Summary Portrait of Mick Our first story is introduced by actor, Bill Hunter. One of Australia's best known and most controversial aboriginal leaders tells his own personal and painful story for the first time in a powerful and moving edition of Australian Story. Mick Dodson is a lawyer, best known through his work as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Social Justice Commissioner. He is a familiar figure on news programs where he is characterised as an angry and vocal spokesperson for the aboriginal cause. But he has never previously divulged very much about his own background and upbringing .. the key events in his life that have fuelled his anger and motivated him towards a key role in aboriginal affairs. Mr Dodson, and other family members, talk about the impact on the young Mick of the deaths, first of his father and then three months later, his mother, when he was just nine years old. He actually witnessed the shooting death of his father. "It fills me with sadness when I recall it, but I think the effects of that sort of trauma are lifelong and the secret is to come to terms with it, and know how to address it so that it doesn't dominate and dictate how you live your life .. but the hurt's still there, the pain's still there." Mick and his brother Pat were separated and fostered out to various relatives. Later they became the first and only aboriginal students at a boarding school in Victoria. "There were some tough times, particularly the first 18 months to 2 years. I had a really rough time there. I wanted to fight every bugger that called me names and stuff like that .. references to my ancestry." Pat went on to become a priest and later chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. Mick became a lawyer and later director of the Northern Land Council. His public persona is often characterised as that of an "angry" or "difficult" man but Australian Story has captured a very different side as well. We have filmed him at home and at play with his young son and his wife, who is an anthropologist. We see him playing cricket and we join him as he has his portrait painted for an entry in the Archibald competition. We also join him in the Northern Territory on a visit to the family who raised him after he was orphaned. He talks about his regret that he doesn't know more about his own people and his own traditions. PLUS: A Woman's Voice Christine Johnston is a singer/performer with a talent for using her voice in an unconventionally way. Her performances range from putting her own dramatic spin on songs by the likes of Laurie Anderson, to vocally interpreting works of art, sculptures and peoples' hair styles. Christine takes much of her inspiration from the performances she and her siblings put on as children for family, school friends and neighbours. Christine never speaks during performances and has a high sense of drama, underscored subtly by an outrageous sense of humour and childs' play. A tall, striking woman, her attire is often hauntingly medieval - her hair usually teased into some grand and outrageous shape. Behind Christine's rather bizarre style of performance we discover a warm character, a nurturing family and her triumph over childhood shyness. She communicates with a charming and generous spirit conveying a gentle integrity that audiences find very refreshing.

• Documentary
• Biography