"Oh, no!" "Sorry." " Hi." " You're late." "You said seven." "You'll have to feed the boys at the cinema." "What cinema?" "What are you talking about?" "You promised to take them to a film." "Yeah, but what about this?" "I'll buy them a pizza, they watch a movie on the telly, they get to bed early." "I've got a ton of work to do." "They've been ready to go for an hour." "Fine." "And try to be happy around them." " Smile more!" " I smile!" "Wait, wait, wait." "What am I..." "What am I seeing?" "Oh, just some doggy flick." "Oh, Christ." "Kill me now." "I'm not the one that promised him a puppy." "No, I didn't." "It was a misunderstanding." "He's lonely." "New city, new school, no friends." "He cries every day." "Jesus." "Isn't he a bit old to cry?" "Why not get him a dog?" "M..." "Because they...smell, you know?" "And...and they lick things." "Dead things in alleys and...and and then their own bum, and then your face." " Gross!" " Right." "And they crap everywhere." "They get fleas." "They die." "It's a bad idea, trust me." " You promised." " No, I didn't promise." "It was..." "Can we not talk about it, please?" "Alright?" " What's that'?" " Hmm?" "I'm just happy to be out with my boys." "It's a smile." "You're scaring me." "Right." "Can you tell him to be quiet?" "Do you mind?" "Alright." "PJs and brush your teeth." "on, Nicholas!" "Oh, crikey!" "Alright, time for sleep." "Did you like the movie?" "It was alright." "You cried." "No, I didn't." "I saw you." "It was hay fever." "Come on, get your head down." "Dad, I saw you crying." "Son, I'm too old to cry." "Now, come on." "But wouldn't it be great?" "What?" "To have a dog." "A dog like Red." "Lights out." " Blue." " What?" "His name was Blue, the dog." "Not Red." "You mean the movie actor dog?" "His name was Koko." "No, I mean the real dog." "The one the movie was based on." "How do you know?" "'Cause he was mine." "I called him Blue." "And he was the first real mate I ever had." "When I was about your age," "I was living in Sydney with my mum, your nanna." "And my dad, your grandfather, had just passed away." "We were both very sad, but your nanna was well, she was very, very sad." "So it was decided she should go to a special place to try and relax for a while." "Like a holiday?" "Yeah." "Sort of." "And I was sent to stay with my grandpa, your great-grandpa." "He owned a station, Warndurala Station, way out west in the Pilbara." "Just south of Dampier, where the movie took place." "It was so far away, I had to take three planes to get there." "Watch the snakes!" "It was mind-blowing to be in such a new place." "It was like Mars." "Red." "Huge." "Fantastic!" "This is totally stupid!" "I know it's hard to imagine, but back then, as a boy, I was different." "I wasn't what you'd call the outdoors type." "And truth be told I was scared." "(mum" "Epimethius!" "And then there was Grandpa." "Why are you riling up my horse?" "H-he was trying to kill me!" "What's wrong with it, Grandpa?" "Tallulah was hit by lightning." "She hasn't been the same since." "She's blind in one eye and now she thinks she's a bull." "In future, you don't go in that paddock, understand?" "OK." "Yes, sir." "Come on." "Does lightning hit a lot of things?" "No." "But it's crazy dangerous when it does, right?" "Yes." "How do you not get hit by lightning?" " You be careful." " How do you be careful?" "Can you tell by the clouds or something?" "Yes." "So you just stay inside when you see those clouds?" "No." " Are there any crocodiles'?" " Not many." " They can eat you?" " Yes." "And the worst snake is a death adder?" "Yes." "What happens if you get bitten?" "You die." "But not from the spinifex snake?" "Nope." "Which is different from the king brown?" "Yes." "And you can die from a red-back spider?" "Yes." "It's like everything out here can kill you or something." "I don't remember you talking so much before." "Well, last time you saw me, Grandpa, I was two." "I wasn't talking yet." "Try and remember that." "Grandpa?" "Thank you." "Who else was gonna take you?" "So, Dad, were you a cowboy?" "A jackaroo?" " A real jackaroo'?" " No." "Oh." "Well, not at first." "So, what did you do?" "I swept." "I also watered Grandpa's orange tree." "Which he loved more than life itself." "And there was homework." "Correspondence sets I was supposed to complete." "Peter paid no attention t0 his grandfather's words." "Boys like him are not afraid