A new documentary explores the extraordinarily forgotten history of a team of indigenous circus performers that took the world by storm. The documentary “My Colleano Heart” sees Yaegl filmmaker Pauline Clague trace connections from her family tree to unearth a remarkable story of indigenous achievement that would see a family of performers travelling across the world transcending the racial boundaries of the time.
Stephen Hill asked filmmaker Associated Professor Pauline Clague how she was able to retrace her family history to unearth a story about her pioneering ancestors and how the Colleanos were able to use performance as a way to evade the assimilationist policies of the Australia government following Federation.
Image: The Colleano family, subject of the film, The Colleano Heart
Produced By: Stephen Hill
Featured In Story: Associate Professor Pauline Clague, director of “The Colleano Heart”
First aired on The Wire, Wednesday 18 March 2026