Cronulla Riots – The Day That Shocked the Nation airs on SBS 2 at 9.30pm, Thursday 11 December.
SBS Online has taken home a 2014 Walkley Award for multimedia storytelling for the interactive documentary, 'Cronulla Riots -The Day That Shocked the Nation'.
The interactive pairs a 60 minute video with more than 220 pieces of original content and explores the themes that emerges from the riots through video, text, stills and timeline.
SBS Chief Digital Officer Marshall Heald said: "Cronulla Riots is a great example of how the power of technology can enhance traditional forms of storytelling to create innovative new content experiences for audiences.
"SBS is committed to being a pioneer of interactive content and in helping to develop an exciting new online content industry for the future.
"We'd like to thank our partners at Northern Pictures, Screen Australia, The University of Western Sydney as well as all of our fantastic contributors from western Sydney, Cronulla and elsewhere who generously gave their time to develop this insightful project about a dark chapter in contemporary Australian history."
About the documentary
At the heart of the 'Cronulla Riots' multimedia experience is a 60-minute documentary produced by Northern Pictures in Association with SBS Online and Screen Australia.
Presented from the perspective of those who were there, the documentary investigates simmering tensions between groups of Australians that led to racially motivated violence at Sydney’s Cronulla beach one hot day in December 2005.
Phrases like “100% Aussie Pride” were scrawled in the sand while slogans such as “We grew here you flew here” became a new source of national shame. In the following days, Lebanese-Australian youth rose up, responding swiftly in a series of retaliations.
Leading up to these events, 270,000 text messages were sent and received to mobilise the rioters and those who retaliated.
Cronulla Riots – The Day That Shocked the Nation airs on SBS 2 at 9.30pm, Thursday 11 December. The interactive version can be found here.
