Faraway Downs (2023) s01e04 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. ♪
[WIND BLOWING]
[HAUNTING MUSIC]
WOMAN: Dead. All of
them. That's what he said.
The pilot swooped down
to get a closer look.
Dead as doorposts, they were.
It's a real tragedy.
How terrible.
HAIRDRESSER: And on the
eve of the ball, too.
CATH: Well, what were
they doing in the Kuraman?
CARNEY: Tragic news about
Lady Ashley, Captain.
But I got a business to run.
And you got an army to feed.
So let's not muck about.
I suppose it's not a real war
unless someone's making a profit.
You got 'em ready to load, Neil?
Yeah, we're right to go.
'Cause I got a feeling the
Captain's gonna put pen to paper.
All hail the King!
Yeah
[CATTLE LOWING]
WOMAN: Where did he come from?
Oh, look.
Hello, little sweetie.
[CATTLE LOWS]
[CROCKERY RATTLING]
WOMAN: What's going on?
[PEN SCRIBBLING]
[TENSE MUSIC BUILDS]
[CATTLE LOWING]
[CATTLE BELLOWING]
What the bloody hell is that?
Gentlemen!
I'm Sarah Ashley,
owner of Faraway Downs.
We are making delivery
of 1,500 head of prime,
FD-branded short-horns.
We will require a holding yard.
We're full!
Says who?
The owner.
You must be Mr Carney.
Too right, love.
DUTTON: Lady Ashley, I'm Emmett Dutton.
I'm the officer in charge
of livestock purchases.
We will accept 20% less
than what the Carney
Cattle Company is asking.
No can do, love. You're
late. The contract's signed.
But this contract is not binding
until the cattle are loaded.
Load the bloody cattle now!
Get off your backsides! Get
our cattle onto the ship!
You drive 'em straight
down to the wharf.
I'll try and keep Carney's
cattle in the yard.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Load the bloody cattle now!
Drover!
[MAJESTIC MUSIC]
Load!
STOCKMAN: Let's get the
bulls on now! Come on!
What are you blokes
doing?! Load the cattle!
Load!
Hey, Bull! Open the bloody crush!
Close that gate!
STOCKMAN: Shut the gate!
[HORSE NEIGHS]
[CATTLE LOWING]
Open the chute!
Yeah, traps!
[MEN LAUGHING]
Ya missed the boat, sunshine!
STOCKMAN: Yeah, you're too
late, Drover, ya drongo!
[MEN LAUGHING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC BUILDS]
Ahh!
[TRIUMPHANT MUSIC]
[ONLOOKERS CHEERING AND WHISTLING]
[STOCKMEN SHOUTING]
SARAH: Drover!
Push them straight down the wharf!
I'll stop Carney's cattle at the ship.
Ahh! Come on!
[MAJESTIC MUSIC]
Yah!
ALLSOP: There are cattle
being driven down the wharf.
My husband must have a
problem with the loadings.
ALLSOP: They're not Carney cattle.
It's Lady Ashley!
It looks like we've got
a bit of competition
back in the meat business.
[♪]
[CATTLE GRUNTING]
STOCKMAN: We're locked out!
Ahh! Haa! Ho!
[ONLOOKERS CHEERING]
[♪]
Ho! Push 'em up!
Yah!
Cheeky bulls down the wharf!
Yah! DROVER: That's it, Nullah!
- MAGARRI: You got him there!
- DROVER: Get him up, Nullah!
[ONLOOKERS CHEERING]
[CHEERS]
CROWD: [SING]
and he sang as he watched ♪
- And waited till his billy ♪
- Lady comin' through!
There's a lady comin' through!
You'll come a-waltzing matilda with me ♪
Waltzing matilda ♪
Waltzing matilda ♪
Shut up!
[IVAN THUMPS BAR] No women.
Ladies' lounge next door.
[PATRONS ARGUING]
MAN: [DRUNKENLY] She's no lady, Ivan.
She just drove a mob of
cattle across the Never Never.
She deserves a drink like any man.
[ALL CHEERING]
- Too bloody right.
- [PATRONS SHOUT IN AGREEMENT]
Too bloody right.
I never drink Poor Fella alone.
[PATRONS CHEERING]
Ah! [GASPING]
Crikey!
[BOTH LAUGHING]
[TELEPHONE RINGING]
I didn't want to see a single
beast 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.
I'll take care of it myself.
[WHISPERING] Shh. That's it. Good girl.
That's it. Good girl.
[DROVER CLICKING TONGUE]
DROVER: [WHISPERING] That's it.
[HORSE NEIGHS SOFTLY]
Good girl.
Back, back, back. Back.
Good girl.
