A Town Like Alice Page #3

Oh..!

Thank you.

Thank you.

This the last one until

end of the road.

Thank you very much.

[SPEAKS IN MALAY]

[BABY CONTINUES TO CRY]

[CHILDREN CHATTER]

- Isn't it nice?

- Yes, it's lovely.

It's smart.

Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Thank you very much.

Come on, children.

Isn't it smart?

They gave it to me.

My dear, there's such a thing as

keeping up appearances.

[COMEDIC MUSIC]

[CHILDREN LAUGH]

[SHE SCOLDS THEM]

[MAN WHISTLING A TUNE]

[SINGS] "Oh, all of you

Dukes and you Duchesses...

- Give us the adjustable, will you, Ben?

- Yep.

..."Be careful of things

that you touches-es.

"Because all of you light-fingered

gentlemen... [TAP TAP TAP]

..."We'll meet you in Botany---"

- Hey, Ben?

Get those ruddy Nips to get those ruddy

women out the way...

...I can't ruddy well see

what I'm doing.

- Are we in the way?

- Who said that?

- I did.

I am English.

- [BANG] Ooh!

- Ooh!

- Hey?

[NERVOUS LAUGH]

I'm sorry, I thought you were

a boong.

G'day!

[ALL GREET HIM]

- Oh, hey, what--?

- But you're English!

No fear, we're Australians - we're

driving this thing for the Japs...

...we're taking it up to

Port Swettenham.

G'day!

[EXCITED CHATTER]

- How are you.

- We're walking to Port Swettenham.

You're walking?

Where from?

- From Kuala Lumpur.

- Hey, d'you hear that, Ben?

Yeah, it's a pretty rough deal. How d'you

get on for tuck if you've no camp?

We get a pint offish stew a day.

And we beg from the Malays.

And they give us food if

they've got some themselves.

What happens when you're sick?

Well, we get well or we die.

We've run out of medicine.

If you had such a thing as a cigarette,

I'd throw my arms about you.

I'll settle for that.

Here we are.

- Here you are.

- Thank you.

- Would you like one?

- Oh, please.

Here you are.

Light it for ya.

- Hello, Colonal.

- Hum.

- Thanks, Ben.

- Ah, you're pretty quick on the uptake.

- She's quick on anything.

- [ALL LAUGH]

- I'm sorry I haven't got a cigarette, I---

- That's all right.

- I'll get one tonight.

- Oh, are you staying here tonight?

Well, if you're staying, Mrs Boong,

we are too. [LAUGHTER]

[SHOUTING]

HEY. GET BACK TO WORK.

- Ah, drop dead.

- Oh.

- You'd better beat, it, ladies, go on.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- See ya later.

- Bye. Thanks very much.

- Bye.

- Hey.

- Yes.

- What sort of medicine do you want?

- Oh, quinine...

something for the children's

skin troubles...

...dysentery, anything at all,

anything.

You got any money?

- No, I haven't.

- Well, I'll fix something.

Hey, I didn't think the first time

I talked to an English lady...

...she'd look like you.

Oh, you're quite an

oil painting yourself.

[GUARD SHOUTS]

YOU HEAR WHAT I SAY?!

Beat it.

How do we fix a

breakdown, Ben?

Oh, take a dekko at the hub, pull out

the half shaft from the differentials...

...strip away the crown and pinion.

Throw away the carburettor.

- Throw away the truck.

- Ha, ha.

Hey, how're you gonna get the

medicine if you haven't any money?

[CLANKING AND TAPPING]

- Yeah, the old truck looks pretty bad to me.

- Yeah, looks pretty crook.

[CLANKING AND TAPPING]

[POURING SOUND]

We can sell it in the village.

[TALKING IN JAPANESE]

- [EXCLAIMS IN MALAY]

- Shut up.

Shut up.

Okay.

Look, friend.

You want some petrol?

[MAKES NOISES]

[CLICK]

- Petrol.

- Okay.

Two. You give me some quinine.

- Petrol.

- No, that's not it.

Two petrol, you me...

- Quinine.

- Petrol, yes.

