REMASTERED DOCO TELLS STORY OF THE 1946 PILBARA STRIKE

Still from ‘How the West Was Lost’. Credit: Supplied.

A newly remastered and digitised version of the 1987 documentary ‘How the West Was Lost’ had its debut screening in Perth on Friday.

The film tells the story of the 1946 Pilbara strike, the longest industrial action in Australian history.

In the strike, around 800 Aboriginal workers walked off Pilbara pastoral stations, demanding fair wages and working conditions.

Chair of the Remembering the 1946 Pilbara Strike committee Rose Murray said she hoped the remastered film could spark new interest in the strike.

“I’m really hoping that people will walk away and say, ‘Hey, we need to know more’, and when the opportunity for young people and people in other education places, when they have a chance to learn about it, that they will be excited to seek it out,” she said.

“Next year, we will have some more opportunities to produce resources and get things going in schools.”

Listen to Rose Murray and the film’s director David Noakes speak to Marion Cheedy about ‘How the West was Lost’: