Tracks Magazine: MORNING OF THE EARTH IN A NEW MILLENIUM
When he was co-founder of Tracks in the early 70s, Albe Falzon had a hectic schedule. Back then Tracks was produced out of a rustic, two storey house at Whale Beach in Sydney.When he wasn’t working on the magazine, Albe would dash north to shoot for his movie project, ‘Morning of the Earth’. Somehow, between deadlines, Albe also squeezed in a trip to Bali and a spell in Hawaii to gather footage for a film that would ultimately inspire a generation, and echo through the decades. These days Albe lives on the north coast, where he spends his days pouring over his archives, tending to injured native animals and riding all the waves he didn’t while he was filming. He strives to lead a simple life in synch with his natural environment – the kind he was trying to advocate half a century ago when he first released ‘Morning of the Earth’.
While MOTE helped mythologise surfers like Michael Peterson, Steve Cooney and Baddy Treloar, Albe will tell you it was always designed to shift human consciousness towards a more symbiotic relationship with nature.
This theme is established in the film’s opening sequence where a montage of brilliantly lit landscapes and geographic wonders are set against the ethereal title track – ‘Morning of the Earth’.The lyrics of which tell us ‘Earth you were magnificent through the pain of bein’ born.’ In between the exhilarating surfing action in the film we see NatYoung feeding his chooks on his farm, Chris Brock living in the Angourie treehouse he made out of driftwood, and Baddy making boards in the backyard of his weatherboard shack, to the tune of Simple Ben. MOTE never preaches, rather it’s an enchantment that ushers us towards a more harmonious relationship with nature. As he prepares to release a fully remastered version of MOTE for its 50th anniversary (see more details over), it’s the film’s Arcadian themes that Albe wants to re-emphasise...