of wolves..." "But mainly, I listened to Grandpa's records." "Peter paid no attention t0 his grandfather's words." "Boys like him are not afraid of wolves." "Jimmy Umbrella was our cook." "He hated the sun and always carried an umbrella." "He cooked for everyone." "Righto, boys, here we go." "The stockmen ate out by the cookhouse." "There was the helicopter pilot, Bill Stemple, and brothers Little John and Big John." "The biackfeiias ate at their camp, called Gujarala." "There was Durack and his family," "Mrs Abby and the girls..." "Thank you, my darling." "...and then Taylor Pete, who was only a few years older than me but never copped to it." "He was a rootin', tootin' stockman." "Comb your hair." "Jimmy Umbrella cooked three meals a day - bully beef for breakfast, cold beef for lunch and hot beef for dinner." "What's the matter?" "Nothing, sir." "You're not talking." "You don't like me talking." "Never stopped you before." "What is it?" "It's my birthday." "What do you want for a present?" "A salad would be nice." "What else?" "I was thinking my mum would call." "She didn't." "Could I try to call her?" "We're not going to talk about your mother." "Come on." "Happy birthday." "Oh!" "I thought it was gonna be a horse!" "A horse?" "How old do you think I am?" "This was 1969." "Horses were out." "Motorbikes and helicopters were in." "Did you know how to ride a motorbike?" "Of course I knew how to ride it." "Oh, nooooooo!" "Eventually." "Aaarghh!" "The fact was, it was lonely being in a new place without any friends." "Seemed like everyone had a companion already." "Epimethius!" "Big John had Little John." "Jimmy had his umbrella." "Stemple had his guitar." "Those warriors at Wave Hill..." "Taylor Pete had his politics and land rights issue." "Gonna be a big one, boys!" "Get in!" "Get in!" "Durack, get in there!" "What's going on?" "!" "Cyclone coming!" "And Grandpa had his gramophone." "The roof is anchored to half-inch pipes fixed by 18-inch U-bolts to vertical railway lines spaced 10 feet apart all the way around the perimeter, sunk three feet into solid concrete." "(SMASHU" "So we're not gonna die?" "!" "No!" " Stemple?" " Yeah?" "Get into the air." "First off, we've got to find the mob." "Help those that are bogged or trapped." "Little and Big, you get out to the west end." "Durack and Taylor Pete, you come with me to the northern plateau." "What about me?" "You look for the loose chickens." "Who's gonna drive?" "I won again!" "Hello." "Where did you come from?" "OK, OK, don't worry." "I'll get you down." "Oh, you're a mess." "Do you have a name?" "No?" "I'm gonna call you Blue." "Because you're blue." "Blue!" "You're red!" "You're red!" "I have a good feeling about us." "I think we're gonna be best mates." "Shhh." "Where'd you put him?" "I know you're not asleep." "You even know whose that is?" "He's nobody's dog, Grandad." "I found him." "His name's Blue." "Looks more red to me." "His name is Blue, his colour is red." " That makes sense to you'?" " Yes." "He's from Gujarala." "Durack's cousin's visiting from Wyndham." "The pup's from his bitch." "I'll talk t0 him." "Thank you!" "Thank you, sir." "On one condition." "Dogs don't sleep in the house." "Where's my bloody shaving cream?" "Oi!" "Oi!" "~ (G _ o"" "Mad!" "Nah, that's strychnine poisoning." "Plain as day, Jimmy." "Are you a vet now?" "No, but I bloody well know strychnine poisoning when I see it." " Could be rabies." " Don't think so." "Look at the foam on his mouth." "Marlunghu." "A What?" "That fella, he's a trickster marlunghu." "He is." "OK, come on, boy." "Come on!" "SONG"." "S Honey, hi f Mmm, honey, ho" "There you go." "Would you like some jam with that?" "It's the melon one." "Whoa, boy!" "That was fast." "You know, if we could figure out a way to make money from fast eating, we could get mighty rich." "Ready?" "Don't be a scaredy-cat." "It's probably like all the other caves." "Nothing big, nothing scary." "You see this, Blue?" "You go first." "OK." "I'll go first." "No big deal." "Blue, you gotta get in here and see this." "It's amazing." "We can use this as a hide-out." "We'll be the Ned Kelly of the Pilbara." "I'll be Ned, that is." "And you'll be my best mate, Joe Byrne, scourge of the North West." "We'll bury our gold in here and have orgies." "It's an awful snug place for orgies, I reckon." "Not exactly sure what they are, but I know all true robbers..." "Jeez!" "Don't