On Location with 'The Sundowners' Page #2

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Look, mate...

...I was a bit shickered last night.

You looked like something sculptured

from the sediment of a beer vat.

Never mind about that.

The point is, I don't need a drover.

Well, where'd you get that idea?

You make less sense sober

than drunk, Carmody.

- You got 1200 head of sheep to move.

- I've moved bigger mobs on my own.

You're not on your own.

If you insist on riding that dejected beast

of yours, who's gonna pull the wagon?

- The good woman there?

- I shouldn't be surprised.

Right-o.

Look, what's the sense talking?

I couldn't pay you anyway.

Oh, well, money is not my problem.

You can pay me

when we get to Cawndilla.

Ide, what the devil's

he gotta come with us for?

You hired me.

In any case,

I've been here long enough.

Most places are fit only

for arrivals and departures.

I like to do them both

as often as possible.

- Could be you talking.

- I knew we'd end up soul mates.

- I'm thinking of chucking up the job.

- No, you're not.

- Ide, you stay out of this.

- Speak for yourself.

Do you mind if I handle it?

If we have to live in a tent,

I say we keep moving.

That way, we've got an excuse

for not having a home.

I'm sick of other people's sympathy.

And that's what we always get

if we stay too long near any one town.

We're taking those sheep to Cawndilla,

no matter what.

And Mr. Venneker and his horses

are going with us.

I'm sorry, Carmody.

I didn't mean to precipitate that.

- Right-o, we'll take you.

- Yes.

And your horses.

That's 1200 sheep. Deliver them

to Cawndilla in six weeks...

...the bloke at the other end

will pay you a shilling a head.

- Goodbye. Good luck.

- Thank you.

Do me a favor, will you?

If you're gonna be a drover,

look like a drover.

Get rid of that silly, flaming hat.

Let me tell you about this silly,

flaming hat, my good man.

And don't call me that.

I'm not your good man.

- What do you prefer? Boss?

- Wouldn't be a bad idea.

This cap belonged to a ship's master

in the China trade.

Oh, what happened to him?

Nothing happened to him. He's just

not gonna call you boss, that's all.

Got a passenger for you. Here.

Good. Thanks, Dad.

Rupe, why do you talk to your horses?

Don't you know it's very rude

to listen to other people's conversations?

Sorry.

I never thought of horses as people.

Let's hope you never have to.

Are you a real duke?

Shut up, boy.

Dad told me you'd been

a ship's captain in China.

Oh, yes. I had occasion to tell him that.

What's China like?

Very full.

Just as Australia's very empty.

Why did you leave?

My stomach.

I was a notoriously bad sailor.

Dad said you must've been a better

sailor than you are a horseman.

What the devil's he talking about?

I was cashiered from the 17th Lancers...

...before he knew one end of a horse

from the other.

Not that he does now.

What does "cashiered" mean?

A kind of promotion,

from the army into civilian life.

- Oh, congratulations.

- Thank you.

Go to sleep now.

- I'd love to go to China.

- What about the farm?

I want that more than anything.

Want a bit of everything, like me.

- Because you're young.

- But you're not, though.

I'm younger than I seem to you.

I've never really grown up, you see.

And you've never had time.

That's why we're out here instead of

in a comfortable tent, like your parents.

- Rupe...

- No more questions.

You're still growing upwards.

I'm only growing sideways now.

Apart from that,

we have a great deal in common.

Come on, Sam. Giddap, there.

Come on, giddap.

Hey, Dad, look, a dingo.

- Where?

- Over there, Mum.

Just like a dingo.

Too big a coward to come out

in the open and have a go.

He'll catch a couple of sheep tonight

and kill them just for the fun of it.

Not if I get him first, he won't.

Get him, Dad!

Missed him.

Nice bit of riding, all the same.

Come on, giddap, Sam.

- Good day.

- Good day.

- Be all right to spill the mob here?

- You can use that paddock there.

But don't let them stray into the

other one. Me grass is thin enough now.

Yeah, looks a bit dry.

You been having a rough trot?

Terrible. No rain now for 10 months.

- Good day.

- Good day.

- We're the Batemans.

- Hello.

- We're the Carmodys.

- How you doing?

- This here's-

- Rupert Venneker. Afternoon, ladies.

English.

I ain't had a man

take off his hat off to me...

...since the day Ern first met me.

Oh, thank you very much.

If you'll excuse me... Sheep.

Why don't you came in for a cuppa?

It'd be welcomed,

but I ought to start dinner.

How'd you like to cook it

on a regular stove?

- How did you know?

- Ern used to be a drover.

I broke my back

bending over too many campfires.

My name's Kylie.

Come on.

Here we are.

Ida, the way you cook,

I'll never hear the last of this.

Yeah, she'll do me, Paddy.

I'm thinking about keeping her.

Oh, I'm a champion woodchopper too.

I get plenty of practice.

Ern, how long you been here?

Started eight years ago

with only the land.

- Things was pretty crook for a while.

- You should've stuck with droving.

No worries

a horse can't take you away from.

- Stay put, that's my motto.

- Well, it's different with us.

- Ida likes to move about, don't you?

- Oh, you'll hear if I don't.

Of course, it might be different

when the girls marry.

Mum, can I take my scraps down

to Ollie?

- Oh, yes, dear.

- Excuse me, missus.

I've got plenty of scraps for Ollie too.

Well, all right.

His mother got me the same way.

Darl.

After Cawndilla, where are we going?

Oh, I don't know.

What difference does it make?

What's the matter, darl?

Can't you sleep?

I was thinking about Sean.

He really wants us to settle down,

get a place of our own.

You saw the way

he looked around here today.

It's like that with every farm we pass.

He's never stopped talking

about the one in Bulinga.

Ide, he wouldn't wanna be

a blooming farmer, would he?

Oh, he might.

It's natural for him to want a home.

He's not all you, remember?

No, but he thinks like me. Anyway,

he's not old enough to leave school yet.

What school?

He's been going to school

and I didn't know it?

He went to school in Jindabyne.

And that six weeks at Broken Hill.

What about the time-?

Oh, imagine all that schooling.

- He must be ready for the university.

- He can read and write, can't he?

He wouldn't be able to do that

if I hadn't taught him.

Ide, you're getting me all mixed up.

Now, where was I?

Sean was getting ready to leave school.

We'll have to get him

a new suit for that occasion.

Well, if you're just

gonna be funny about it...

Oh, no, no, no. Go on. You're the boss.

Right.

Well, I was gonna say,

all this talk about settling down...

...he could forget about that tomorrow.

You know how kids are.

You mean, because he feels

so comfortable...

...bouncing his guts out in the wagon,

sleeping on the ground...

...and eating dust with his food and

never getting to know anyone but us?

No, I mean because he's a kid, and kids

change their mind every 10 minutes.

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