The Walkout Step, a new short film about social change.

Created by filmmaker Richard Bladel with pakana elder Cheryl Mundy, it tells the story behind the installation of a public artwork at the front door of the former Queens Orphan School for Boys in St Johns park, New Town.

Cheryl’s great, great grandmother Fanny Cochrane Smith and her great, great uncle Adam were imprisoned in Orphan Schools in the 1840s, which at the time was part of the convict penal system. They were not orphans, having been stolen from their parents who were very much alive. There were at least 40 Aboriginal children locked up at the site in harsh conditions, and not all of them survived their stay.

For Cheryl, this artwork brings a very personal and positive response to a history of intergenerational trauma. “The artwork is my hearts dream for the boys to run out into their land, into the light and back to their families. It’s a statement of pakana survival against the colonial onslaught. It is not a memorial; it is evidence that we fight on.”

The film tells some of the story of the beginnings of the Orphan Schools as an institution in the 1830’s and offers some thoughts about the motivation and consequences of the policies of successive colonial administrations in the early days of white colonisation of lutruwita-Tasmania. Arguably, we are still dealing with the fallout of those policies.

For filmmaker Richard Bladel, it's an important story :“That this pakana persons story of hope and renewal embodied in the artwork is now present in a place where her own family and thousands of other children suffered, is a courageous and generous act of truth telling towards healing. Very few people know what really went on in this place. Cheryl’s story and her beautiful artwork helps to break the silence to raise awareness, which is a first step towards justice being done. ”

The artwork and film are both projects of Kickstart Network, an arts organisation that works closely with communities, and has raised the money to repair and repurpose the former Queens Orphan School for Boys & Girls buildings as spaces for community creativity, healing & friendship.

Session Times

(Film run time approx. 35 minutes)

Thursday 9th Feb – 6:30 PM
Friday 10th Feb – 6:30 PM
Saturday 11th – 6:30 PM
Sunday 12th Feb - 1 PM
Sunday 12th 3:30 – 5:30 PM – Special Event - Screening & Forum with Cheryl Mundy, Rodney Gibbons and Professor Lucy Frost

“Pathways to justice, healing and peace in lutruwita.”

With a panel of pakana and non pakana speakers.
Tix $15/$8 Concession
Only 50 seats per session.

Limited Door sales
For more info: Richard Bladel 0447 334 474

Please do not attend this event if you are feeling unwell. It is in the interest of all to stay at home if you have any flu or COVID-19 symptoms.