Look...

- ...you want some petrol?

- Yeah, petrol.

Me want some quinine.

[INSECTS BUZZING,

ANIMALS CALLING]

[HE WHISTLES]

[HE WHISTLES TWICE]

[FIVE QUICK WHISTLES]

[FOUR QUICK WHISTLES]

There's your quinine.

This is the stuff the Chinese

take for dysentery.

It's all written in Chinese,

but it means...

...take three of these leaves

every four hours.

Now, I've got some sambong for

the skin diseases.

I could never pay you

for all this.

The Japs are paying.

Only they don't know it.

- Oh, thank you.

- Joe Harman.

- My name's Jean, Jean Paget.

- Sorry I called you Mrs Boong. G'day.

- Good day. Oh, thank you.

- G'day.

Don't go.

What about the guards?

I'll watch 'em for yer.

- Okay?

- Okay.

Want a fag?

Oh.

It's a Jappo.

Ta.

[LOUD BIRD CALLS]

Good night.

Ah-ha.

No, I don't come from Sydney.

I work in the Northern Territory.

A place called Willstown.

The the east of the Alice.

- I'm a stockman.

- Alice?

Yeah. Alice Springs.

It's a town dead in the centre,

between Darwin and Adelaide.

Oh, I thought the middle ofAustralia...

...was all desert.

- My word, no.

No, Alice is beaut, you get three meals

a day there every day. You'd like it.

Would I?

[BOTH LAUGH]

But, er, your place, is it a

sheep farm or something?

No, it's too hot for sheep.

Cattle, about eighteen thousand

a head.

- Sounds a big place.

- Hm, two thousand seven hundred.

- Acres?

No, square miles!

- Oh, one farm?!

- Well, a station, you call it.

- How many men do you take to run it?

- About three, and about nine boongs.

- What is this "boong"?

- It's a Aussie word, boong.

It means Gyppo, Abo, black fella.

- Oh.

- You can't get white fellas to work there.

It's about sixty miles to the

nearest homestead.

- Must be lonely.

- Yes, it is.

For women, huh.

I s'pose you've gotta be

born to it.

But you'd like the Alice.

[SOFT, TENDER MUSIC]

It's beaut there, it's--- Well, er, country's

all red, and the mountains are red.

And then, in the evenings sometimes,

it all goes kind of purple, and...

...'course, after the wet it's green.

And it's all right.

Ah, I suppose everybody likes their

own place, and the Alice is my place.

[GENTLE, LILTING MUSIC]

Where does he come

from, this Joe?

He talked about a town

called Alice.

[MUSIC SWELLS]

He made it sound---

all right.

[STOICAL MUSIC]

[CROWD NOISE]

No ship for you here.

You go Port Dickson, that way.

[THUNDERING]

[MILITARY DRUMROLL]

So sorry. No food for

persons here.

You must go Tampin.

That way.

[SHOUTING IN JAPANESE]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

- We've got one of these at home.

- So have we.

So have we, too.

Oh! Ah..!

[SIGHS]

I found it first!

My dear, I'd already seen it

from the corridor.

Well, I got here first

and I'm staying here.

- I'm tired and I'm fed up.

- We're all tired, aren't we?

I'm as tired as you are.

In any case, I'm older.

Huh! I wouldn't dispute that!

- Oh, one of these days!

- What is it?

Nothing.

I was just wondering how long

one can go on, that's all.

[FROM OUTSIDE]

Come here, everybody, come here!

Quick! Quick! Quick!

Down the corridor,

come on, hurry.

You'll never believe it,

it works! It's working!

They left it behind and

it's working.

Come on! Hurry, hurry!

I can't believe it.

[BABY CRIES]

I just turned on the tap and

it worked!

[EXCLAMATIONS OF DELIGHT]

Come on!

[THUD]

Oh!

[SHRIEKS OF DELIGHT]

Now we can have a bath, girls!

[MORE SHRIEKS]

[COMEDIC MUSIC]

[LAUGHTER]

[BABY CRIES]

Thank you.

Soap, please.

Now, darling, don't cry, come on.

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