Australia Page #7

from Faraway Downs...

set a hoof on that wharf, Neil.

But that's what happens

when you send a boy to do a man's job.

Now, find out if she's going

to the ball tomorrow night.

I'll take care of it myself.

[Loud Chattering]

[Chuckles]

[Nullah Narrating]

So everybody get what they want.

Everybody happy.

Mrs. Boss is gonna sell Faraway Downs...

and go back to England.

Shh.

That's it. Good girl.

Drover, he get'em that horse,

Capricornia.

That's it. Good girl.

[Nullah]

Everybody happy, except for me.

[Sizzling]

'Cause I not white fella.

I not blackfella either.

Me half-caste.

Creamy.

Me belong no one.

[Creaking]

[Blusters]

Good girl.

Back, back, back. Back. Good.

Easy, easy. Good, good. That's it.

[Nickers]

That's a good girl. That's it.

Shh, shh, shh, shh.

You really do have a gift with horses.

[Clicks Tongue]

Up. Up.

You look different.

I've agreed to be patroness at the ball

at Government House tomorrow night.

Yeah? And?

- Drover, I-

- [Whinnies]

I'm going to finish

what Maitland set out to do...

and I am going to bring

Faraway Downs back to life.

I don't follow you.

Well, this is perfect.

I'm going to need a manager.

Well, I thought that...

it would be a good job for you.

Anyway, I almost forgot something.

I got a suit for you.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop. Don't do that.

- Do what?

The thing you do

when you get a head full of ideas.

- Like crossing the Kuraman?

- Come on, mate.

You don't know what you're talking about.

Running a station? Manager?

I'm a drover. All right?

No man hires me, no man fires me.

[Exhales]

- So you don't want to go to the ball?

- Ball?

[Chuckles]

Sarah.

I'm as good as black to that mob up there.

I mix with dingoes, not- not duchesses.

They keep out of my way,

and I keep out of theirs.

That's the way it is.

Just because it is

doesn't mean it should be.

But that's the way it is.

Cheer up, little fella.

You and that Chinaman gonna take me out

on a big night at the pictures.

How?

You can't take half-caste

to picture show.

- Coppers take him!

- He won't be half-caste.

He got every right to be there.

We use magic.

You got every right to be there.

'Cause you're a special boy.

He's a special boy.

Nobody gonna stop you

from going. Nobody.

# Somewhere #

# Over the rainbow #

#Way up high #

# There's a land that I heard of#

# Once in a lullaby #

# Somewhere over the rainbow #

# Skies are blue #

# And the dreams #

# That you dare to dream #

# Really do come true ##

## [Samba]

How good of you, Lady Ashley...

to take an interest

in Dr. Barker's work on the mission.

Well, actually, Administrator,

my interest is of a more personal nature.

I must say, Lady Ashley-

- Smashing.

- Would you excuse me?

Amongst the leading lights of Darwin.

I was wondering if you could

introduce me to Dr. Barker.

- Sarah?

- Ah, Captain Dutton.

Lady Ashley, I'll leave you

in the capable hands of the captain.

I'm sure he would be happy

to introduce you to Dr. Barker.

- I want to talk to you.

- Her husband barely in the grave...

and there she is

cavorting with the captain.

- His mother has passed away.

- And that dress.

Yes.

Bidding should go through the roof.

He is a little boy.

He needs someone to look after him.

- Sarah-

- I'm desperate to speak to Dr. Barker.

I'm going to adopt him. It's only a matter

of time before they take him away.

Adopting an Aboriginal child is much

more complicated than you realize.

Neil! Come on.

I want to talk with Lady Ashley.

Yeah. No. We will later, love.

I don't mind if you bid for her in

the auction tonight. I won't be jealous.

- She's an inspiration.

- Yeah, she's full of surprises.

But surely, Doctor, life on the station

with people who care for these children...

is far better than life

on a government institution.

Oh. The auction.

Our gracious patroness, Lady Ashley!

[Man]

Bravo!

Now, for the auction of the first dance-

The mixed-race children must be dislocated

from the primitive, full-blood Aborigine.

- Do I hear a first bid? Please.

- Five pounds here.

- Five pounds! [Laughing]

- How else are we to breed the black out of them?

I bid more than that for a dance with Mrs. Allsop!

Remember, it's for the mission.

Has anyone asked their mothers

how they feel about this?

- Lady Ashley, please.

- For the war effort, do I hear 20 pounds?

It's a fact of science that the Aboriginal

mother soon forgets her offspring.

- Fifty pounds!

- Fifty pounds!

- Seventy pounds!

- Ninety-five!

No mother forgets her child, Dr. Barker.

- Lady Ashley!

- This is most inappropriate.

- 100!

- [Crowd Gasping]

- That is a new record.

- We can't very well ask their fathers, can we?

- How dare you?

- Going once!

- Or perhaps we should.

- Going twice!

- After all, they're right here in this room.

- That's a lie!

- 500 quid!

- [Crowd Gasping]

[Allsop]

500 pounds!

Well, indeed.

If it isn't the man who-

[Laughing]

almost single-handedly...

made the Australian beef industry...

what it is today.

Mr. King Carney

of the Carney Cattle Company.

For the benefit of the missions.

[Allsop]

Well, there's nothing more to say...

but let the king take his prize.

## [Band Resumes]

- Can I get a picture, please? Smile.

- Ah.

## [Waltz]

Let me say, Lady Ashley,

just how sorry I was...

to hear of your husband's death...

at the hands of that wild savage.

A savage, yes, Mr. Carney...

but you and I both know that my husband

was not killed by an Aborigine.

No, I did not know that.

Perhaps you should ask Mr. Fletcher.

- Are you making an accusation?

- Not one I can prove.

In business, I've been fortunate.

In family, a little less so.

I'm prepared to go to 75,000 pounds.

This is not about the money, Mr. Carney.

There is a little boy.

There is a-

There are people who are living-

living on the station...

for whom I am responsible.

And who will take care of them?

A cattle station is like a country.

And you have no one to look after it.

Now, I can offer protection...

to every man, woman and child.

And child?

You will do that?

How can I keep you at your word?

I'll put it in the contract.

[Allsop] King Carney and Lady Ashley.

That was a marvelous treat.

[Cheering]

No one can close a deal

more quickly than King Carney.

Now, the raffle for the war effort.

The last flying boat...

leaves tomorrow because of the war.

Will I tell my lawyer

to draw up a contract?

But the true blue Australian man

like King Carney is-

[Chattering Stops]

Inform your lawyer-

Uh-

Inform your lawyer that Faraway Downs

is no longer for sale.

Fox-trot!

## [Band Resumes]

Here you are.

Well, you didn't think I was gonna

waste my dance lesson, did you?

Let's really give the bastards

something to talk about, huh?

[Chuckles]

Oh, crikey.

[Chuckling]

She's invited that man.

- Hey, Doris.

- Get you a drink, Drover?

Beer would be good.

Hello, love. Nice dress.

- All right.

- Fox dance?

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