In light of 2010 Australian of the Year, Victorian psychiatrist Professor Patrick McGorry calling for an end to immigration detention centres, we’re featuring this documentary about the Woomera detention centre, “Through The Wire” by Pip Starr.

In March 2002, detainees of Australia’s Woomera detention centre staged a mass breakout in a spontaneous and desperate bid for freedom. Aided by hundreds of committed social activists protesting Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers in mandatory detention, the breakout captured the attention and interest of human rights groups around the globe. At the frontline of the breakout, filmmaker Pip Starr captures the raw emotion and urgency of the event to create a damning indictment of Australia’s inhumane immigration policies.