From Bourke With Love is an oral history youth engagement initiative and social impact documentary project. It is led by the Walkley award-winning ABC journalist, a Muruwari man born and raised in Bourke, Allan Clarke, who is passionate about creating opportunities for young people in his community.
2020 Rona Tranby Award
From Bourke with Love
The youth initiative is coordinated in Bourke by Fiona Smith, a proud Kunja and Muruwari woman. She has been with the project since 2019, working on the oral history youth program. She has named the community initiative “S.P.I.R.I.T” (Strengthen Personal Intelligence and Radiate Initiatives Together), and is now its Bourke director.
The documentary From Bourke With Love (working title) has a unique opportunity through Allan Clarke and a chorus of voices, young and old, to tell the story of Bourke from the perspective of its Aboriginal residents in a way that has never been done before, shedding light on the community’s civil rights activism and its echoes in Bourke today. The new Bourke story that will emerge will challenge the habitual clichéd narratives and contribute an entirely fresh perspective to the national conversation about race, history and identity.
Documentary Australia
About Allan Clarke
Allan is a Muruwari and Gomeroi man born and raised in Bourke and an award-winning journalist. His ABC podcast “Blood on the Tracks” won him a Walkley award in 2018. His previous reporting on Mark Haines’ death has led to the case being reopened and a police review of the initial investigation. Allan has previously worked for BuzzFeed, SBS and NITV. His work has largely focused on unsolved Aboriginal deaths in regional New South Wales and the intersection between the Indigenous community and the judicial system. His extensive reporting on suicide and juvenile justice in remote communities was nominated for a Walkley Award and an Amnesty International Media Award. Allan’s three-part television series Cold Justice won a Kennedy award and a United Nations Media Award and was nominated for a Law and Justice Foundation award.
Allan is passionate about making a difference to the younger generations. From Bourke With Love is a way to make that difference.