Faraway Downs (2023) s01e03 Episode Script

1
[BUDJERAH AND MATT CORBY: THE WAY]
Just one ♪
Drop from ♪
The sky like the ♪
Teardrop ♪
That forms in my eyes ♪
It brings ♪
New strength ♪
To take its claim ♪
Regeneration ♪
To heal our pain ♪
Ride into the wind ♪
Until you're home again ♪
Feel it in the rain ♪
Can you find the way? ♪
Feel it in the rain ♪
Can you find the way? ♪
It's time we start to relay ♪
The wonders of our history ♪
Our breath defies ♪
The story's page ♪
The songs created ♪
The path we made ♪
Ride into the wind ♪
Until you're home again ♪
Feel it in the rain ♪
Feel it in the rain ♪
Can you find the way? ♪
The way, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
Feel it in the rain ♪
The rain ♪
Can you find the way? ♪
The way, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
Feel it in the rain. ♪
DROVER: Oh, Kipling's a
no-show. No surprises there.
We can't do this with six people.
SARAH: I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I thought he could
I thought he could do it.
Yeah, well, people
don't change, Mrs Ashley.
FLYNN: I'm afraid, uh, by that measure
I've, uh, let him down rather badly.
I'm a coward.
SARAH: Mr Flynn, can you ride?
DROVER: I won't carry a drunk.
[PENSIVE MUSIC]
[LIVELY MUSIC]
No desert comes drier
than Kipling Flynn, M'lady.
[BOTTLE SMASHES]
[MUTTERS IN CANTONESE]
[FLYNN LAUGHS] Heyyy!
SARAH: Welcome! Welcome!
- FLYNN: Hey, Nullah!
- Alright.
Now, listen up.
[CLICKING NOISE TO HORSE]
I'm only gonna say this
once. I run the show.
Everybody does exactly as she's told.
- Understood?
- Understood.
No matter your experience or
your age, you pull your weight.
Yes, boss.
And above all, the
drover's law: no grog.
Now, if there's a rush
and the cattle are
stampeding towards you,
it's not much good prancing and
dancing about on your show pony.
If there's one thing cattle
fear more than a man on a horse,
that's a man standin'
on his own two feet
staring him right between the eyes.
Now, you sure you mob
are still up for it?
Mm-hm.
You can count on us.
Oh, crikey.
Well we are what we are.
Got to get to Darwin
before the ship sails.
Let's get crackin'. [SPEAKS LANGUAGE]
The rest of you jokers follow me.
Yah! Yah!
I'll get the gate. Stay
back. Don't bunch together.
[CATTLE LOWING]
Don't let them go down there.
[SWEEPING MUSIC]
[RIDERS CALLING OUT]
[♪]
Right.
Push 'em straight across
here. Whoa! [CRACKS WHIP]
Good. Very good. Keep
movin'. Nice and steady.
Keep 'em movin'.
Giddup! Giddup!
NEWSREEL: While the
war rages on in Europe,
the Japanese are on the march.
There are reports of an
alliance between the warmongers
of Germany, Italy and Japan
which threatens to expand World War II
to the shores of Australia.
This is a war of the air
but on the ground, the
War Office will announce
who has won the Army's contract
to supply good Aussie
beef to the troops.
CARNEY: A couple of days won't
make any difference, Captain.
Might as well sign the contract now, eh?
I wouldn't be too sure
of that, Mr Carney.
Air Force chap's just spotted
a big mob of cattle, 1,500 head,
crossing the Marmont River.
The Marmont River? That's Faraway Downs.
Are you, er, running cattle
out of Faraway Downs, Mr Fletcher?
Uh, no, no, I don't work there anymore.
Well, I suppose Lady Ashley
is droving the cattle herself.
[ALLSOP AND CARNEY LAUGH]
Someone must be helping her.
That's right, Neil.
Someone must be helping her.
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
[PEACEFUL MUSIC]
[CATTLE LOWING]
[RIDERS CALLING OUT]
[MAJESTIC MUSIC]
No, Nullah. Not me. I'm the orchestra.
That's why I always carry this,
the famous J Albert and
Son boomerang harmonica.
Well, I've got the latest 100
songs of the hit parade here.
[FLYNN PLAYING OVER THE RAINBOW]
Who's Gulapa?
King George is your grandfather?
[CHANTING IN LANGUAGE]
Mr Drover, what is that chanting?
Goolaj and Magarri
are singing the cattle.
