & Local Australian of the Year 2013
• Geraldine Stewart – Yipirinya School HIPPY Coordinator
• Tangentyere Council Night Patrol

Participants in the second series were:^[9]

• Natalie Imbruglia
• Ian Dickson
• David Oldfield
• Tom Ballard
• Renae Ayris
• Nicki Wendt

First Contact was filmed and set in New South Wales,^{[citation needed]} home to the largest Indigenous Australian population of any state/territory, the Northern Territory, where Indigenous Australians make up a higher percentage of the population than in any other state or territory and Western Australia.^[10][11]

Darren Dale of Blackfella Films produced both series, while Jacob Hickey was series producer and writer for both. Rachel Perkins was executive producer on the first series, while Ronan Sharkey and Dora Weekley directed.^[8] Jacob Hickey was executive producer on the second series, while David Grusovin and Bruce Permezel directed.^[9]

First Contact aired on SBS One, SBS Two, and NITV, from 18 November 2014.^[12][13]

After the first series aired, First Contact was the topic of an Insight episode, hosted by Stan Grant and featuring a discussion involving many of the people who were involved in the show.^[14][15]

The show is estimated to have had a cumulative reach of 1,847,000 Australian viewers.^[18]

The series was adapted for Canadian television by APTN, which premiered First Contact in 2018.^[19]

• Go Back to Where You Came From
• Filthy Rich and Homeless

• First Contact at IMDb
• Official website (archived)
• "SBS's First Contact is the real 'festering sore' of the nation", by Chelsea Watego on The Conversation, 1 November 2014