Tracks Magazine: THE PRE DAWN
More than half a century after he started filming Morning of the Earth, Albe Falzon
still has a vivid recollection of the experience. While the finished product will always be a timeless distillation of a journey that spanned several years and three, major locations – Australia, Bali and Hawaii – there are countless untold stories from the making of the film. From being amongst the first Westerners to dwell in the fabled cave at Uluwatu, to the serendipity of the celebrated soundtrack, Albe takes us on a wander through the pre-dawn of Morning of the Earth.
Albe and Dave ‘Baddy’ Treloar: Two city kids who went bush.
…When I look at that photo and I look at today’s world, it’s bizarre because everything gets so homogenised today, like everything is so clean, perfect, and packaged.You know, the glamour industry has taken over and everything’s so polished. And digital’s like that, it’s really polished. It’s actually a bit too polished for me. I kind of like a bit of the rawness and the roughness and the softness. And that photo, I think, is like, to the extreme of what I just said, because it’s so out there. It’s kind of way beyond feral. But in today’s world, it’s appealing because you don’t see much of that. Because anytime you want to look out in today’s modern society, you’ve got the latest car, the latest camera, the latest this, the latest that – everything’s a bit too polished… I like the organic feel of publishing. And of holding the book, or magazine or whatever in my hand. And that’s just something I’m totally attracted to. So, looking at that photo, my connection with that is amazing, because it takes me back to that period, which still exists a lot in my life now because I live in the country.
My connection with David was because of that pure organic aspect of his life. I mean he was raised pretty much in the city, like I was. I was born in Redfern and somehow we connected through surfing. And then he found himself up in a rural setting. Firstly, in those beautiful, broken down buildings, that nobody wanted to rent for $5 a week and just go surf. And to me, I love the rawness of that. And I loved the rawness of David, because he was, like, really grounded and down to earth.
After growing up in Manly he ends up at Yamba and spends most of his life in the country… I mean I didn’t see a tree ‘til I was nine years old. I didn’t even know there was grass on the ground. I lived in the concrete jungle. So, me stepping out was like, ‘Whoa!’ and my grandfather connected me to that through a small plot of dirt. So, both Baddy and myself end up finding ourselves in this rural wide-open setting. And I don’t know what it was that attracted him. I think it was just the quality of the wave at Angourie, and the fishing, and the simplicity of the life. And I could relate, I identified with that. And we just tuned in both of us on that level. … We were kind of connected.That was what was important...