Heritage enigmatic: The silence of the dubbed in Jedda and The Irishman

The dubbing of the voices of Aboriginal actors in The Irishman (Crombie, 1978) and Jedda (Chauvel, [1955] 2004) is discussed, first in a general context of the prevalence of post-sychronization of cinema sound in past and contemporary practices. The Irishman is thereafter considered through the spectacle of DVD packaging with commentary, a para-cinematic device that works – through a similar mechanism to dubbing – to influence the reception of the feature film; then Jedda is approached with reference to the various accounts that have emerged of the dubbed voices, none of which seem to conclusively indicate the grounds or status. Concluding reflections on these histories are drawn to wider institutional and industrial conditions, and also to contemporary films that address the voices and silences of Indigenous people