Loosely based on the filmmaker's personal experience, "Terra Nullius" is an impressionistic account of an eight year old Koori girl, Alice, growing up in a white adoptive family which denies her Aboriginality. The film examines how unacknowledged shame and fear passes from one generation to the next, from one culture to another. The last scene depicts a silent meeting between the young Alice and the adult Alice. In order to reclaim her life, Alice decides she must confront the pain and confusion of her childhood.

Terra Nullius (1992)
Overview
Writer, Director
Top Billed Cast
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Michelle Lacombe
Alice
OP
Olivia Patten
Young Alice

Wendy Playfair
Mary
DK
Dacre King
Neville
EF
Enid Freeman
Woman
VK
Victoria Kennedy
Woman
PM
Paula Maling
Woman
PS
Phyllis Simpson
Woman