[SHUSHING]
Easy. Good. Good.
That's it.
- [DROVER MUMBLING INDISTINCTLY]
- [HORSE GRUNTS GENTLY]
Good girl. That's it. [SHUSHING]
You really do have a gift with horses.
[DROVER CLICKS TONGUE]
Up, up, up.
You look different.
I've agreed to be Patroness at the ball
at Government House tomorrow night.
Oh, yeah? And?
Drover, I
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 ya.
Well, this is perfect. I'm
going to need a manager.
Well, I thought that
would be a good job for you.
Anyway, I almost forgot
something. [CHUCKLING]
- Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop.
- I, um, I got a suit for you.
Don't do that. Don't do that.
Do what?
That 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 talkin' about.
Running a station? Manager?
I'm a drover, right? No man
hires me, no man fires me.
So you don't want to go to the ball?
The ball?
Sarah
I'm as good as black
to that mob up there.
Alright? 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.
That's the way it is.
Wait a minute.
I almost forgot.
Your cheque.
[DROVER SIGHS SOFTLY]
Thank you.
No, thank you.
BANDY: 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.
If coppers catch him,
they take him away,
give him to Church, send
him to Mission Island.
He won't be half-caste.
He got every right to be there.
[WHISPERING] 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 ♪
[EASY-LISTENING JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS]
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.
Well, I must say, Lady Ashley,
that I think it's very kind
- Oh, smashing!
- Would you excuse me?
amongst the leading
lights of Darwin.
I was wondering if you could
introduce me to Dr Barker
- DUTTON: 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.
Her husband barely in the grave
and there she is,
cavorting with the Captain.
And that dress!
Yes, bidding should go through the roof.
SARAH: He is a little boy. He
needs someone to look after him.
Sarah, it's
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.
DUTTON: Adopting an
Aboriginal child, Sarah,
it's much more complicated than
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, no, she's full of surprises.
But surely, Doctor,
life on a station with people
who care for these children
is far better than life in
a government institution?
Ah the auction.
Our gracious patroness, Lady Ashley!
[APPLAUSE]
And now for the traditional auction
of the first dance with
our guest of honour.
SARAH: Doctor, surely you agree with me.
The mixed-race children
must be dislocated
from the primitive,
full-blood Aborigine.
How else are we to breed
the black out of them?
Do I hear a first bid?
£5 here.
Well, I paid more than that
for a dance with Mrs Allsop!
Has anyone asked their mothers
how they feel about this?
Lady Ashley, please
ALLSOP: For the war effort, do I hear
It's a fact of science.
The Aboriginal mother
soon forgets her offspring.
Oh, £50!
- ALLSOP: £50! Well!
- WOMAN: Captain Dutton!
- £70!
- £95!
No mother forgets her child, Dr Barker.
Lady Ashley! BIDDER: £96!
This is most inappropriate.
£100!
Oh, well, 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
SARAH: After all, they're
right here in this room.
- That's a lie!
- And
- 500 quid!
- [AUDIENCE GASPING]
ALLSOP: £500!
Well, indeed!
If it isn't the man who [CHUCKLES]
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, uh,
let the King take his prize!
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
[SLOW JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING]
PHOTOGRAPHER: Can I
get a picture, please?
Smile for the camera.
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 that I can prove.
In business, I've been fortunate.
In family, a little less so.
I'm prepared to go to £75,000.
This is not about the money, Mr Carney.
There is a little boy. There is
There are people who are living
living on the station
for whom I'm 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'll
You'll let him stay?
You won't turn him over to the
How can I keep you at your word?
I'll put it in the contract.
ALLSOP: King Carney and Lady Ashley.
And that was a marvellous treat indeed.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
I know no-one who 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
[AUDIENCE MURMURING]
Inform your lawyer
Uh
[STIRRING MUSIC]
Inform your lawyer
that Faraway Downs
is no longer for sale.
Foxtrot!
[SMOOTH JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING]
Here you are.
Yeah, well,
you didn't think I was gonna
waste my dance lesson, did ya?
Let's really give the bastards
something to talk about, huh?
Oh, crikey.
She's invited that man.
Hey, Doris.
Get you a drink, Drover?
Yeah, a beer would be good.
G'day, love. Nice dress.
[♪]
- Alright.
- Fox dance?
- Fox dance.
- Mm.
- Back.
- Back.
- Back.
- Step, front.
- Step, step
- Sorry.
OK, it's the hokey-pokey!
[BIG BAND PLAYING THE HOKEY-POKEY]
WOMAN: You put your right foot in ♪
That was quite a
performance at the wharf.
- Emmett Dutton.
- Drover.
Yes, your reputation precedes you.
