Last Days of the Space Age (2024) s01e07 Episode Script

1
TONY: Gazza, you don't think
someone here, one of us?
GAZZA: What? Did that?
Mate, piss off!
So, you're pregnant.
Yvgeny, the officials
Nobody wants this.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Hello, you've reached
Mt. Lawley Family Planning Centre.
We're sorry we can't take your call
Got us out of the office.
- (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
- Not me.
I'm thinking what the
hell is Wayne up to.
Stubborn as he is stupid as he is suss.
Now I have to find Bob's
"Malaysian bloke."
He knows someone at the refugee camp.
Bob gave him our money.
He's a liar. A crook.
It's your dream, not mine.
- What is then?
- I don't know
- Bowie, music.
- (CHUCKLES)
- BILYA: Uncle Adam warned me.
- What?
That you’d bow down to ’em.
To keep my job.
To keep the roof over our head.
- That's what they did to us.
- Time to go, mate.
You haven't told her yet, have you?
- Listen, George.
- (GROANS) Fuck.
(BREATHES SHARPLY)
RADIO OPERATOR: 95 FM. The
best of the West never sounded better.
PETE: The North American Defence Centre
said this Yank Skylab space station
is plunging to Earth.
But no-one knows
where the damn thing is going to land.
MAL: Well, you say that, Pete, but
we've a young Perth woman on the line
who claims to know
exactly where Skylab is coming down.
Tilly! Are you listening to this?
PETE: Okay, so, Tilly,
where is this thing going to hit?
- TILLY: Perth, Mal.
- PETE: I’m Pete. He’s Mal.
- Let's get the names right.
- TILLY: Perth, Pete. In about a week.
Tilly?
MAL: NASA and the folks in Canberra
don't seem to know where Skylab
will fall, what makes you so clever?
TILLY: I've been working with a professor
on this, we applied linear regression.
The results give a 95 percent confidence
interval of it landing near Perth.
Tilly?
TILLY: Uh, Skylab will create
a debris field 100 miles wide
and a 1000 miles long.
PETE: Okay, Tilly, I mean,
aren’t you being just a touch alarmist?
TILLY: What? That in a week
your audience will be zero?
PETE: Ouch! Oh, Tilly!
All gloom and doom this morning.
TILLY: No, uh, just science, Mal.
- PETE: Yeah, I'm Pete.
- TILLY: (CHUCKLES LIGHTLY) I know.
(LINE DISCONNECTS)
PETE: Well, it appears
we've lost Tilly there
- JUDY: Hey, while you're in there
- (BREATHES DEEPLY)
have a shower, we've got school.
MAL: thanks to our budding
scientist there, but don’t panic people.
Come on, sweetie.
You were great, they're just
- Idiots. Arrogant, stupid men.
- (INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO)
- Well, there’s a few of them about.
- (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING OVER RADIO)
Come on, get ready.
I'll drop you at school.
You know what?
If we're lucky maybe we can run over
a breakfast DJ on the way.
Did you hear that? Tilly, that was nuts!
No! School. Now!
- Waves. Me. Surfing. See ya!
- No. Not.
But there's a surf comp’ tour
that I wanna enter. I have to practise.
Look, I've told you.
You quit school for college or a job,
that’s it.
(UPBEAT MUSIC CONTINUES PLAYING
OVER RADIO)
Tell you what,
why don't you get ready?
We're gonna try the job option today.
(GRUNTS)
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
(THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKER)
(BILYA CHUCKLING)
You're almost as good as Poppy.
When she's got her roller skates on.
- Oh, bugger off!
- (BOTH CHUCKLE)
- You're good at this.
- BILYA: Ta.
Don't let anyone tell
you different, yeah?
(CHUCKLES)
Does Rocco know you're
taking his daughter to the deb?
(CHUCKLES)
I don't think Rocco knows much
about what Poppy or Rose get up to.
I don't think he cares.
Oh, he'll care if some Black kid
turns up with this daughter
on the dance floor.
(SIGHS)
Listen, I've got to rehearse too.
(CLEARS THROAT)
"I'm honoured to be asked to come on air
and talk with you.
"I've lived in Scarborough for 20 years
and listened to this station.
