Image by Pilbara from Pixabay Charles Chauvel’s Jedda (1955) holds an important place in the history of Australian cinema. Long considered a classic, it tells the tale of a young Aboriginal orphan, the eponymous Jedda (Rosalie Kunoth-Monks), who, despite attempts by her adoptive white parents to assimilate her into settler society, and despite being betrothed to a mixed-race stockman, Joe (Paul Reynall), is drawn inexorably towards Marbuck (Robert Tudawali), another Aboriginal man who comes from the bush to the cattle station where she lives in the Northern Territory. Marbuck abducts Jedda, only to find himself rejected by his own people on account of Jedda not being from the correct skin group. Both Jedda and Marbuck die after the latter pulls the former over a cliff. A tragic tale, then, the film arguably suggests that assimilation is not possible—while also being the object (at least in hindsight) of criticism for its intended sympathetic portrayal of everyday settler racism. Indeed, celebrated Aboriginal filmmakers Tracey Moffatt and Warwick Thornton both revisit Jedda in their work, with the latter …