But I hadn't thought that
you were the dancing type.
Yeah, well, um these are
extraordinary circumstances.
Yes, she is.
FLETCHER: Hey, Drover.
She gonna pay you for this
part of the job as well?
It's alright, Drover.
How about you go and
sleep it off, Fletcher?
FLETCHER: Yeah
I look forward to doing
business with you, Emmett.
As do I with you.
Now we will be,
uh, we will be leaving
and Mr Drover will be escorting me home.
At least if she gets sick,
you'll be able to get her into hospital.
Alright. I think that's quite enough.
You'd better come with me.
Yeah?
- You put your left arm out ♪
- [WOMEN SCREAMING]
- You put your left arm in ♪
- [EMMETT GRUNTS]
And then you shake it all about ♪
You do the hokey-pokey and
you turn yourself around ♪
That's what it's all about ♪
You put your left foot in ♪
- You put your left foot ♪
- [CROWD GASPING]
You put your left foot in ♪
And you shake it all about ♪
- [FLETCHER LAUGHING]
- You do the hokey-pokey ♪
And you turn yourself around ♪
That's what it's all about ♪
[CONTINUES LAUGHING]
[THUNDER RUMBLES]
[SHRIEKS]
[THE HOKEY-POKEY FADES]
[MENACING MUSIC PLAYING ON FILM]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
Here it is. First storm of the wet.
[SARAH SIGHS]
What's it like?
It's beautiful.
There's millions of birds.
Creeks turn into rivers,
dry plains into lakes.
Faraway Downs will be
reborn as an island,
green and flowering and fat with life.
- MAN: Mind your backs.
- Whoa, whoa! Quick, quick!
We'll be cut off from
the rest of the world.
- Sarah.
- Mmm?
In the dry, I'll be gone, droving.
[THUNDER RUMBLING GENTLY]
But right now it's raining.
[CHEERING AND REVELRY]
[STIRRING MUSIC]
BANDY: Sing Song, come!
DOROTHY: [ON FILM] Oh, will
you help me? Can you help me?
GLINDA: [ON FILM] You don't
need to be helped any longer.
You've always had the
power to go back to Kansas.
I have?
Then why didn't you tell her before?
Because she wouldn't have believed me.
Feel it in the rain ♪
Can you find the way? ♪
The way, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
Feel it in the rain ♪
Ah! Yeah, yeah!
Can you find the way? ♪
[MUSIC FADES]
[SINISTER MUSIC]
[PENSIVE MUSIC]
[SINISTER MUSIC BUILDS]
Maitland Ashley met his death
at the hands of a wild savage,
did he?
You idiot.
Get up.
I didn't say come inside.
[CHORAL HUMMING]
There's no place like home.
[EXHALES]
[ROMANTIC MUSIC SWELLS]
[SOFT MAJESTIC MUSIC]
[SOARING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]
[DROVER MUSTERING]
[NULLAH CHEERS]
[CHATTERING AND LAUGHTER]
[SOARING MAJESTIC MUSIC]
Whoo! Sarah!
Sarah Ashley is one impressive woman.
Give me that.
Magnificent.
And she's a good influence on Cath.
Got him!
[BIRDS SQUAWKING]
As far as I'm concerned,
she can have Faraway Downs.
It's mine!
My old man gave his
life to that property.
CARNEY: [LAUGHING] Yours?
Ours, I mean. It was always
part of our plan, King.
You're not part of any plan
concerning this family, Neil.
The Carney Cattle Company
will always remain in Cath's name.
And if anything should
happen to my little darling,
then you're out on your arse.
[LAUGHS]
Huh. Yeah.
Now reload. I'm goin' for a piss.
[SINISTER MUSIC]
Hey, little fella.
Come down here to have
a piss yourself, have ya?
[CHUCKLES]
[GRUNTS]
Faraway Downs is my God-given land.
What are you goin' on about, Neil?
You haven't got the guts
to piss in your own pants,
let alone shoot me!
Nature will take its
course. You with me?
[LOW GROWLING]
[CARNEY SHRIEKS]
[CARNEY SCREAMING]
[SCREAMING STOPS]
Terrible to witness
such a savage attack.
I went for my gun,
put in two cartridges
as quick as I could
[AMAZING GRACE HUMMING]
He was screaming,
begging for help.
But, by the time I dismounted,
it was too late.
Then I looked back at the billabong
but it had returned to the
way that God had made it.
It was calm, serene.
It was almost beautiful.
Yeah.
As if nature had taken its course.
[JESSICA MAUBOY FT. G. YUNUPINGU
"AMAZING GRACE" (IN LANGUAGE)]
[WRITERS: YUNUPINGU, HOHNEN, NEWTON]