About 'babe in the reeds'

Aboriginal community leader Lois Cook’s exploration of her great grandfather Bubba Jack Cook’s story reveals the history of
​1st Nations massacres on the NSW North Coast.

Underpinning the tragedy is a potent community history and the determination of a family to reconnect with its origins and learn from Bubba Jack Cook’s powerful legacy.

A community collaboration with ABC Open Aboriginal community leader Lois Cook’s exploration of her great grandfather Bubba Jack Cook’s story reveals the history of indigenous massacres on the NSW North Coast.

Join Aboriginal woman Lois Cook as she takes on the job of history detective to find evidence to support or confirm her family’s stories
 of massacres and a baby found in the reeds.

This tale produced by Aboriginal woman Lois Cook with her family very intimately shares the brutal, mostly untold history of what happened to the Nyangbul  people of the NSW North Coast.  You will be surprised at what Lois finds when she becomes history detective tracking down people  and documentary massacres and a baby found in the reeds. 

With the help of the staff of Ballina Library she discovers commentary by settlers and historians who were 
compelled to record the brutality against the local Indigenous 
people. 
​Lois Cook produced the documentary in an unique collaboration with ABC  Multiplatform Executive Producer, Catherine Marciniak, in a series of video 
production workshops.

The Healing 
The whole process has been an incredibly healing experience for the family.
​ It s important for the children to learn these stories and they took 
on the task of portraying their ancestors with great reverence. It has had an unexpected outcome  making them feel proud
 of their ancestors and it brought the cousins together in a common cause of sharing their story with the nation.”     

Lois Cook produced the documentary in an unique collaboration with ABC Multiplatform Executive Producer, Catherine Marciniak, 
in a series of video production workshops. It was a special project for ABC North Coast's initiative UNTOLD, that culminated in a live broadcast from 
Cabbage Tree Island on October 28 2014.
​OPEN  Babe in the Reeds
​