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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
At the beginning of World War II, Lady Sarah Ashley travels from her home in England to Northern Australia to confront her husband, whom she believes is having an affair. He is in the country to oversee the selling of his enormous cattle station, Faraway Downs. Her husband sends Drover, an independent stockman, to transport her to Faraway Downs. When Lady Sarah arrives at the station, however, she finds that her husband has been murdered (allegedly by King George, an Aboriginal elder) and that cattle station manager Neil Fletcher is trying to gain control of Faraway Downs, so that Lesley 'King' Carney will have a complete cattle monopoly in the Northern Territory.
Lady Sarah is captivated by Nullah (King George's grandson) son of an Aboriginal mother and an unknown white father. When Nullah tells her that he has seen her cattle being driven onto Carney's land, Fletcher beats him. Lady Sarah fires Fletcher, deciding to try to run the cattle station herself. To save the property from Carney, she enlists the aid of Drover; together, they drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land. In the course of the journey, she falls in love with both Drover and the Australian landscape.
Lady Sarah, Nullah, and Drover live together happily at Faraway Downs for two years, while Fletcher (the actual murderer of Lady Sarah's husband and very likely the father of Nullah) kills Carney, marries his daughter, and takes over Carney's cattle empire. When the authorities send Nullah to live on Mission Island with the other half-Aboriginal children, Lady Sarah is devastated. In the meantime, she works as a radio operator in Darwin.
When the Japanese attack the island and Darwin in 1942, Lady Sarah fears that Nullah has been killed and Drover, who had quarrelled with Lady Sarah and left the station, believes Lady Sarah has been killed. Learning of Nullah's abduction to Mission Island, however, he sets out to rescue him. Lady Sarah decides to sell Faraway Downs to Fletcher and return to England. Drover and Nulla sail back into port at Darwin as Lady Sarah is about to depart, and the three are reunited. Fletcher, distraught at the death of his wife, attempts to shoot Nullah, but is speared by King George and dies.
Affiliation Notes
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Associated with the AustLit subset Australian Literary Responses to 'Asia' as the work references to the Japanese bombing of Darwin during World War II.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Baz Luhrmann's Faraway Downs Returns Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and Bowen to the Screen
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , November 2023;
— Review of Australia 2008 single work film/TV -
Classic Aussie Cinema and New Twists on Old Classics : Our Picks of December Streaming
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 4 December 2023;
— Review of Shame 1988 single work film/TV ; Love Serenade 1996 single work film/TV ; Australia 2008 single work film/TV -
Settler-Aboriginal Alliance and the Threat of Foreign Invasion in Baz Luhrmann's Australia
2020
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Cinematic Settlers : The Settler Colonial World in Film 2020; (p. 38-49) -
Australian Blockbuster Movies
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Screen in the 2000s 2018; (p. 51-76) Develops a multidimensional definition of 'Australian blockbuster' and argues for their distinct status as a specific genre. -
Cinema Plus : Robert Connolly and Event Audience Screenings
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , vol. 11 no. 2 2017; (p. 77-84)This article discusses the problems that Australian films face in the big distribution model, and ways that producers have rethought how their films are funded and distributed. To do this it uses the case study of Robert Connolly's Cinema Plus exhibition company. Although there is a historical precedence set for Connolly's self distribution venture, this shift to rethink how Australian films are being distributed and exhibited is certainly representative of a changing reassessment of the porous relationship between production and exhibition, which for some time Screen Australia demarcated in by two separate pools. What Cinema Plus represents is a recognition that conventional big distribution is not always the most effective way to reach the widest possible audience.
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Epic Australia: Too Much of Everything
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 19 November 2008; (p. 13)
— Review of Australia 2008 single work film/TV -
Baz Musters An Outback Epic
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian , 19 November 2008; (p. 10)
— Review of Australia 2008 single work film/TV -
Epic Retelling of Australia's Story Moves and Sways
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 23 November 2008; (p. 12)
— Review of Australia 2008 single work film/TV -
Great Australian Blight
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 23 November 2008; (p. 17)
— Review of Australia 2008 single work film/TV -
Untitled
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 29 November 2008; (p. 21)
— Review of Australia 2008 single work film/TV -
The Wide Brown Screen
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 4 October 2008; (p. 5) -
The Movie Magician
2008
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 1-2 November 2008; (p. 15-18) -
Oprah's Sneak Preview
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 5 November 2008; (p. 8) -
Veteran Determined to Sink Titanic
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 16 November 2008; (p. 14) -
Premiere All Set to Make Bowen Tango
2008
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 16 November 2008; (p. 14)
Awards
- 2009 Nominated International Press Academy Satellite Awards — Best Original Screenplay
- Darwin, Darwin area, Northern Territory,
- Northern Territory,
- Australian Outback, Central Australia,