do that!" "What's that?" "What is it, Blue?" "Let's get out of here!" "That was scary, Blue." "You're late." "Sorry about that." "Can you keep a secret?" "Only me and Blue know." "Well, I can keep a secret if a dog can." "He doesn't like to be called that." "A dog?" "We found a cave in Gregory's Rock." "That's not a place for whitefellas." " You know it?" " Of course I know it." "That's Mukkine's Cave." "Only Bunaga men go there." "Manguny place, that is." "Dreamtime." "How do you know it's Dreamtime?" "'Cause I've been there." "On Walkabout." "Is walking about hard?" "I mean, all that walking..." "Don't be daft." "I didn't walk." "I took me ute." "Well, did you notice anything strange in the cave?" "What did you see?" "There was a white stone in the pool." "I tried to get it, but Blue started barking at something fierce, something I couldn't see." "What?" "That's not very good." "What do you know of Mukkine?" "Nothing." "Mukkine was a great ngarluma, a magic man." "Many years ago, he shot this humbug constable who chained all of Mukkine's mob by their necks and pegged them to this tree." "Mukkine shot him dead." "Plenty of coppers came from all over just to kill Mukkine." "But Mukkine made fools of all of those coppers." "They needed a blackfella to track a blackfella, and they got one." "Parker Knight from Roebourne." "Parker Knight, he shot Mukkine, but you can't kill a Maban man unless you take his spirit." "So as Mukkine lay bleeding, he put his spirit into that water, into Yirramala pool, in that cave." "That's what Blue saw and was barking at." "Mukkine's spirit." "I tell you true." "That white stone that you found in the pool, that's Mukkine's stone." "That holds his power." "A weapon, it is." "He points that thing at you and you die." "Cursed." "And now that he knows you, he might take his stone and he'll come looking." "Why would he come looking for me?" " You stole his land." " I didn't steal nothing." "Your family, Mr Hudson, you whitefellas take everything." "I don't want no spirit coming after me and Blue." "You're gonna need a token for protection." "This is it." "Very strong magic, this one." "What's in the tin?" "His name's Ted." "He's our pet." "Blue has a pet?" "Well, yeah." " Trade." " Done." "Yahoooo!" "Crazy wadjbala bloke." "on, yeah!" "18-10." "Would you shut up?" "!" "What do you think you're doing?" "!" "He won't shut up." "When I sing, he won't shut up." "Must be the dumbest dog I've ever met." "Hey, what are you talking about?" "He's smarter than me." "That's not a recommendation." "Can he do any tricks?" "Can he sit?" "He's already sitting." "No, like sit down, shake hands, roll over." "No?" "Nothing?" "What about play dead?" "Can he play dead?" "Hey." "Hey, Blue." "Can you be dead?" "We'll start off with a few of the easy ones to shut him up." "Like sit." "You know how to sit." "Everybody knows how to sit." "Ready, set, sit." "OK, OK." "You probably don't understand the process." "I give a command, you perform it." "That's what a trick is." "I'll show you how it works." "You give me a command and then I'll do it." "Then we can switch places." "OK?" "Go ahead." "Give a command." "See?" "Easy." "Try something else." "Jimmy!" "Another plate." "We're going to be having company." "Michael, this is Mr Hancock." "Ah." "So, you're Cate's boy?" " Yes, sir." " Yeah." "Well, I remember your mum when she was no more than, 0h, yea high." "She had the prettiest smile." "Comb your hair." "Oh." "Allowing dogs in the house now?" "Oh, Blue has privileges." "You're getting soft." "Mr Hancock here is up at Mulga Downs." "When he's up at Mulga Downs, which isn't so much these days, he has other, more important interests." "What are your other interests, sir?" "Allow me." "Now, that - that is the future of this land." "Not that mob of wild shorthorns in the bush out yonder." "Your grandpa thinks he's a futurist 'cause he got rid of his horses and now he musters with motorbikes and helicopters." "But I call a spade a spade, and you can't make a spade without that there." " What is it'?" " Iron ore." "We have iron ore on the property, Grandpa?" "Not enough." "But if you go 180 miles thataway, they're building the biggest mine on the planet," "Mount Tom Price." "And then they're gonna run the railroad straight through your grandpa's property to get to Dampier." " Is that good?" " No." "Isn't it our land?" "I can't stop it." "Not if