- You a man, Drover? - Yeah, I try to be.
Sometimes man got to get away from woman.
Maybe.
That's whyyou go droving. I go droving 'cause that's myjob.
Lfyou don't go droving, you not a man.
All right, boys. That'll do.
Bring 'em down to the back paddock, will you?
King George tell me I gotta go walkabout.
If I a man, I gotta go walkabout. Learn'em be a man.
Yeah.
Listen, it's up to Mrs. Boss what you do, all right?
[Sarah] Come on inside, boys. It's time for dinner.
I'm coming. Jedda, come on!
[Barks] Come on, Jedda.
[Nullah Narrating] One day, Captain Dutton came and visit us.
He tell Drover about the big army drove.
[Big Band] [Dutton] And we need the best stockmen possible.
It may take six months or so. [Drover] Overland.
[Sarah] Absolutely not. You just got back.
What's wrong?
I'm just not used to people making decisions for me. That's all.
I wasjust expressing an opinion.
Captain Dutton was telling me about this wonderful School ofthe Air.
It's conducted all across the country.
He wants to go walkabout with King George.
That's ridiculous. He's a little boy. It's not safe.
He'd be safer in Arnhem Land than he would be hanging around here.
I thought you said— You can't change him, Sarah.
I thought you said it had nothing to do with you.
It doesn't.
It'sjust sooner or later, you're gonna have to let that boy go.
I don't know what you're talking about.
If he doesn't go through ceremony, he'll have no country.
He'll have no story, no dreaming.
And he'll be all alone.
This big army drove...
Let's have dinner, shall we? I'm gonna take it.
[Squawking]
[Whinnying]
[Chanting]
Time to go walkabout, Mrs. Boss.
You belong here. No, Mrs. Boss.
[Chanting]
[Drover] Sarah, I gotta go.
Sarah!
[Sarah] Drover!
He's not down at the billabong!
- Then he's gone walkabout. - He wouldn't havejust left without saying good-bye.
Get the pack horse ready. We're going up to Punctuation Point.
Sing Song? Yes?
- Tin food. We're going after him. - You're not listening.
What? Sarah, he's gone on walkabout!
Oh, come on, Drover. He is a child.
Well, he's not our child! He's an Aboriginal child! He's gone walkabout!
Bandy! The next time you see him...
will be when he wants to see you.
He'll be halfway to Arnhem Land by now. You'll never find him.
You could find him. You know that land better than anyone.
You and Magarri can find him. And do what, huh?
Bring him back here and lock him up? You could start your own mission.
Oh! You'rejust trying to be clever because you don't want to be responsible.
He's not my son!
What did you say?
I better go. Don't leave! Drover, don't.
I understood when you said you had to be free.
I understood that, but that was between you and me.
But it's different now.
We've got Nullah.
- I gotta go. - I need you to stay.
- I'll be back in six months. - I need you to stay with me!
And ifyou can't do that, then l—
I would prefer it ifyou didn't return.
All right.
You're the boss.
[Whispers] Drover.
[Cattle Lowing]
[Nullah Narrating] I can feel them bad spirits coming,
so I chase after that King George.
But that Callahan, he been stopped drinking Mrs. Boss's tea.
- [Growls] - [Gunshot]
He lose his blind eye, and I not invisible anymore.
Jedda!
Fletcher, we've apprehended that young'un.
And in the course ofour duties, we arrested the suspected murderer of Lord Ashley.
King George.
[Shouting In Aboriginal Language]
No! [Shouts]
You finally lifted the game, Callahan. Good on you.
Things are looking up. [Film Narrator] The militarization of Darwin.
Their cattle yards are alive with military activity,
and the Carney Cattle office, once that proud icon of Darwin,
is now military headquarters.
At 6:15 a.m. Local time,
the United States Pacific Fleet was attacked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,
by the empire ofJapan.
The United States hasjoined the war.
As theJapanese horde pours southward,
the final evacuation of Darwin is under way.
[Bell Dings]
Get those boxes cleared on the double!
Come on. This way, boys.
Quickly. Quickly.
[Singing Quietly]
[Chanting]
Hey, creamy! Creamy!
Doesn't your mommy want you?
[Horn Honking]
- You filthy creamy! - [Callahan] Come on.
Come, my child. Come on! Come on, my child.
Creamy! Hey, creamy!
[Chant Echoes]
Excuse me. Nullah!
Lady Ashley. It's Lady Ashley.
Father Benedict, you deal with this. Nullah!
- Mrs. Boss! Mrs. Boss! - No! This is madness!
Mrs. Boss, don't let them take me away! I don't want to go!
Was she hugging a pickaninny?
