Painting by Uncle Gavin Couzens
Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education and community.
MLA is a not-for-profit organisation committed to truth-telling through film, education, and storytelling. We unite First Nations voices, historians, and creatives to revive Indigenous and colonial histories through period dramas and educational content.
How It Works
Step 1: Contribution & Produce
We contribute to producing period dramas that entertain and educate, bringing powerful stories to life on screen.
Step 2: Research & Collaborate
While developing our period dramas, we also create educational and documentary films in collaboration with First Nations and local communities. This process honours the land's true history and helps bridge cultural and historical knowledge gaps.
Step 3: Co-create & Give Back
During production, we actively involve First Nations communities in set, costume, language, and prop design. After filming, we give back to the communities by supporting education, tourism, and cultural initiatives.
Long Term Purpose
Our alliance brings together filmmakers, educators, artists, First Nations leaders, and local communities united by a shared commitment to truth-telling. We are guided by integrity, cultural respect, and a deep purpose—to share powerful, authentic stories that educate, empower, and inspire.
Shifting Truth
Changing truth in society collectively requires open dialogue, education, and systemic reform. We challenge dominant narratives and reshape perspectives by fostering critical thinking and amplifying historically silenced voices through film, music, storytelling, and community engagement. Sustainable change comes through collective action, where individuals, institutions, and governments acknowledge past injustices and work together toward equity and truth.
Innovation in AI
Our productions and media endeavour to use latest technology in Ai for film and books to deliver international content.
Indigenous Community Collaboration
First Nations communities will actively participate in our projects, ensuring their voices are represented while creating socio-economic, educational, cultural, and tourism benefits. From set designs to costumes, we collaborate closely with community representatives to authentically bring their stories to the screen. After production, these cultural assets will be given back to the community. Every project is crafted with deep respect, ensuring authenticity and artistic integrity.
Reconciliation
Our productions foster collaboration between First Nations and local communities, bridging histories to create a shared, knowledgeable and brighter future for all.
Acknowledgement
Our producers and creative team acknowledge the country's Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Victoria, Australia and Internationally in recognition of their continuing connection to the land, waters, and culture. We respect the First Peoples language groups, communities, and Elders past, present, and emerging across Victoria, Australia and internationally with strict Indigenous protocol in recreating historical story content.
Our Production Protocol
Respect, protect, educate, and build social and moral awareness around Indigenous culture and Australian and international history.
To protect and gain consent/permissions from communities, traditional owners, and elders around Indigenous culture, oral stories, characters, costumes, language and artefacts, etc., shown in film productions and educational material.
To collaborate with Indigenous and contemporary communities where the story's subject content is located and allocate 50% of any profits back to MagicLands foundation for further education content that protects heritage and creates infrastructure, employment, and business opportunities in the area.
MagicLands
Part1: Moorrups Call
Feature Film
(Development, Scripted)
Production Set for 2025
The untold true story and bloodline of William Buckley, an escaped British convict, and his relationship with Wadawurrung woman and resistance fighter Purramurnin Tullawurnin. Set in early 1800s Victoria, this tale unfolds during the tumultuous period of land grabbing from Indigenous communities and the founding of the Geelong and Melbourne settlements.
MagicLands
Part 2: Heart of the Southern Cross
TV Series - Period Drama
(Development, Treatment Written)
6 Episodes
In the turbulent times of early 19th-century Southern Australia, a young Palawa Aboriginal woman named Truganini embarks on a harrowing journey of survival, witnessing the darkest sides of colonisation, betrayal, loss and her fight for humanity amidst the rising silent wars between the Indigenous communities and the invading settlers in early Tasmania and Victoria.
