I heard stories of frustration and anger, resistance and resilience. What I saw was a complex reality for Australia’s First Nations people. It was far from what the postcard depicted: primitive bush dwellers stuck in a culture and society unfit for today’s globalized, tech-savvy world.

Yet stereotypes like these continue to complicate the lives of indigenous Australians.

“It’s that hum of racism that people deal with every day,” said Stan Grant, a television journalist and one of the country’s best-known Aboriginal people. “It’s not that, you know, this is necessarily going to ruin someone’s life. But it makes you defensive. And it reinforces the message that if you’re Aboriginal, you’ll be seen differently or treated differently.”

Mr. Grant and I exchanged frank stories of encountering racism, and you can watch the discussion in this exclusive video.