People do the most extraordinary things.
Go on. I don't want to go! Mrs. Boss!
- It'll be all right. - These poor unfortunates will be safe in God's hands.
These are not unfortunates! These are children!
These are no different than the children you are taking south to protect!
- Don't let them take me away! No! - Nullah! Nullah!
She's humiliating herself. Please help me!
- We've got to help her. - Lady Ashley!
Help me! That's my child. I understand what you're saying.
Please! Nullah! You don't have an essential job. You must evacuate.
- Mrs. Boss, don't let them take me away. - The church has a plan for them.
To leave those children behind while we send ours to safety?
Control yourself, Catherine. How can you all be so heartless?
You be a brave boy for me. You be brave.
Neil, I want you to do something about this. I want you to help Lady Ashley.
Yeah, now, look, I could probably sort it out.
Show the ladies their cabins, and I'll see what I can do.
[Allsop] Come on, ladies. To the upper decks.
I will come find you, whatever happens.
Whatever it takes, we'll be together again. I promise.
I believe you, Mrs. Boss. Come along, child. Quickly. Quickly.
Mrs. Boss.
- [Whispering] I sing you to me. - You be brave.
Nullah. Come, boy. Come quickly.
Nullah! It'll be all right!
[Bell Dinging]
I will find you! I will!
Nullah! Nullah!
I sing you to me, Mrs. Boss!
And I will hearyou, my darling!
[Gasping Sobs]
There's a radio tower on Mission Island...
directly in the path ofthe oncomingJapanese.
Be the first place theJaps hit.
You're monstrous.
I'll have the original contract with the original offer drawn up and ready.
You can get yourselfa room at Ivan's, and I'll get you a job with Cath at H.Q.
I'll give you a call. You will do this, Lady Ashley.
After all, pride's not power.
Yeah, pride's not power.
[Father Benedict On Radio] Mission Island to H.Q.
Visibility good.
All clear. Over and out.
Ave Maria
[Nullah Narrating] I was on Mission Island lock-lock for two whole months.
Mrs. Boss promised she'd come for me,
so I play my magic song.
[Harmonica: "Over The Rainbow"]
But that Drover...
him been gone far, far away...
on that big army drove.
Him been gone so long, so far away,
maybe he not hear me. [Whistling: "Over The Rainbow"]
[Continues] Leave it off.
What? No whistling?
Just not that tune.
[Whistling Different Tune]
Not that one either.
No music?
You must be properly hurtin' for Mrs. Boss.
Shut your damper hole, will ya?
I can see why Mrs. Boss gave you the boot.
- You wanna know why she gave me the boot? - Yeah.
'Cause I wouldn't stop Nullah from going walkabout.
He went walkabout?
Yeah. I tried to explain to her what that means, but...
See him go? Nah.
So he's gone.
- Yeah. I told you. He went walkabout. - You don't know?
Eh?
That little fella, he could have walked into a big hole or got eaten by a croc.
- What ifthe cops have got him? - Don't you bloody start. He's an Aboriginal boy!
Wait. You'rejust hiding behind that blackfella business so you don't get hurt.
This isn't about walkabout, is it?
Is it? You're running.
- I'm not running, mate. - Yes, you are, brother.
You're scared ofgetting your heart hurt like before, when my sister died.
But knowing you, you probably never told Mrs. Boss that you loved her, eh?
[Thunder Rumbling]
You got no love in your heart,
you got nothing.
No dreaming, no story.
Nothing.
Hey. Big mob ofarmy fellas.
Must be diggers, eh?
They're not diggers, mate. They're Yanks.
What the bloody hell are they doing here?
[Gasps]
[Chattering]
Once you've signed the contract,
I'll get one ofthe brothers to take you out to the mission on the sloop.
You can be happily reunited with your little creamy.
No loss of pride, Lady Ashley.
[Presses Receiver Button]
Good morning, Ivan!
[Speaks Russian] [Chuckling]
You look happy. I am. I get my little boy today.
Oh, and, Ivan, we're leaving the territory tomorrow.
[Rooster Crowing] Good! I need the room.
I'll miss you too, Ivan!
[Plane Engines Humming]
[Phones Ringing]
Cath, sorry I'm late. Quick changeover, girls.
Did you speak to Neil? Yes.
I'm seeing him about Nullah after my shift.
- Look. I wasjust thinking— - What?
About Nullah.
What?
- [Children Screaming] - [Machine Gun Fire]
I'm getting a signal from Mission Island.
Large air formation bearing down. Suspect visibility.
[Pen Scratching On Paper]
[Plane Engine Humming]
- [Squawks] - Lfyou can't understand the ordnance,
how can you understand the order?