"The coastal suburb
of Scarborough was"
But you don't have to do this, right?
It's all right.
It's just a natter about
how I become a teacher.
- I don't even have to show my face.
- (BILYA GRUNTING)
You can come along.
(SIGHS) Really?
And do they wanna know
what you’ve really been through?
Or what, Nan?
Hey, you've gotta tell them the truth.
Don't let anyone tell you any different.
Yeah?
Leave it. You can't change the past.
BILYA: Yeah?
But Mum reckons we
should never forget it.
Could've told us the truth about Bob.
Man, he seemed all right. (CHUCKLES)
- He could've even
- What's with the bullseye on my bedsheet?
(CLICKS TONGUE) What?
Me? No, no.
- That's weird.
- EILEEN: Hmm.
(SOFT MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(DOOR CLOSING)
No temple?
You all right?
- Binh will be late for school.
- LAM: Where is he?
But you're okay?
I don't know.
I thought maybe this time
with Bob's contact and all that money
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
- That we’d have something to show for.
- (BREATHES DEEPLY)
Someone.
(KISSES)
- (BREATHES DEEPLY)
- (SOFT MUSIC FADES)
(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING OVER RADIO)
LAM: You'll be late.
- (DOOR SLAMMING)
- (CHUCKLES)
- (ROCK MUSIC CONCLUDES)
- (CAR HORN BLARING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
REPORTER: (OVER TV)
How big is it? This Skylab?
It's a bit hard to find
an earthbound thing to compare it with.
But as it was when it was launched,
as is now that it's in orbit
- (CLICKS TONGUE)
- (YVGENY HUMMING TUNE)
REPORTER: and as it will be
when it falls out of that orbit,
hits the Earth's atmosphere
You have already told your superior,
so why must you keep
us locked up in here?
YVGENY:
Because he told me to deal with it.
So only three of us know.
We cannot afford for anyone to see that.
- Five days we'll be gone.
- (KNOCKING ON DOOR)
(REPORTER SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY OVER TV)
REPORTER: Our story goes back to 1973,
the beginning of Skylab's
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
- Yes, how can I help you?
- Yvgeny, open the door, please.
Svetlana has missed
three call times already.
- I'd like to see her, please.
- Not possible, she's still sick, you see.
She's asleep now.
I have 75 girls to look after, and
I'm spending all my time on Svetlana!
I I'm sorry, but cannot be helped.
Miss Adelaide?
We get drunk again. You flirt. I smile.
It It will fix all this? No?
Tell Svetlana,
if she misses today's ball gown parade,
she will be disqualified!
You cannot do that, she's the
representative of the Soviet
We can. And we will!
And you are appalling at flirting.
What do we do now?
We could get Mick to help.
He knows a dressmaker that can help
hide this.
Mick’s business is selling stories
like this. He cannot know.
He already knows.
- You told him! Why?
- Yvgeny, it's all right. We can trust him.
Just let me call him, huh?
(BREATHES DEEPLY)
What choice do we have?
(WAVES CRASHING)
(DOOR CLOSING)
JUDY: Hmm. Nice to see you up.
(TONY GRUNTING)
Update, your eldest daughter
has locked herself in the bathroom
and I don't have time to wait around
for that
because I am running late for work.
Besides, it doesn't matter,
it's all gonna be over in a week.
Life, the universe, the lot
(SLURPS) apparently. Just ask Tilly.
- Tilly, hurry up. You're gonna be late.
- You've got a mystery package.
Do you have a secret admirer, Dad?
And, uh, this one's coming to work
with me today.
- Come on.
- Go get the bastards, Mia.
(DOOR OPENING, CLOSING)
- (SIGHING)
- (TILLY SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
Tilly.
(TILLY CONTINUES SPEAKING)
Tilly, unlock this door.
Mm-hmm.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
What are you doing?
What do you think?
This is the safest place in the house.
Tilly.
Walls and pipes.
- Sweetheart.
- TILLY: It’s true.
When Cyclone Tracey hit Darwin,
this this is where people survived.
- Tilly, you've got school.
- No one is taking this seriously.
We have to get ready. We’ll
only get a couple of hours warning.
Now you listen to me, young lady.
We'll We’ll kill each other in here
before Skylab gets us.
