You could describe Bush Mechanics as like Top Gear, but set in the Australian outback and featuring some of the crappiest cars on the planet. OK, so nothing like Top Gear.

Bush Mechanics was all about how you keep that crap car on the road when you are miles from any roadside assistance.

The program's ingenious and inventive tricks captivated an audience.

Loading

But just how did a white guy from Wollongong end up making one of the cult classics of black media?

Filmmaker David Batty was a young single dad escaping an unhappy shotgun marriage. He fled to Alice Springs in the early 1980s with his son.

His brother Philip Batty was busy setting up the first Aboriginal radio station in Alice. From that seed grew the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA).

David joined it to make videos and train young Aboriginal filmmakers.

He got a call from the Warlpiri mob asking him to come out and make a show like Sesame Street in their own language. Creating Manyu Wana, he met Francis "Jupurrula" Kelly.

One of the great collaborations of Indigenous media had begun.

Ten years later, Francis wanted to feature some of the best bush mechanic skills of the outback. He called up David and together they made Bush Mechanics.

A flat tyre? No problem. Stuff it with spinifex to get you to the next town. A broken crankshaft? Cut down a sapling and wire it in place.

"These were bush solutions to impossible situations that anyone else would just be like, 'call the NRMA!'" David said.

"But not these guys. A pair of pliers, a bit of wire and an axe will get them out of most situations."

A knack for fitting in

David Batty was happy sleeping rough and throwing his swag out with the tribe.

His friend and ex-CAAMA graduate Rachel Perkins always admired David's knack of fitting in.

"Back then, whitefellas had this strange relationship where they'd work with Aboriginal people during the day and then knock off at five o'clock," she said.

"They might discuss us over dinner, but they never socialised with us. David camped with blackfellas, knocked around with us, you know, he was one of us."

Batty created Manyu Wana when he met Francis 'Jupurrula' Kelly.

A childhood in nature had prepared him well. His parents were keen walkers and canoeists and the kids went with them from an early age. They slept out in caves and forged wild rivers.

"I'm very comfortable throwing my swag out on the ground somewhere and foraging or going off hunting with people and eating whatever they hunt, and they cook it in the coals," David said.

"I have a strong appreciation for Aboriginal people's relationship to the land and country and just their love of going bush."

Four boys in Arnhem Land grew up loving Bush Mechanics. They sent David a video with their antics hunting, fishing and living off their land.

Oh yes, and trying to keep their crappy cars on track. David was captivated and headed north to make Black As.

It is a Bush Mechanics for a new generation, this time adding crocodile-infested swamps to the challenge of getting about.

Perfect territory for a filmmaker who has always been one of the mob.