it's in the public's bloody interest." " You could sell it." " Ha!" "Taylor Pete said it isn't even our land." "Taylor Pete?" "This is our land." "I have the deed to prove it." "But it was their land." "Haven't you got anything stronger to go with this tucker, Ronald?" "Take your meal into your room." "Yes, sir." "I've neglected the boy's education." "Oh, he'd be off to school in the big smoke soon enough, wouldn't he?" "Next year." "Cate's still in that, uh..." "hospital?" "They released her six months back." "And didn't come and see her boy?" "Nope." "Disappeared into Sydney." "Not even a postcard." "Well, does the boy know?" "No." "I don't understand her." "My daughter's a bloody mystery, way she thinks." "Got more twists and turns than the Fortescue!" "No matter how hard the duck tried to run, she couldn't escape the wolf." "He was getting nearer, nearer," "HGQFGF..." "Hey, I love this!" "Peter and the..." "Are you OK, Mr Hancock?" "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." "Come on, dog, get off, get off." "Sorry, Mr Hancock." "Blue gets very territorial about his sitting spots." "I wouldn't try to move him." "It wouldn't be safe." "Yeah, well, we'll see about that." "Feeling himself caught, the wolf began to jump wildly, trying to get loose." "Hey, Lang!" "Where are you, old man?" "You've fallen down and can't get up?" "I'm coming." "Well, you two...carry on." "What a strange man." "OK, no cheating this time." "You count to 50, and no peeking where I hide the duck." " YEP" " Yep" " You ready?" " Yeah, I'm ready." "Here we go." "No!" "Come here, Blue!" "Blue!" "Epimethius!" "Hey, not fair." "No going into the paddock." "Blue?" "Blue?" "That was crazy!" "Aaaaaaah!" "What's that?" "Everything alright, Ronnie?" "Ow!" "~ " Ow!" "~ " Ow!" "I know the boy can be foolish, but I counted on you to have more sense." "Hey, Blue." "Come over here!" "Come on!" "This way!" "r Will you say maybe?" "Bit sore, are we?" "I've been scarred." "That's not a scar, mate." "You want to see a scar?" "Vietnam, baby." "Vietnam." "That little thing?" "Wow." "Did it hurt?" "Don't be daft." "Of course it hurt!" "Dunno if self-inflicted counts, mate." " Yeah, well, I didn't do it." " Was it a punishment?" "Education." "I'm getting that too." "Grandpa thinks I'm not properly educated." "He's hired some old woman from Perth to come live with us and make sure I do all my correspondence sets all day long." "At the mission schools, all the sisters look like goannas." "Yeah, I bet she has warts." "Hair growing out of them." "On her nose." "I don't even want an education." "I remember this one boy that the nuns had taught a thousand lines of the Bible all up in his head." "So?" "He become an idiot, he did." "No worries." "Between you and your dog, you're already halfway there." " Hello, Doctor." " Mick." "Have a vaccination for the lads." "Gonna need to gather them all up." "I was told to meet my new tutor." "Mrs Marble." "Is she in there?" "Supposed to help her get situated." "Was she old and horrible and hairy, Dad?" "Uh...no." "Did she have those big nose warts?" "No." "No nose warts." "But she looked like a big goanna lizard, right?" "No." "Ugh!" "Then what was she like?" "Sh-she was, uh...pretty nice-looking." "I thought." "Mick." "This is Miss Marble." "Hello, Mick." "Please, call me Betty." "Mick will see you situated." "And Who's this?" "Blue, Mrs Miss Marb Bet. .." "Marble." "Just Betty." "Do you have bags..." "Betty?" "Two." "But they are quite heavy." "Oh, I'm stronger than I look." "Oh." "Come on." "What are you doing'?" "Doctor's giving shots." "It's enough to make one a believer in our educational system, eh?" "It's gonna be pretty embarrassing for you." "What?" " Taking a shot in the bum." " No way." "Look, mate, men take shots in the arm, children take shots in the bum." "It's the way it is." " I'm not a child." " So you'd like to believe." "Roll up your sleeve." "Yeah, it's just a bit tight, Doc." "This might help." "G'day." "Don't think we've met." "Uh, Bill Stemple." "Hello." "Betty." "Betty." "(E-'day, Betty." "Welcome to Warndurala." "Have to give you a tour round the station sometime." "Course, the best way to see it is from the air." "You ever taken a ride in a helic helicopter?" "Next." "Not in the bum." "Can't hear you." "Not in the bum!" "For God's sake, speak up!" "He said not in the bum!" "Eeeh!" "Just use them when you need them." "And