Come with me.
I've got an idea.
(WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(GRUNTS) Come on.
This way, keep up.
(BOTH BREATHE DEEPLY)
That
is our shelter.
- (BIRD CHIRPING)
- (WHIMSICAL MUSIC CONCLUDES)
- (CHIMNEY CHUGGING)
- (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC TURNS MISCHIEVOUS)
(SIGHS)
- What? Do you think he's onto us?
- No, he’s not clever enough.
(LOCK RATTLING)
Ta-da!
You do realize you can get three years
hard labour for that?
Are you sure you want to do this?
No.
But don’t want to do another round
of redundancies either.
So we need to get in there,
figure out what the hell he's up to.
Find out why he’s trying to block us
from fixing this.
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
I'm so done with being
the Angel of Death.
FRANCESCA: Girls!
(PAPERS RUSTLING)
Hey, look.
Do it.
(DRAWER CLOSING)
An old speeding ticket.
A warning from the tax office.
(CHUCKLING) A threatening letter
from an ex-girlfriend.
Does Wayne do business overseas?
Wayne? He thinks Sydney
is a foreign country.
Japan? Maybe? He’s never mentioned it.
You know what, this
looks like a contract.
Know any Japanese interpreters?
- (GRUNTS)
- (MISCHIEVOUS MUSIC FADES)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
- Thanks for this, Dad.
- (TONY GRUNTING)
- We do what we have to. To stay safe.
- (PANTS)
- Where did you learn to do this?
- (TONY GRUNTING)
Here and there.
- When you were in the army?
- (BREATHES HEAVILY)
Does it matter? (GRUNTING)
- You reckon this is deep enough?
- (TONY GRUNTING)
Dad? Dad?
Hey? No. Keep digging.
(GRUNTS)
I’m telling you. Sandy will have
Svetlana ready for tonight's event.
- Yeah. But can she keep secret?
- Yeah, you can trust her.
You said she is Vietnamese?
South?
Anti-communist?
Mate, I was there for two years.
I didn’t care what they were,
as long as they weren’t anti-me.
This cannot go wrong.
What’s it gonna be like for Svetlana,
returning home as a single mum?
Why you care?
The State helped to look after my boy.
Be same for Svetlana and her baby.
(SNIFFLES)
Don’t worry. We will hide your baby.
You have been here a few years?
In Australia.
And Vietnam, you just
left?
We paid someone all we had
to be squeezed into a boat.
But yes, we left.
(SIGHS)
People here. They have no idea
what it is like in our countries.
How could they?
They’re free.
(BREATHES DEEPLY)
You see, my friend.
Your spring rolls are great. The best.
But our Malaysian roti?
Well! (LAUGHS)
And our rice
tastes better the next day.
Oh, we could never
compete with your rice.
You know who would
really love your roti?
Your son, I know.
There is no news. There is nothing.
- Bob gave you our money to find.
- Bob is gone.
Hey, try the roti, please.
Not many guests get the owner cooking.
You weren't running a diner in Vietnam?
Those hands of yours are more suited
to a chalkboard? A desk?
Engineering professor. Hanoi.
(LAUGHS) And now you sell "dimmies"
to the Aussies.
Hey, sorry, my friend.
No insult. Just a fact.
I was a journalist in Malaysia.
(SCOFFS) Not the best career there.
But promising more than you can deliver
is a good business here?
And so we find ourselves here.
Different worlds. Different lives.
- Everything changing.
- But my son is still missing.
And that can change.
Bob gave you a chance.
- Five thousand dollars bought us that.
- And bought you this roti.
But no guarantees.
We have done everything that we can.
Your money has not gone into my pocket.
That's for others.
And now we wait.
(BREATHES DEEPLY)
MR TEO: Today, Van is missing,
tomorrow, who knows?
But you
must look after your life.
Look after your family.
Not torture yourself.
And not come here again, my friend.
(DOOR CLOSING)
(SIGHS)
(TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACKING)
FRANCESCA: Judy?
Hiroshi. Judy.
The best barman in Perth,
meet the best general manager.
(EXCLAIMING) Thanks for coming.
- HIROSHI: Huh! Saké?
- (FRANCESCA SIGHING)
- Sambuca.
