ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the representation of Aboriginal masculinity developed through the central protagonist of the Ivan Sen films Mystery Road and Goldstone. Jay Swan, a police detective who also happens to be an Aboriginal man, serves to both confirm and disrupt settler colonial understandings of contemporary Indigenous masculinity that are contained within the discourse of Aboriginalism. Jay Swan, as both Aboriginal man and detective, parallels the dingo as a figure both native to Australia and not native at the same time. In Goldstone, Sen continues to reference Tjukurpa stories of the dingo as Swan’s white police colleague, Josh, uses the wild dog as a metaphor for the native police. The character of Jay Swan that Ivan Sen develops in Mystery Road and its sequel Goldstone represents an important development in the history of Australian filmmaking.