give us a holler if it gets worse, Ron." "Will do." " Make sure you take 'em." " Yeah, yeah." "The sun on the red dirt." "Beautiful." "You'll love it." "I'll have to check my schedule." "Betty." "Walk with me." "Ron's a good man, but if I could give you a piece of advice?" "What would that be?" "Avoid helicopter rides." "I'll try to remember." "When I see your parents, I'll tell them you're fine." "It's going to be fun." " You're not afraid'?" " Of what?" "Lonely men on a lonely land." "I like lonely." "Yeah." " Boys." " Thanks for the shots, Doc." "Out!" "Good morning, Mick." "Good morning, Betty." "Ready for a brilliant day of education?" "You bet." "What's that..." "awful smell?" "Oh, Blue has digestion issues." "Don't worry, you get used to it." "There's no way to get used to that." "My God!" "It's intolerable!" "He has to go." "But Blue has privileges." "I can't kick him out." "It's his house too." "It's me or the dog, Mick." "Out." "Go!" "So we have Tom and Sally from Summerhiil and Mick from Warndurala." " How are you all doing?" " Good." "Over." "Good, thanks." "Over." "Right, today, we're going over geometry, so can you all find your maths workbooks?" "Now, let's start off with the area of a rectangle." "Let's just say you're planning a garden." "Your garden is 4ft long and 12ft wide." "How big is it?" "What are you doing out here'?" "Eh?" "What are you doing?" "You sly devil." "Bit of a ladies' man, are you?" "Eh?" "I Mmm, jump in my car..." "I" "Let's go." "I know." "Know what?" "I know why you're looking out that window." "You do?" "You want to be out there." "Oh, yes." "Somewhere else." "Somewhere exciting." "You stare out there and you think "Why can't I just run away?"" "I-is that what you did?" "I got out of Perth." "It's a start." "But I want to go to Paris, London..." "In San Francisco, they just had something called the Summer of Love." "Isn't that wonderful?" "Don't you want to have a summer of love?" "No!" "I mean, yes!" "Yes, of course." "Yes." "Are you alright?" "S-stomach." "I have to go." "Oh, sorry." "Of course." "It's the end of the day anyway." "OK." "Serves you right for being a degenerate." "Alright, don't get your tail in a twist." "What do we do with this?" "Hello, Miss Abby." "It's a lovely day, isn't it?" "Come here." "I found a snake this big." "If that came into my room," "I don't think I'd come back." " Here, I'll get that for you." " This looks nice." "What's he doing here?" " I invited him." " Why?" "Because I wanted to." "You know, I asked Bill what they did on the station besides work." "He said all they did was play ping-pong." "I get the boys movies every other month." "And there's fishing and swimming." "And Roebourne has other socialising amenities." "Well, as I've said, we've all gotten very good at playing ping-pong." "As will you." "I'm already an excellent player, thank you very much." "Is that a challenge?" "It is." " Thank you, Jimmy." " Stemple sings." "Really?" "What do you sing?" "Uh, rock'n'r0ll." "Bit of guitar too." "Well, you should sing us something." " Oh, later." " Well, don't be shy." "Yeah." "Please?" "Uh..." "OK." "Sounds a bit different with my guitar, but, um..." "Blue only howls when the kettle goes off and it hurts his ears." "And when Stemple sings." "Isn't that hilarious?" "Yeah, well, everyone's a critic." "Ever been to Paris?" " I have." " What's it like?" "They like cheese." "17-17." " How about San Francisco?" " Nah." " Don't you want to go?" " Why?" "It's...it's where it's happening." "It was 'happening' in Saigon too." "Whoo!" "You want me to grow my hair long and become a hippy." "19-17." " You'd like that, eh?" " Perhaps." "lay, ay, a)', ay, a)', a)', a)'" "I Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, 8y" "My, 8y, ay" " I" "Eugh!" "Gross!" "Yeah." "Exactly." "Why would you even care?" "She was so old." "Well..." "I had that all worked out." "I know there's an age problem, but it's just six years between me and Betty and six years between Betty and Stemple." "So the way I'm figuring, it's all sort of a wash." "I was engaged age 12." "Wow!" "How did that happen?" "Family arranged it." "Do you think it's stupid?" "All love's stupid, mate." "It's what love is." "Do you want to know a secret?" "Me and Big John, we're not brothers." "You're not?" "No, we're close." "In fact, we're so close that people think we're brothers, so we let them." "You understand what