- (HIROSHI SCOFFS)
I take it you're not here
for Fran's rocket fuel.
I do my best to educate her
about real drinks.
- Where is it?
- (PAPERS RUSTLING)
It’s a contract.
Contract for what?
Contract of sale.
Sale of what?
Looks like a company.
How can he afford to buy a company?
Doull's Power Supplies
is barely staying afloat as it is.
Ah, it’s Doull Power Supplies
that’s being sold.
- I might need that drink after all.
- (GLASS CLINKING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(CHILD BABBLING)
Are you from North or South?
North.
But we had to flee to the South,
and then we had to leave there too.
Tell no one!
Hi! (LAUGHS)
What's her name?
- Anna.
- SVETLANA: Anna. (CHUCKLES)
- Tell me, where did you get that pram?
- Boans. Third floor.
Well, when the time comes,
I will go to Boans on the third floor.
You’ll be back in the USSR.
No, no.
I'll be at Boans on the third floor.
You’re going to help me defect.
(ELEVATOR BELL DINGING)
(CHUCKLES)
(MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
(WAVES CRASHING)
This morning.
The makeup.
LAM: (SIGHS) Really? Now?
It's gonna be a part of my music.
My performance.
Like, all the artists are doing it now.
Your music? Performance?
Dad.
You were meant to be
studying hard, remember?
(CHUCKLES) But I’m working hard to
to be a musician.
Like Bowie.
Ambitions are important, Son.
But remember what Mick Jagger says,
"You can’t always get what you want."
We just want you to be happy, healthy,
safe, secure. That's all.
(SPEAKING VIETNAMESE)
medicine gives you that.
I don’t want this for you. Huh.
And I want my only son
to be able to look after his parents
when they’re old.
Van’s alive.
I heard Mum.
- I’m not the only one, Dad.
- No, Binh.
You are.
(BREATHES DEEPLY)
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
Matty, this won't take long.
We'll have you out of here by 8:00.
- There you go.
- SCOTT: I did a few prompt cards for you,
so talk about your education,
primary to high school,
uh, entry to Teachers College,
studies there.
Uh, who you received support from.
All right, and just, um,
make sure you smile while you speak,
helps with the tone.
And keep it short and sweet.
Emphasis on the "sweet."
So don’t issue an
eviction notice, got it!
Scotty!
- SCOTT: Gavvo! Yeah!
- How are you, mate?
- Looking good. Nice suit.
- SCOTT: Thank you.
You must be Eileen.
I hope you're going to be as much fun
as that Mr Bertrude we had in.
- (LAUGHING)
- (SCOTT LAUGHING)
He was a He was a riot.
Right. Have a seat, please.
- (CLEARS THROAT)
- (MAL SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY OVER RADIO)
All right.
- Yeah?
- PETE: (LAUGHS) No fear, mate.
- Home to the better half
- Okay.
PETE: and J.R.,
it's Dallas night tonight.
MAL: Ooh, good on ya, Pete. Enjoy J.R.,
and we'll catch you tomorrow, Perth.
RADIO OPERATOR: 95 FM. The
best of the West never sounded better.
Turn up the radio, Eileen’s next.
GAVIN: Tonight, as part
of the 150th celebrations,
we welcome another local teaching hero.
She's one of our own, she's
also a qualified Aboriginal teacher.
Please welcome Eileen Wilberforce.
Uh. Ta.
Thank you, Gavin.
Now, Scott Williamson tells me
that you are a testament
to how far Aboriginal people
have come in the last 150 years.
Tell me, Eileen, how many of those years
have you called Scarborough home?
Um, I’ve lived in Scarborough
for 20 years now.
(LAUGHS) You're practically one of us!
- So
- Um
I was told recently that I
that I should never forget my past.
I haven’t. I’ve just
not talked about it.
Seemed easier that way.
But I’m learning that staying silent
doesn’t help
anyone.
I I didn't mean to suggest
Even though I’ve lived in Scarborough
for over 20 years
I'm a Binjareb Noongar woman.
I was born in a little
town south of here.
You might've heard of the place
through your history books,
the Battle of Pinjarra in 1834.
Well let me tell you
- it wasn’t a battle, it was a massacre.
