ABC.net.au

July 5, 2005

What happens when two people leave everything known in search of the unknown. All they have is $300, a video camera and a remarkable vehicle...

4 W Dreaming is a journey told through the eyes of two young Australians. They leave Sydney with the purpose of documenting the positive aspects of Australias colourful Indigenous culture. Both also have their own individual aims for going on the journey.

Michael Butler, who is a film director, and very talented Didgeridoo player aims to find the custodian or elder of the didgeridoo, one of the oldest wind instruments in the world. Michelle White wants to find the last traditional medicine men and women of the Aboriginal culture.

This extraordinary journey takes place in a 1961 ex Army Ambulance Land Rover that has travelled to Vietnam and was used for war. It has now been rebuilt for peaceful purposes. It was Michaels aim that the vehicle named The Message Stick Vehicle travel across Australia representing the new symbol of Aboriginal Reconciliation. On the journey the vehicle is signed and hand printed by some of Australias most prominent people.

4 W Dreaming is the result of 8 years of filming and journeying into the very heart of the Australian Aboriginal culture.

By the end of the journey the Message Stick has come to be painted by well over 150 traditional Aboriginal artists transforming it into a Modern Day Motorized Message Stick, retelling a 50,000 year old Aboriginal tradition.

Hugo Weaving is narrating the journey. Michael Butler is available for interviews.

Screens Friday 29 July and Friday 5 August at 6.00pm, 2005 On ABC TV