I'm saying?" "No." "She doesn't like me or think of me that way." "And I don't mean the pregnant way." "That's disgusting." "But she thinks of Stemple in that way." "The pregnant way." "What should I do?" "You're gonna have to fight him." "You got a weapon?" "No." "Do you have one I can borrow?" "Nope." "What about that stone?" "You know, Mukkine's stone." "You said that was a weapon." " I could get that..." " That magic is not for you." "Not for some little love-drunk wadjbala boy." "Hey, look at that!" "Blue's clearly a republican!" "This is how it looked in the old days, Michael." "When the camp was full." "People everywhere and hard work and sweat." "Good times." "Really good times." "Why don't you go and have a good time?" "Go on." "Mate, we need to talk." "What do you think you're doing?" "What do you think you're doing?" "I'm doing what I do, OK?" "What men do." "Shouldn't you be off playing with your Tonka toys and your painted wagons?" "Afraid of a little competition?" "This isn't competition, mate." "You know the age difference between me and Betty is the same age difference between Betty and you." "Jesus, you're as bloody crazy as your mum!" "Wh-what?" "Just because your mum's in a loony bin howling at the moon means that everybody treats you like a poor lost orphan." " Take it back!" " Just telling the truth, mate." "What do you think you're doing?" " Fight!" " I'm not gonna fight you." " Fight me!" " It's not happening, OK?" "Fight me." "I lay a hand on you, your dog's gonna bite me." "Stop staring at me!" "Blue, I'm gonna fight Stemple." "Stay clear." "I want you to do nothing." "You hear?" "But if I lose rip him apart." "This is stupid." "You're stupid." "Your dog's stupid." "The whole bloody station is stupid!" "Billy?" "Oh, there you are!" "You're missing all the..." "I knew it was wrong." "But I was angry and I didn't give a damn." "Come on!" "Oh!" "That night, it sounded like all the spirits of the Pilbara had been let loose." "And in the morning, when I woke up, there's!" "been a death at the station." "What happened?" "Hit by lightning." "Again." "It's a fact." "Lightning never strikes twice." "Well, she seems seriously uninformed of that fact." "A very unlucky horse." "One I paid $2,648 for." "Nothing you can do about unlucky, boss." "Ain't that right, Mick?" "I And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone" "I Then you'd better start swimming" "I can't do it, Blue." "What's with the dog?" "Oh. ..uh... toothache." "Uh, about the other day I didn't mean to impugn on your mother's sanity." "The crazy one was me." "Betty, she she really got me stirred up." "We had a big old row and..." "She wants me to be a hippy in Sydney." "Play music on the corner for coin." "But what I do is fly." "And I like this country." "It suits me." "With Betty leaving and all, there's no point for us mates to be spitting at each other all the time." "Eh?" "Wait...she's leaving?" "Why?" "Mate, there's nothing for her to do here employment-wise." "She teaches me." "Well, she can't much do that if you're not gonna be here." "Oh, Mick!" "I'll miss you!" "Men are dumb, mean blocks of wood." "Whatever you do, promise me you'll never become a man." "Grandpa." "Is it true?" "Sit down, Michael." "I received a letter from your mother." "She's in Melbourne now." "She wants you to come back." "You're going to be sent to Victoria Grammar School." "Will I live with my mother?" "Um...no, you'll board at the school." "But...she'll see you on weekends." "When would I leave?" "In a week." "Blue can live at the school with me." "No, that's...not allowed." "Is Mum's house near the school'?" "He'll stay with her." "Your mother's not in a house." "She's in a...facility." "She can visit you at school, but she's not allowed to keep a dog." "I can do my school here." "I'll do it really well." "I promise." "All boys your age leave the stations for education." "And your mother my daughter...she's trying." "She wants to eventually..." "make a home for you." "She...she wants what's best for you." "She has no idea what's best for me!" "She's crazy!" "Michael Carter!" "You'll do as you're told!" "We all have our responsibilities, and yours is to your mother, and you'll respect that and you'll respect her." "Blue can stay here." "I'll take good care of him and you'll see him when you visit." "He won't stay here without me." "Why do you say that?" "Because I