Scott Quayle and Helen Dwyer cross The Grey Line

By Adam Ross

FILMINK ACKNOWLEDGES THIS REVIEW WAS WRITTEN ON WURUNDJERI COUNTRY AND ACKNOWLEDGES THAT SOVEREIGNTY OF THIS LAND HAS NEVER BEEN CEDED. WE HONOUR AND PAY RESPECT TO ELDERS PAST, PRESENT AND EMERGING.

A victim of the Australian government’s shameful ‘protection’ policies, Helen Dwyer, like many other First Nation children, was forcibly removed from her parents. Dwyer was placed in foster care in Perth and was raised as a middle-class child in the suburbs. It was only when Dwyer was fourteen that she discovered that she was not the family’s biological daughter. This crushing revelation set her on a path to uncover who she really was. Stradling two disparate worlds, Dwyer has felt neither black nor white, and a lack of acceptance has forced her to walk a lonely grey line.

Together, Quayle and Dwyer examine the events that have shaped her life and try, finally, to find a place of acceptance. They hope that by telling her story, people can connect, heal, and feel a sense of solidarity, and a brighter future can emerge for our First Nations people.

The film was made under director Scott Quayle’s Life Films banner – short films telling people’s histories. Quayle was put in contact with Dywer through the film’s executive producer Ian Hale. The film is also produced by Helen’s daughter Kayah Wills and co-produced by Amy Nyidi Smith.

Helen Dwyer (also known as Ellen Collard), Protagonist/Subject

“There is a sub-section of the stolen generations who have never been acknowledged. Those of us who were raised by white families and totally disconnected from our Aboriginal family, our culture, and our language. We’re not white, not black, we sit on this very lonely grey line.

“I have a sense of deep loss, like a black hole, that has hung over me for my entire adult life. I have always just wanted to belong, but never really felt that I have. I want this film to shine a light on what we went through. To be acknowledged. To be seen.”

Amy Nyidi Smith, Producer

“This is a First Nations story. Australia and the world need to hear these stories. It is amazing how many people in Australia, of different ages, have no idea of the assimilation process and how it affected our people and led to intergenerational trauma. These stories have been suppressed for so long, and now thanks to filmmakers, theatre makers, playwrights, artists, AND most of all, our brave people that wish to tell them, we are now on a strong road to telling more of these stories.

“We need to heal. When I speak with my people and have the space to tell their experience of the assimilation process, I can see the healing already begin. When I was approached by Ian Hale and Scott Quayle, and they described what the documentary would be about, I felt very close to the subject matter. It was very similar to my mother’s story. It can be lonely living with these memories and trauma. Sharing her story is a platform to say, ‘you are not alone’.”

Tristan Barton, Composer

“When Scott initially reached out to me, I wasn’t too sure what to expect. As a proud Yorta Yorta man, I’ve come to understand how much importance and respect stories such as these need in order to be accurately and delicately represented. After a bit of back and forth and learning of Helen’s own experience as a stolen generations Noongar woman, I was immediately intrigued and felt that this was a project I could be part of.

“As I began to watch the initial rough cuts of the film and started to understand more of Helen’s story, I was extremely moved and saddened by what transpired in her life. I felt an emotional connection to what I was watching and felt that it would be a great privilege and responsibility to accurately portray the emotion of her story through music.

“Sadly, this is one story, of many stories, that has impacted so many mob, and it needs to be told and seen by everyone in Australia, and the world, in order to acknowledge the past, so healing can take place.”

Kayah Wills, Producer

“Our children need to hear these stories, so they can grow up and share what they have been taught, and to learn what our people have endured just a short time ago, in what most would assume was generations ago.

“It was a journey to get to this point and it was never something I thought would actually happen. To see the final product and the care taken by Scott and the team to get my mum’s story right, I was so proud.

“As a daughter, to feel and see the pain in my mum’s eyes is hard, however, this is the reason this film needs to be seen. This pain runs through so many of our Elders and through their children, it creates intergenerational trauma amongst families, which is hard to break.

“This film will open up the dialogue between indigenous and non-indigenous people. It will help to demonstrate why people are still angry, sad or feel unheard. It will help those with no idea that this was something that happened in Australia or those that have heard about Stolen Generations but do not know what that actually meant for families to endure. It’s for those who know someone who has been stolen, and for children in my shoes, whose parent(s) have gone through this.”

Scott Quayle, Amy Nyidi Smith and DOP Laundon Peacock behind the scenes on *The Grey Line*

Scott Quayle, Director

“Making this film has been confronting. Having moved to Australia when I was ten years old and going through school in the ’90s, I was never taught the rich history of the Aboriginal culture and the atrocities they suffered.

“Unfortunately, I am not alone. A huge number of Australians are unaware of just how many lives have been affected by the acts of our past Governments. Unfortunately, every indigenous person involved in this project has a close connection to what happened during this time, with one or more family members having been part of the Stolen Generations.

“I was nervous to tell this story, but Helen and I had an instant connection and I feel honoured that she chose me to make this film.”