MagicLands
Part 3: The Gunditjmara Wars
(Development)
Uncovering the Untold Resistance of Australia’s First Warriors
A powerful cinematic retelling of the Gunditjmara resistance against colonial invasion, this film brings to life the fierce battles, resilience, and unbreakable spirit of one of Australia’s oldest living cultures. Committed to truth-telling, we collaborate with First Nations communities to honor their history and perspectives, ensuring authenticity and cultural integrity. Through deep research and storytelling, we aim to shed light on this hidden chapter of Australia’s past, fostering awareness,
MagicLands
Part 4: Terra Australis Incognita
(Feature Film, Development)
Based from our short film on Torres, in 1605, a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós set sail in search of the fabled "Great Southern Land." Among them was Luis Vaz de Torres, whose journey through the treacherous waters now known as the Torres Strait would leave a lasting mark on history. As storms scattered the fleet, Torres pressed forward, encountering Indigenous communities, claiming land, and capturing children for forced baptism in Manila.
Through historical reenactments and investigative storytelling, Torres explores the dark intersections of colonial ambition and Indigenous survival, shedding light on the overlooked origins of Australia’s name.
Educational Content and Short Films
While exploring and researching for our MagicLands drama productions, we encountered a significant absence of educational content highlighting Australian and Indigenous history from both perspectives. Recognising this gap, we aim to utilise our research and digital assets created in development and production with Indigenous communities for educational content that effectively portrays a comprehensive view of history, showcasing the transformations that have occurred on the land, people, and animals.
To find out more, please visit Education Content
Short Films
Garra’s Chance
Our team explored a mystery surrounding the daughter of William Buckley and Purranmurnin Tullawurnin. We named her Garra in this short film, and it wasn't until after this short film was completed that we found resources that stipulated her name was Fanny, and she did survive. Fanny’s bloodline story will be told in the feature film Moorrups Call.
This short film is about Garra, an Indigenous young woman on the run from colonists during the silent war, living in the Anakie mountains, abandoned by her parents. Colonist Robert Von Stieglitz, out hunting, whose family occupy over 200,000 acres of stolen land in the area, stumbles upon her. Garra must learn quickly to survive and trust the ancestor’s spirit. Filmed on Wadawurrung Land over one day, it turned out great. Magic even. Garra’s Chance.
Torres
Short Film 5.44mins A concept for a feature film in development.
A brief history below:
How did the Torres Strait Islands get its name? On a recent trip, the Magic Lands team found out and we also discovered a mystery about how Australia got its name.
We dive back to 1605, three Spanish ships leave from Peru on the 21st of December on an expedition across the Pacific to discover the “Great Southern Land.” Pedro Fernandes de Queirós was a Portuguese navigator who commanded the three ships, San Pedro y San Pablo (60 tons), San Pedrico (40 tons) and Los Tres Reyes Magos. Luis Vaz de Torres (Torres Strait Islands) was in command of the San Pedrico.
In May 1606, Torres and Queiros reached a group of islands later known as the New Hebrides and Vanuatu. Quieros named the group La Australia del Espiritu Santo (Australia of the Holy Spirit.) The word Australia was intended to compliment Phillip 3rd of Spain, a Hapsburg sovereign and member of the House of Habsburg, Austria, to which the Spanish royal family belonged. The word chosen says Quieros was from his majesty title of Austria. On the 11th of June 1606, Queiros became separated from two other ships of his fleet in bad weather and then sailed to Acapulco, Mexico arriving in November 1606. Torres believes whoever was in charge of the San Pedro y San Pablo departed intentionally, saying, “we couldn't find them, for they did not sail on the proper course, nor with good intention.” Rather than abandon the voyage, and steer back to Callao, Torres resolved that he would not return until he had achieved some amount of exploration.
In July 1606, Torres, unable to make the north coast of Guinea due to winds, turned east to follow the south coast of Guinea. For two months, Torres threaded his way through the reefs and Islands of what is now known as Torres Strait Islands. He sighted the hills of Cape York (which he took for a cluster of islands). Torres crew captured six boys and six girls from Papua New Guinea and three Torres Strait girls from one of the central islands. He took the kidnapped victims to Manila, Philippines, to be baptised, and they were put on a show. After this, what happened to the twelve Mailuans and three Kulkalaig remains unknown.