It just keeps them calm at
night. They do it in shifts.
Those boys will finish
up in a couple of hours.
- So, Bandy?
- BANDY: Yeah?
You show Missus Boss how it's done.
- Alright?
- BANDY: Alright.
Sing Song, you and me are
gonna serenade them till 3:00.
And safest shift is pre-dawn,
so that's the boy soprano
and his orchestra, alright?
- You're on till the sun comes up.
- NULLAH: Yes, boss.
Alright, everybody get some shut-eye.
Uh, Mr Drover.
I really don't think it's appropriate
to work a child of
Nullah's age like that.
Now, I am more than
willing to take his shift.
No, I'm talking now, mm? Manners.
Oi, oi, oi, steady on. I'm talking.
Look, just relax, will ya?
The boy's got to pull his
weight like everyone else.
When I was his age, I
was manning outstations.
Not everybody's you, Mr Drover.
That's right. Not everyone's me.
I'm the boss.
You're on the 3:00 shift, alright?
Yes, boss. Night, boss.
3am?
Relax, lady. He'll be fine. Goodnight.
Night, Missus Boss.
Oh. Goodnight.
NULLAH: Night, Sing Song.
You're on the 12:00 shift.
I suggest you get some sleep.
- NULLAH: Night, Bandy.
- BANDY: Night, Nullah.
- NULLAH: Goodnight, Flynn.
- FLYNN: Night, Nullah.
NULLAH: Night-night, Jedda.
[CHANTING IN LANGUAGE]
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
[PLAYS MELANCHOLY TUNE]
Lord Ashley was killed
by a glass-tipped spear.
Are you sure?
[COWS LOWING]
[FLYNN SHOUTS]
[COWS LOWING FRANTICALLY]
Rush! Rush!
[FAST-PACED MUSIC]
They're heading towards the cliff face!
A stampede! Where's Nullah?
For crying out loud, get on
your horse and stay with Goolaj.
Right. Split up and
we'll circle the herd
before they go over the edge. Yah!
Sing Song, pack the camp,
get the hell out of there!
[♪]
[CATTLE LOWING, BELLOWING]
Don't let 'em split!
NULLAH: Yah! Yah!
FLYNN: Good boy! Come on,
pull her up, pull her up!
- Nullah! Too close to the edge!
- NULLAH: Yah! Yah!
FLYNN: Courage, my boy, courage!
Ha-ha!
Well done, my boy. Ha-ha!
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
[FLYNN EXCLAIMS]
FLYNN: Nullah, we have to turn the herd!
Ha!
Hey, hey!
Never fear, Flynn is here! Ha-ha!
Yeah, Flynn!
Ha!
Flynn!
[DRAMATIC MUSIC ESCALATES]
Yah, yah, yah!
No! Flynn!
Nullah! Run!
[EERIE MUSIC]
[NULLAH BREATHES HEAVILY]
[CHANTING]
[SINGING]
[CHANTING CONTINUES]
Nullah!
[SINGING]
[SILENCE]
[BREATHES FRANTICALLY]
- Nullah!
- DROVER: Nullah!
[GASPING]
Nullah I've got you.
It's alright. You're safe.
You're safe.
You're safe with me.
How's the little fella?
Oh, he's fine, he's fine. Yeah.
[WEAKLY] I've a feeling
I might not be able to
complete the next lesson.
Alright, I'm
I'm gonna get you some water, huh?
Water is the last thing I
want at this moment in my life.
Under the wagon's a
bottle of Poor Fella.
I'm sorry, Drover. Just in case.
Of course, mate. Of course.
If you'd all share a drop.
[RASPING] It would be a
terrible shame to waste it.
[LABOURED BREATHING]
[MOANS]
The spear. Nullah told me that the
the glass-tipped spear killed
M'lady I'm sorry
I was a coward.
[POIGNANT MUSIC]
We've lost just about everything
except for a few swags and tins of beef.
And this.
I can't believe I was so insistent
upon bringing these silly things.
It was Fletcher who did this, wasn't it?
The last thing Flynn
told me before he died
was that that your husband was killed
by a by a glass-tipped spear
like the ornamental
ones in the homestead.
Glass-tipped is a Kimberley spear.
King George is from Arnhem.
Fletcher was trying to make
it look like King George.
Fletcher.
It can't be proved. I'm sorry.
Maitland.
[MELANCHOLY MUSIC]
[NULLAH PLAYING OVER THE RAINBOW]
We can't let them win.
