First Weapons on ABC – Host Phil Breslin visits Alyawarr country in the Northern Territory to discover a weapon that was once one of the fastest weapons on earth – the Amerr.
Spending time with weapon makers Donald Thompson, John Duggie, Casey Holmes and Frank Holmes, Phil learns how to source, craft, and throw the Amerr.
In Brisbane they unpack the scientific principles that make this weapon so special, revealing how the ingenious design supercharges the spear’s distance, speed, and accuracy. The expert team reveals how Phil interacts with the weapon before Dr Adam Griffin demonstrates just how lethal the combination of spear and Amerr can be.
The challenge tests historian Eric Wilmott’s statement “that until the invention of the self-loading rifle, the woomera and spear were the fastest weapons on earth”.
Production credit: A Blackfella Films and Inkey Media production for the ABC. Major production investment from Screen Australia’s First Nations Department in association with the ABC. Financed with support from Screen Queensland. Producers Dena Curtis and Darren Dale. Executive Producer Jacob Hickey. ABC Executive Producer Kelrick Martin.
First Weapons – Friday 14 July, 2023 at 7.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview
TV Central ABC content HERE
