Reading Time: 2 minutes

“My name is Billy Bain. I’m a surfer, an artist and an Aboriginal man.”  

The powerful statement marks the beginning of Changing Tides the Compass half hour special on Billy Bain. If you are not familiar with Billy, he’s an established contemporary artist of Darug descent who recently made the finals for both the Selwyn and Wynn art prizes. Billy also throws a mean frontside hack and if the name looks familiar you’re right; he’s the son of former professional surfer Robbie Bain, although Billy’s Aboriginal lineage comes through his mother’s side.           

Changing Tides follows Billy as he travels north from Sydney, stopping along the way, en route to Bundjalung Land in Byron Bay. It’s the classic east coast surf trip, with a distinctly, Indigenous twist. As the offshore winds begin to puff, Billy’s trip mirrors the annual mullet run up the coast, a seasonal fish migration that has been part of Aboriginal tradition for eons. It’s not long before Billy is roasting mullet alongside ‘the middens’ on an isolated beach on the mid-north-coast, talking story with local Aboriginal elders and learning more about his shared history.  

The entertaining and informative mini-doc is mostly concerned with Billy’s desire to better understand his own Aboriginal identity. Growing up on the Northern Beaches of Sydney he had great waves and the chance to evolve as a surfer and artist, but with very few Indigenous people living in the region it was challenging for Billy to add layers to his understanding of what it meant to be an Aboriginal and Darug man. As we watch Billy learn more about his culture as he travels north, he becomes the conduit through which we also learn as viewers.  

Changing Tides makes it clear that Aboriginal identity and culture is alive and evolving, and piques our curiosity to know more.  So many Australian surfers have made the trip up the east coast, but Billy’s journey in Changing Tides provides an entirely different perspective on a well-trodden path; by understanding a little about the First Nations Peoples’ relationship to this fabled stretch of coast everyone’s connection is given new depth of meaning.