We won't.
[SWEEPING MUSIC]
Yah!
They pushed on during the night.
Maybe that little creamy
has got the blackfella magic.
Shut up, Bull!
They'll need more than
magic to get 'em to Darwin.
- DROVER: Bandy.
- BANDY: Yeah, Drover?
- DROVER: Give the boy a drink.
- BANDY: Yeah, yeah, sure.
DROVER: Hey, Nullah.
Nullah, after you're done there, mate,
I need you to help hobble
these horses, alright?
DROVER: Never thought I'd see this day.
We're gonna break the drover's law.
Yes, you are, mate, and that is why you
are gonna keep an eye on
the rest of us, alright?
Alright, everyone.
Let's be up standing.
To the memory of the gentleman.
To the gentleman.
[SARAH AND SING SONG COUGH]
I'd say one more before dinner.
[SINGING]
[CHUCKLES]
- Let's dance.
- No.
- Come on.
- Nup.
- Come on.
- No.
- Please.
- No, I don't know how.
It's easy. I'll show you.
You put your hand on my shoulder.
DROVER: [LAUGHING] Come on!
[SARAH LAUGHS]
And you step back.
- Oh, back, sorry.
- No, no, no. When I
[SARAH LAUGHS] I'm a bad teacher.
- Stop!
- Argh!
You don't drink much, do you?
- No.
- [BOTH LAUGH]
I'll give it a go. Come on, I can do it.
I can do it, alright?
[SOFT MUSIC]
[MUSIC SWELLS]
Ah
No, mate, no. We're
just having a dance here.
Ah, yes, it's called the foxtrot.
Ah, you're a bit too young for it, mate.
BANDY: Nullah, get
down from that tree now.
Got bad spirits up there.
BANDY: Come on, Nullah.
Time to go to bed now.
You know better than
that, to go up in the tree.
Have you ever fallen
into wrong-side business?
Ah
Yeah.
Oh.
Yeah, I was married once.
- Really?
- Mm.
To a lovely girl.
[SIGHS]
Ah, it was before I went off to war.
And what happened?
Well, I marched off for Mother England,
and by the time I came
back, she was sick.
With TB.
But back then the hospitals
wouldn't treat, um
blacks.
Oh, right, I see. Yeah.
Do you have children?
Nah.
Well, that's a shame.
I think you would have
made a great father.
You?
No.
I can't .
Oh.
That's too bad.
You would have made a great mother.
Well, goodnight.
- Goodnight.
- Yes.
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[MAGARRI SPEAKS LANGUAGE]
Water no good, boss.
Might be Carney boys have
already been here, eh?
There has to be water some other place.
- Next bore's five days.
- There has to be water
You can be sure Fletcher
will have been there as well.
[FLIES BUZZING]
- Hey, boss.
- What?
There's water.
Three days' ride away.
We'd have to cross the Kuraman.
The Kuraman?
That's Never Never land.
No.
- We've got to try.
- We can't.
We've got to try.
No-one has droved the Never Never.
There's nothin' to guide you.
You don't know where you are.
You get caught out there, you're
gonna lose more than cattle.
I'm sorry.
Boss.
Look!
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Sing?
He can find his way anywhere.
[SINGING]
DROVER: The ancestors
created songs for everything,
for every rock and tree,
and they're all linked,
so when Gulapa, the magic
man, sings them in order,
he'll sing us to water and
even across the Never Never.
[KING GEORGE SINGING]
You and the boy will
have to take the head.
I've got to go back and help the
others keep the cattle together.
Just keep your head
driving into the wind.
Keep driving into the wind, remember.
SARAH: Nullah, you stay close to me.
Ride into the wind.
[♪]
[PANTING HEAVILY]
You're gonna die if you
don't get back on the horse.
Save him.
Please, Sarah. Get on the horse.
When you get to Darwin,
you have a glass of rum for me.
No. No.
- Sarah.
- I'm a fool.
- I was a fool.
- No.
No! You're the bravest
woman I've ever met.
Now, for once in your
life, do as you're told
and get on the horse, alright?
- Open!
- Nullah, open your eyes.
- Nullah!
- Open.
Save him! Save him!
Come on, Nullah! Open your eyes!
[CHANTING CONTINUES]
[ELECTRIC FIELDS: ANTARA]
[WRITERS: MIMILI COMMUNITY,
Z. FIELDING, M. ROSS]