THE BRIEF

The Museum of Riverina were beginning a project of collecting oral histories from Elders recounting personal experiences of the Aboriginal Family Resettlement Scheme—a federal initiative that ran from 1974 to 1986. They reached out to Audiocraft to help them to bring the project to life.

WHAT WE DID

This project was a true collaboration. It started with a workshop in Wagga Wagga, where Audiocraft, the MOR team, local Elders, and the host Luke Wighton came together to discuss project goals. Together everyone explored why preserving these stories as audio narratives was so significant for the community, and developed a cultural safety plan to ensure the Elders and any other First Nations people on the team felt supported throughout the process.

Then Luke and the MOR team reached out to Elders and began recording their stories. The MOR team's deep knowledge and trusted relationships were invaluable, while Luke’s connection with the Elders brought an intimacy to the recordings that wouldn’t have been possible with another host. This process became a beautiful exchange of stories and knowledge across generations—something we were so happy to support.

The Audiocraft team helped troubleshoot technical issues and reviewed audio along the way.  Once all the stories were recorded, the audio files went to Audiocrafts producer who worked closely with the team to craft each episode. After the stories were edited, the audio was shared with the Elders to listen and give feedback.

CREDITS

Host: Luke Wighton
Producer: Laura Brierley Newton
Script consultant (MOR): Moyra Shields
Sound design and mix: Laura Brierley Newton
Executive Producer: Kate Montague