SBS mining series to be released

Said to be a provoking and groundbreaking series, Dirty Business: How Mining Made Australia explores how this industry has shaped Australia in unexpected and extraordinary ways and how it has influenced the nation, from the first gold rush to current political debate.

Mining has sparked mass migration yet ignited race riots; toppled prime ministers yet laid the foundation for modern democracy; wrenched Aboriginal lands away yet provided perhaps the best hope for the future of many Indigenous communities. With interviews from leading historians, opinion formers and industry experts, this series shows how in 150 years nothing has influenced government, the economy and the lives of the majority of Australians, like mining.

Over three themed episodes covering money, power and land, the series explores how the industry has shaped the nation. From the gold rush of the 1850s to the present day, the opening episode charts the key battles and dramatic turning points in the epic struggle to share in the vast mineral wealth of Australia.

As mining made Australia rich, the money changed virtually every aspect of society. It forged multiethnic Australia; it caused riots, uprisings and racial violence. It built cities and supercharged the sex industry. The trillions made forged a national economy and saved it from depression.

However, mining is an uncertain bet, and while the constant cycles of boom and bust saw the rise of some of the richest companies in the world, the gambling and wanton speculation inherent in mining also destroyed fortunes and makes Australia an economic roller-coaster.

The second episode explores the fractious, drama-filled and utterly critical relationship between business and government and the importance of this affiliation to the nation. It illustrates how mining has been a crucible through which both the labour movement and big business have tried to influence, infiltrate and control governments. Prime ministers from Billy Hughes, through to Chifley, Menzies and Whitlam to Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, are locked in a rocky relationship for better or worse with mining.

The final episode looks at the story of the conflict between mining and land rights, mining and environmentalism.

From the fate of Indigenous Australia and the land itself, to politics and society, the series tells the story of how deeply mining has shaped the face of the nation and how it will continue to do so.

The three-part series starts Sunday at 8.30 pm from 6 January 2013 on SBS. It has been produced for SBS by Renegade Factual.