A black and white perspective on life in the Block

A first-year film student at Eora TAFE and the daughter of the Aboriginal activist Ken Brindle, she was escorting a visiting Hong Kong filmmaker around the Block in Redfern last week when she says they were pulled over by police in an unmarked car.

"He was carrying camera gear and everything. They thought I was taking him down there to rob him and wanted to know if he was safe. It was sort of embarrassing."

Brindle's first film, a 22-minute video installation, features her own heart-wrenching memories of growing up on the Block and in Kempsey as the daughter of an outspoken black man, photos of her father in Bomaderry Children's Home and video footage of plain-clothes police crash-tackling and arresting a woman at the Block before the riots in 2004.

It features in an exhibition called Ten Years From the Heart: Photographs of Redfern-Waterloo and documents the family life of one of Redfern's most respected human rights advocates.

Aged 19, with a young baby under one arm, Sonya Brindle spent more than a year with her father, Ken, her brother James and sister Shirley sorting through 45,000 entries in the state's Family Records Unit at Circular Quay.

Ken Brindle, a Korean War veteran and member of the stolen generation, had searched for six months for his own file to trace his natural parents.

"He didn't want the rest of the mob to go through that, so we went through the boxes, through each and every file, and indexed every one so people could [find their own]," Sonya said.

He died four days after he began his index, aged 54. It was 20 years ago last week. The index has since helped hundreds of Aboriginal people to find their families.

James Brindle, a father of six, died in custody in Long Bay jail a little over 10 years ago. The NSW coroner John Abernethy found the Department of Corrective Services and prison officers were derelict in their duty and that the tragedy could have been avoided.

Shirley went on to index the records of the former NSW Lands Trust.

Sonya says she is now ready to tell her family's stories. She wants to make films about her brother's death, her father's achievements and the positive things that her four children and those of other Redfern families are doing.

"I believe that our children will have a better life," she said.

The photographer Lisa Hogben became friends with Brindle a year ago. "The only real difference between Sonya and I is that she's Aboriginal and I'm not. Her life has been so different to mine for that reason," she said.

The Aboriginal Housing Company is finalising its plans for the future of the Block this month. Hogben said the exhibition was an insight into the rarely documented side of Redfern: its families, hopes and survival against the odds.

Ten Years from the Heart, Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Camperdown, until Sunday.

Photo: Kate Geraghty ; Straight from the heart … Lisa Hogben and Sonya Brindle, whose work features in an exhibition on the daily life of Sydney's Aborigines.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/a-black-and-white-perspective-on-life-in-the-block/2007/04/17/1176696838322.html