wouldn't stay here without him." "This whole place can just go to hell." "Come on, Blue." "You got a plan?" " We do." " What be it?" "We're gonna push to the territories and become outlaws." "Maybe after a while, we'll find a ship." "We're gonna work our way to San Francisco." "That's in America." "Yeah, I know where it is." "You can come with us if you want." "Tempting, it is, but I'll be headed soon to Wattie Creek and Wave Hill." "My uncle is a Gurindji man." "We're gonna take back our land, we are." "I wish you luck." "Dear Betty, Thank you for the education." "I hope we meet again, perhaps across the seas in a summer of love." "Most sincerely yours, Mick and Blue." "Mr Hudson?" "Mr Hudson!" "I think Mick has run away!" "Come on!" "Oh-ho!" "Yeah!" "It's heading towards the homestead, Blue." "Mr Hudson, we're running out of water!" " Grandpa!" " Michael!" "Michael, you go with Taylor Pete." "Help him refill the drum." "Thought you would have been a fearsome outlaw by now." "How did it happen?" "I don't know." "Angry spirits, maybe?" "What do you reckon?" "How would I know?" "They ain't my spirits." "That fire's a marlunghu, it is." "Everything's a marlunghu to you." "Only when it's trying to kill me!" "I'll be back." "Where are you going?" "There's something I have to do." "This has brought me and everyone else nothing but trouble." "I was wrong to take it." "I hope, Mr Mukkine, sir you can accept my apology." "Bugger!" "You've never experienced true darkness." "There's always some light." "An exit sign or a light from a phone or a TV, or even the stars." "But blackness - true blackness - has a power all of its own." "It doesn't just swallow light." "It's like it swallows your soul." "How'd you get out?" "Blue." "He saved my life." "He pushed close and I held on to his tail, and he led me out." "Stemple, up here!" "Here, Jimmy!" "Here!" "Take this!" "Over here!" "We fought it up to the base of the ridge, the homestead on the other side." "Nothing we did could stop it." "And then" " I don't know - maybe the spirits changed their mind." "The wind turned and the fire pushed back on itself." "As suddenly as it had started..." ""it was over." "I'm sorry, Grandpa." "For running away and other things." "Don't know about the other things, but we all run away some time or other." "It's how we return that means something." "Shows who we are." "I'm a stubborn man." "On a hard land." "Never told your mother just how much she means to me." "But know this." "You may go away, but there'll always be a home here for you, with me." "Just know that, 'cause that's the truth." "I know." "OK, then'?" "OK." "I guess we'll..." "Write when you can." "Aren't you taking me to Port Hedland?" "No, Stemple is." "OK." "OK, then." "You're taking me to Port Hedland Airstrip?" "Yeah." "I've got to pick up some parts." "Rub hard." "Rub nice and deep." "Now it'll never come out." "It may disappear, but it'll always be there." "To remember." "Blue I'm going away now and it's gonna be a while before I can come back." "I need you to stay here." "I promise I'll come back as soon as I can, but please stay." "Stay for me." "Stay, Blue, stay!" "Please stay!" "He didn't stay, did he?" "No." "For a while, he hung around the station." "Then I heard he visited Miaree Pool." "The northern plateau." "And even hitchhiked rides into Roebourne and Port Hedland." "But his wandering went further and longer and then one day he didn't come back." "He was gone." "And Blue became Red." "Well, I don't know for sure, but I think so." "That town really cared for him, so I hope so." " And you, Dad'?" " Me?" "Well...you know what happened to me." "L..." "I finished school," "I finally made it to university in San Francisco and then one summer, I met and fell in love with this amazing girl from Sydney." "Your mum." "I came home, got married, started work and..." ""eventually, we were lucky enough to have two fantastic little boys." "You see?" "Not all stories end sadly, Theo." "Change isn't always bad." "The good memories we have, we get to keep." "I love you, Dad." "Love you too, Theo." "Hey." "Oh." "Hey." "How was your night?" " Mmm." " Mmm!" "I'm guessing it was good." "Listen, I was thinking - and please don't fight me on this I think we should get Theo a dog." "What do you say?" " Mmm." " Is that a yes?" "Yes." "X Doin' the best you can" "I As long as you lend a hand" "r Even if they say you're wrong"