The Making of Galup VR Experience.

Behind the scenes documentary, The Making of Galup VR Experience, a virtual reality film about a massacre at Lake Monger by Ian Wilkes and Poppy van Oorde-Grainger with an oral history from Doolann-Leisha Eatts will premiering on SBS on 30th May for Reconciliation Week.

This National Reconciliation Week, The Making of Galup VR Experience invites SBS viewers behind the scenes of a virtual reality project exploring the brutal history of an iconic Perth wetland and the transformative impact of truth-telling. 

The VR film is about Lake Monger, a beautiful location in the heart of suburbia enjoyed each day by hundreds of people unaware of its hidden history as the site of the killing of Noongar people in 1830. 

The documentary shows how the creative team, led by Noongar theatre-maker Ian Wilkes and filmmaker Poppy van Oorde-Grainger with Noongar Elder Doolann-Leisha Eatts, turned their sold-out Perth Festival performance into a cinematic virtual reality experience which premiered at Slamdance, USA in January. 

Doolann-Leisha Eatts, who died last year, shares an oral history in the film that was passed down through her family and she was adamant that her story be heard. Her name, image and voice are used with permission. 

In the VR film, Doolann-Leisha Eatts invites viewers to sit by her fire and hear the truth for themselves. “I have lived my whole life dreaming that this story would be told,” she has said. “It was my greatest desire, right from when I was 10 years old.” 

This intimate truth-telling experience aims to bring people together for connection and healing. 

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Before colonisation, Lake Monger was a traditional Noongar camping and meeting place known as Galup (Kaarlup) – a place of fires. Today, thousands of people visit the lake and its iconic black swans without knowing the events that happened there or understanding the significance of this important site. The Making of Galup VR Experience seeks to change that and shares interviews with the Noongar Elders who guided the film’s production, as well as audiences expressing their shock at learning that their much-loved picnic spot was a site of a colonial massacre. 

Produced with the intention of using history as a tool for healing, its creators said they believe that “truthfully acknowledging violence in the past, enables a more just future.” 

As the team of Noongar Elders who guided the project stated, “it’s so important for young people, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal to join forces to understand history better and do the proper interpretations on behalf of the contemporary generations”. 

The project team is currently taking the virtual reality experience into schools, libraries, museums and festivals and advocating for the creation of a memorial at the lake to raise awareness of its history. Audiences can see the VR film next month at Sheffield DocFest in UK, St Kilda Film Festival in VIC, Doc Edge in NZ and City of Vincent Library in WA. 

For more information about where to see the VR experience and how to support the creation of a memorial visit http://www.galuptruth.com/