The Colleano heart | Television tonight

As I watch the preview screener for the new NITV documentary The Colleano heartI mutter to myself, “This story deserves to be made into a movie.”

Why haven’t I heard the story of the Aboriginal family, the Colleanos, who became circus acrobats in Australia and internationally, to the point where they became Ringling Circus stars, mingled with Charlie Chaplin, met dictators Mussolini and even Hitler?

But it is also a story of escape and hidden identity, where their true origins are suppressed, only to become the toast of the circus world at the turn of the century…

Director Pauline Clague reveals a lost true story of a talented family who spent decades ‘shape-shifting’ to avoid being discovered as Aboriginal, due to Australia’s attitude towards First Nations families and the real threat of children becoming part of the Stolen Generation.

Instead, they flourished as working circus performers, fled abroad and – literally – reached great heights as top acts with Barnum and Ringling Circuses.

Clague teams up with descendant and family history enthusiast Deb Hescott, who has traced the pieces of a genealogical puzzle to American-born Molly Colleano O’Donnell, one of the family’s oral history keepers. This film brings the trio together as they each learn more about what the Colleanos have accomplished and the land they come from.

At the heart of this remarkable story are rare, undiscovered images of the family at work and at play. Con Colleano, the family’s talented eldest son, became so triumphant as a tightrope walker that he was able to afford a movie camera to document their lives.

But it was the late 19th century when their journey began, guided by mother Julia Colleano, first in Narrabri NSW, where she had married a man from the tent boxing circuit. The children – and there was quite a clan of them – acted as ‘support act’, performing agile routines and acrobatics at local shows. As they became teenagers, the Colleanos attracted much attention with local circus shows, developing their acts in tumbling, tightrope walking, contortion and even horses. But trouble lay ahead when government agencies, churches and welfare organizations began removing children from families in the early 20th century.

The Colleanos fled abroad, by ship to England and then to America, where the opportunities and the circus world were enormous. Con had perfected a front somersault on the high wire, a feat that saw him display his talent at the Hippodrome, and was celebrated as the “Nijinksy of the high wire”. He was once even courted by Hollwood to possibly succeed Valentino. With such talents, the family would travel across the US by train, along with 15 musicians, 30 artists and animals.

Yet their identity was also suppressed.

While it was indeed dangerous to be identified as Indigenous in Australia during this period, it was similarly discouraged abroad. Incredibly, the family was first billed as the “Akabah Arabs” before switching again to a group of so-called Spanish acrobats. All this while continuing the American and European success, with Mussolini claiming Con as Italian and Adolf Hitler considering him his favorite circus performer, giving him a passport that allowed him to come and go to Germany as he pleased.

Meanwhile, the family was building an American family, buying property, having children and living their best lives, far from humble beginnings. The core of the family was matriarch Julia, who was celebrated in newspaper stories as the mother of a talented family.

But descendant Molly, who remembers touring as a child, was unaware of her Australian heritage, believing she had Spanish/Irish ancestry.

This documentary combines her memories with Australian archival documentation, home videos and First Nations traditions to effectively fill in the blanks in her life, including a visit to Narrabri. It shows the remarkable story of the Colleanos and what they have achieved on the world stage.

It’s a story of resilience, endurance and identity that speaks to the foundations of a family raised in the Australian bush.

So let’s start casting that movie now, maybe?

The Colleano Heart will be shown on NITV on Monday 19 January at 8.30pm (rpt 7:30 PM January 26 on SBS).