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Her Name is Nanny Nellie

Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: King, D. (Director). Seymour, C., et al. (Producers). (2024). Her Name is Nanny Nellie. Good Docs. 80 mins. The core of this film is a very personal family story told through the narration and presence of Irene Ridgeway. Irene is of Aboriginal descent and the great granddaughter of Nanny Nellie. Irene is an affable narrator that anchors the film as we follow her journey to get three Aboriginal statues put back on display at the Australian Museum. This was the nation's first natural history museum, and these statues, created and displayed in the 1920s, are of a man, woman, and child. All of them were grouped as a family and used to represent offensive scientific theories about Aboriginal people from that time. However, the statues were based on real individuals unrelated to each other: Jimmy Clements, the child Harold Marsh, and Nellie Bungil Walker. Interestingly, Jimmy Clements was an important activist in his own right in the 1920s and at that time they discussed erecting a statue in his honor. Irene's grandmother was shocked to find her mother on display in 1996 in this context. The museum removed the display, but Victoria Archibald, Irene's grandmother, desired to have the statues returned to display, in appropriate clothing for the 1920s and with a dignity to the display that was not afforded to them originally. The film is structured as a journey and Irene is followed throughout the film. This journey is to uncover information on many levels. Most importantly, she unfolds the history and background of her great grandmother. Additionally, the film provides details on how the statues came into existence and some limited information on the other two people depicted. Finally, there is the journey of bringing the statue of Nanny Nellie back on display and some of the decisions that went into that process. The film provides an excellent overview on how official organizations and institutions impacted the Indigenous Australians. A number of museum specialists talk about the cultural role museums played in legitimizing racist theories and providing authority to those ideas. Irene's investigation into her great grandmother's life also reveals the devastating role of the state. This includes both the Aboriginal Protection Board which ripped apart families as well the way the census and other government records often neglected any mention of Indigenous Australians. Along with the historic role of institutions, this film shows current employees in the museum along with decisions and processes into creating a new exhibit. While not the overall intent of the film, it would nicely work for classroom discussions about the role of museums, including current practices. Her Name is Nanny Nellie also highlights the impact of generational trauma on Aboriginal families. As she talks about her research and her great grandmother's life, we learn more about the Aboriginal Protection Board and how her grandmother was taken to the Cootamundra Home for Girls. The forced separation of families is made explicit both with her family's story but also with the difficulty in finding information on Harold Marsh. It is this lack of knowledge at the individual level while trying to grapple with the horrors wrought on the Indigenous Australians as a whole that runs through Irene's investigations. It is only though the process of learning about the past that the film ends on a note of hope. Irene concludes as she talks about understanding as healing. Besides the explicit subjects covered by the film, there can also be valuable discussions on filmmaking and directorial decisions. The film is well framed with solid cinematography as we follow Irene on her journey. The director, Daniel King, is Irene Rideway's son. While he makes a brief appearance, his role as director is never acknowledged. How much should a documentarian insert themselves within their film? Certainly, there are trade-offs whichever approach is taken. Such a discussion could also look at constraints on filmmakers. There are a lot of important topics at both a societal level and a personal level the director is working with; looking at what is chosen would be valuable for understanding his process. There are a few small places where the chronology of events around the statues is unclear. A few terms might have been defined, such as the title of Nanny as an honorific name. Finally, it would be useful to briefly pull back from Nanny Nellie's story to talk about wider beliefs from the community. The warning at the beginning of the film suggests this may have been a controversial decision to have Nanny Nellie's statue on display, but this is very unclear. This is a skillful examination of Indigenous Australian history through the study of an individual family. Overall, the director does a great job at highlighting the trauma of the past while ending on note of healing through Irene's undertaking to set up an exhibition to honor her great grandmother.
DOI: 10.59236/emro.v28i10a8532
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7224858950
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