Scratch

In the early 1700s the Dutch ship Concordia was wrecked off the Western Australian coast. For more than a century, the rumour has circulated that survivors of the wreck of the Concordia made their way overland through the desert and established a settlement, probably in Palm Valley, near what is now known as Hermansburg in Central Australia. As the story has it, eighty men and ten women found their way into the valley, and the community finally grew to some 300. The colony's existence was 'documented' in two newspaper reports published in England in the early 1830s, and there were other articles, including a paper in a Dutch scientific journal; and yet no hard evidence for the existence of the colony has ever been found. Despite the lack of physical evidence, a small number of academics and explorers - including Les Hiddens of 'Bush Tucker Man' fame - are determined to prove the colony existed. 'Scratch' is not simply the investigation of a historical myth, but is also an exploration of the desire that sustains belief in the existence of the lost colony in the face of all the arguments to the contrary. What keeps an idea alive in the minds of the believers? What is the distinction between belief and evidence? 'Scratch' is a mix of real-life interviews and poetic speculation. Writer, producer, composer: Gretchen Miller. Sound engineer: Russell Stapleton