- Oh, now that's that's a big call.
Stirling and his band of merry men
killed about 80 Aboriginal men,
women and children.
- (INHALES SHARPLY)
- EILEEN: And guess what?
Only one of Stirling’s men died.
My great grandfather’s sisters,
they were kids at the time
they were also murdered.
Um, I'm sorry.
I've I've never heard that.
Yeah, well
over the generations not a lot
of progress was made for us lot.
Eileen, look at you. (CHUCKLES)
You're You're a teacher.
Yeah.
But I'm only one of a handful
in this state.
And that's not good enough,
is it, Mr Simmonds?
Now, do you wanna hear my story or not?
(CHUCKLES)
Please.
EILEEN: You see, Gavin
through the generations not a
lot of progress was made for us lot.
When I was a kid
my mum used to cover me
and my sister in black ash,
every time the authorities raided
the camps for fair skinned kids
to to civilise and enslave.
They could do anything to us.
We weren’t citizens.
In their eyes, by their laws,
we were just merely flora and fauna.
But that didn’t stop my dad
fighting for his country.
In World War I,
he was equal on the battlefield.
But back home, he couldn’t even go
to the pub with his mates.
It was only 12 years ago
we got citizenship.
And sadly, that was too late for my dad.
And this kinda treatment was happening
all over Australia.
When I was a young bride
I was living on my husband’s country.
Beautiful desert country
in South Australia.
Until we were herded off
to Yalata Mission, uh,
that was a couple 100Ks away
to make way for the British
and the Australian governments
to do their nuclear tests.
You might know the place
Maralinga.
But then, maybe not, because it was all
hush-hush, you know, top secret stuff.
The government denies
it ever happening
but those tests, they went on
for over ten years.
My husband’s people,
they were still out on country,
not knowing what was happening.
In 1954, my husband, he went
out searching for ‘em, you know
- Tony.
- EILEEN: bring ‘em into safety.
And I waited
and I waited for him to come home.
He never did.
Like other Anangu people,
he died from those bombs.
And I You know, I couldn’t be there
without him, it was too hard, so
I came back to my country,
with my eight-year-old daughter
and my unborn son.
And I rolled up my sleeves
and I just got on with it.
And I kept the past in the past.
I've rebuilt my life.
For me. For them.
And, yeah, it was hard work,
but I became a teacher.
But
my silence has cost me.
My daughter, I can see that
she's angry at me for it.
She’s spent her life
trying to break my silence.
And my son, he hasn’t talked to me
in over a year.
He’s with his father’s people now,
back at Maralinga,
trying to make sense of all the
wasteland that was left there.
And I realize now that
(SIGHS) you know,
it's okay to live and speak my truth.
For some things, it’s too late
but right now I feel
I feel moorditj
deadly for finally giving it breath.
So yeah,
I'll let you decide if you think
my story is a great example
of how far Aboriginal people have come
in the last 150 years?
Eileen Wilberforce
thank you so very much.
(EXHALES DEEPLY)
(INSPIRING MUSIC PLAYING)
(BREATHES DEEPLY)
- (FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
- JUDY: You coming?
(MUSIC FADES)
What are you doing with that?
Look at that handwriting.
Gazza was the one that threw it.
What?
Don’t be stupid. He would never do that.
But he did.
I don’t understand. Why?
I mean, he he’s like family to you.
To us.
Well, what are we going to do about it?
Not us.
You.
This is your battle.
Has been for a while.
You don’t need me to fight yours.
I can’t fight it like you. (SCOFFS)
You’re brilliant.
(EXHALES HEAVILY)
What a dickhead.
Eileen was
I know, she spoke
so well, I had no idea.
I was there.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
In a trench
three miles from those A-bombs.
Waiting for the flash.
Maralinga?
I was just a kid.
Stood in my own piss.
My own fear.
You could see
You could see your own bones.
Your own skeleton through the darkness.
Why didn't you tell me?
I’ve been trying to forget
about that for years.
Bloody decades.
But I can’t.
What happened to us.
What happened to the Aboriginals
to Eileen’s family.
(GASPS)
(EXHALES SHARPLY)
(SNIFFLES)
Well, I guess you've found your battle.
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
(INTENSE MUSIC CONCLUDES)