Arnhem Land hunters reach huge global audience with off-the-grid web series, Black As
They promise ‘bush maniac action’, and this fearless foursome does not disappoint. It’s why millions of people worldwide are now hooked on the off-the-grid web series, Black As.
Arnhem Land’s largely Indigenous Black As crew promise “bush maniac action” in their web series, and they do not disappoint. Viewers can see the quartet performing Top Gear-like stunts – albeit, on a remote community budget – in their theatrically unroadworthy ute. This reclaimed rust-bucket lacks front doors, windows, headlights or a complete steering wheel as it tears up the remote Northern Territory’s red-dirt roads. The brakes are dodgy and its bonnet is secured with a cloth strap.
Want to transport a tinnie to the nearest river for a spot of croc-hunting, but don’t have a trailer or roof rack? The fellas make it look easy (well, sort of). They tie the boat to their bush-bashing vehicle and off they go.
Catching crocs with homemade spears; chasing a buffalo with a harpoon made for catching turtles; reassembling a car found at the tip in eight steps or driving wrecks with no brakes. This is all part of the offbeat, off-the-grid world of fearless foursome Dino Wanybarrnga (“eats anything”), Chico Wanybarrnga (“law man”), Jerome Lilypiyana (“the hunter”) and initiated white man Joe Smith (“bush mechanic”).
These unlikely stars speak the Indigenous language Yolngu Matha and are from Ramingining, a community of less than 1000 people in Arnhem Land, 560km east of Darwin.
Their web series – which began life on ABC iview in 2016 – has been reimagined by social video experts Totem Network and, with fresh content added, has become an internet sensation.
According to Totem chief executive Steve Crombie, the audience reach of Black As has grown exponentially from 300,000 Facebook views in October 2021 to more than 100 million monthly views in October, November and December 2022. “That’s bigger than any show in Australia,’’ Crombie says.
The rebooted series is partly funded by Screen Australia, and the producer believes it’s the most popular Facebook and Tik Tok project in which the federal funding agency has invested.
“The reason this project is so successful is because we used data (on audience behaviours) to inform how we create the content,’’ he reveals in an interview with Review.
The series’ narrative episodes are aimed at those who followed the original TV show; shorter stand-alone episodes are targeted at social media users interested in fishing, hunting, traditional Indigenous cultures and beauty; while the vertical series were filmed on mobile phones and promoted to younger audiences.
Crombie says Totem has consulted to BBC Worldwide and Sony music and we “knew we could do something extraordinary (with Black As). This was a story we really wanted to tell.’’
Comprising new episodes and revamped material, the web series is available on Tik Tok, Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook, and was nominated for an award at the 2022 AACTAs.
Smith, the spokesperson for the Black As daredevils, attributes the series’ extraordinary international appeal to its spontaneity, authenticity and positive message about cross-cultural collaboration. “It’s just me and the boys, how we’re from two different races,’’ he says. “You might as well say two different worlds. And we just come together when we’re stuck up against things, but we have great outcomes.
“We’re showing the world that people can get along, and an outsider can be part of the people that have been here for so many thousands of years. There’s not much acting involved. It’s just what we do.’’
When asked about the jaw-dropping number of views the episodes have racked up, Smith responds with classic Top End nonchalance: “To be honest, I sort of stay off social media … It’s pretty cool. It’s just good to know that people do like it and obviously people want more.”
Smith has worked as a driver and interpreter at Ramingining’s health centre and says the series developed after “me and the boys” took a clinic doctor fishing and hunting. “As he tagged along he said to me, ‘Mate, you have to show the world what you boys do. People either don’t hear of this or they won’t believe it’.’’
The doctor contacted Rebel Films’ David Batty, the man behind the revered ABC series Bush Mechanics, who was sent phone footage of the Ramingining men’s adventures.
According to Smith, Batty – who would go on to become the web series’ director – “flew up with a few GoPros (portable action cameras) and whatnot, and then we’ve done a little shoot and we put it out there and people just started jumping on it and liked it’’.
Smith says that while some viewers are squeamish about hunting, it is Ramingining’s main pastime. “Obviously, you’re gonna have people that don’t like it when we’re going out, gathering food and hunting as a way of life. It’s how things are done (here). It’s a way of life. It’s great to see people getting out on country, getting out into the ocean and sourcing local food.’’
The quartet’s stunts and pranks are often dangerous – they drive wrecks, hunt and fish in croc-infested rivers armed only with thin, handcrafted spears and in one Don’t Try This At Home scene, detonate a bomb left over from World War II.
“There’s a lot of things that can go wrong,’’ Smith admits, “but it’s how we manage it if something were to go wrong. I see life as a risk and we take all these big risks. If we’re in front of a crocodile, you know, adrenaline’s going 100 miles an hour.’’ He adds: “Chico has done his Aboriginal health practitioner training, so pretty much got a good first aid background.’’
Smith has spent most of his life in Ramingining and, fluent in Yolngu Matha, was fostered by a local Aboriginal family during his teenage years after he fell in with a crowd who were “running amok’’. He was initiated as an adolescent and went through a sacred men’s ceremony years later.
A narrative scenario sometimes underpins the Black As adventures – in one episode, our heroes are stranded on an island and desperate to make it to an initiation ceremony on time. In another, a rival has stolen their car’s doors. How can they carry out appropriate payback? But mostly, their adventures are unscripted, unfolding in the same leisurely way life often does in remote communities.
As mentioned, the show started out as an ABC iview series and when funding wasn’t renewed, a partnership was eventually forged between the outback action stars, Batty and Totem. Crombie says “we basically restructured the show to suit different audiences and different platforms’’. Screen Australia, along with Screen NSW and Screen Territory then provided funding to relaunch the original show as a multi-platform web series.
The soundtrack is produced by ex-Village People drummer turned Territorian Allen Murphy and features songs by local Ramingining musicians.
The Black As crew travelled to Sydney for the recent AACTA awards ceremony. Smith says the nomination was “a bit of a surprise to us. It’s a step in the door and just to get down to an event like that was an amazing thing.’’
While the Black As cast members and production staff contend with unpredictable tides, wet season downpours and potentially lethal wildlife, the series showcases Arnhem Land’s rugged beauty and plays out on Indigenous-owned land. According to Smith, “everywhere we go is someone’s country, traditional owners own all the areas out here …. We have to go and see a variety of people to get permission to go on the land, tell them what we’re doing. And most of them are very supportive of it. They love it.’’
Crombie says the series’ muscular viewing figures demonstrate that “there is a huge opportunity to tell this extraordinary story to the world and have it turned into a longer-form series that would run in tandem with the digital first series’’.
Like Smith, the producer says the show’s appeal lies in its positive message about cross-racial co-operation. He also believes viewers are fascinated by people whose bush skills allow them to live off the land. “I see these guys as aspirational people, this is an aspirational lifestyle; it’s an extraordinary way to live,’’ he says.
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