[Air Raid Siren Wailing]
[Phones Ringing] What's happening?
[Men's Voices Overlapping]
We're under attack! We're under attack!
[Women Screaming]
Hurry up!
Let them free!
[Screams]
[Gasping]
Drover! Hey! Drover! Magarri!
- [Shouting] - Goolaj, where's Mrs. Boss?
She at that army H.Q. — old Carney place!
Okay. [Shouts] Come on!
Drover, I'll see you at Faraway Downs!
You can't go in there, mate! [Whinnying]
- Drover! - Callahan?
Is she in there? Sarah Ashley.
- It's too late. - She's in there!
Hold it, mate!
Let me in there! Sarah! Sarah!
Let me in there!
I'll handle this. You get your man out of here right now!
She's a part ofdreaming now. Get out of my way!
Go on! Hit me! Get out of my...
Go on! Hit me! It's not gonna bring her back.
She's in there! Sarah!
Clear the corridor! Come on!
Nobody past this point unless they're at death's door or already through it.
You got a name?
Ashley. Sarah Ashley.
What did he say?
[Screams]
[Chanting]
[Sarah's Voice] But right now it's raining.
It's different now. We've got Nullah.
Here you are.
[Old Man] She deserves a drink like any man.
[Crowd Cheering]
[Drover] Too bloody right. [Sarah] Crikey!
[Drover Laughing]
Hey, no boongs in here.
You didn't say that, did you?
That's how it is.
Just because it is...
doesn't— doesn't mean it should be.
Serve him a fuckin' drink!
Ah, what does it matter?
I'm a total bloody ruin.
I'm evacuating south, like everybody else.
You're short one glass.
One... more... glass.
I leave this place for the looters and theJaps.
Why not the boongs?
[Piano]
[Ivan] I saw her this morning...
before she went to the work.
She was so happy.
She was gonna get that...
little boy and go south.
What about the children on Mission Island?
The creamies? They are left out there.
- They left them out there? - Safe in the hands ofGod.
They left them—
They say the island was hit first.
They say no one would have survived.
They say a lot ofthings.
There's been some mistake.
That's Cath Fletcher.
Oh, God. Cath. [Gasps]
Oh, God! Sort her out.
Sarah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oh, God!
Nullah. I've got to get to Nullah.
Sarah, theJaps hit the mission first. No!
- No! I don't believe you! I don't believe it! - Sarah, look at me.
No one can get out there.
No one.
I need help to get to the island.
HalftheJap navy's out there, you stupid bastard. I have the Lord on my side.
I don't give a damn who's on your side!
God works in mysterious ways, Brother. Go, go, go!
Magarri, secure the boat.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you, Bull.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[Dutton] Sarah, we leave at first light.
Ivan.
Check the second dormitory. Okay.
Nullah.
Oh.
[Leaves Crunching]
Come on. It's all right.
- Shh. - Where are the other... Are there other boys?
- I don't know. - Are there any other boys?
- I don't know. - Okay.
Drover?
- Nullah. - Drover!
Drover!
I knewyou'd come. I sing you to me.
Oh.
- Magarri! - Hey, little fella.
Mrs. Boss come too?
Where's Mrs. Boss?
We, uh—
We can't say her name anymore, little mate.
All right?
Hey. Nowyou listen to me. I need your help.
I'm gonna get these fellas offthe island.
You're gonna have to be strong. Can you do that?
Mm-hmm. Good boy.
All right. Go and get your little mates down there.
Come over here. Let's go. Come with me. It's okay.
- Come on. - We're gonna get you all offthis island, all right?
All right. Boys, we're gonna have to swim.
We have to be quiet, like a turtle. Okay?
Now, I'm gonna take you home on a ship. It's over there. You see it?
[Man Shouting In Japanese]
Let's go, boys! Let's go!
Quick, quick, quick!
Ivan.
Ivan. Swim the big boys down to the sloop. Right.
Use the current and drift it down to the end ofthe wharf. Go.
[Ivan] Come on, boys. Quick.
Run! Run!
Quick, quick!
Let's go.
[Gunshot]
[Man SpeaksJapanese] Ah, crikey.
[Japanese]
[Gunshot]
Hey. [Aboriginal Language]
- I take this mob walkabout. - You'll never make it.
Well, you gotta make it!
You got family now.
You gotta drove this mob home, Drover.
Good luck, brother.
Go, go. That's it. Good boy.
[Japanese]
[Gunshot]
[Japanese]
[Shouts In Japanese]
Magarri.
Up the ladder, boys. Quick. Hurry now.
Come on.
[Shouting In Japanese]
[Screams]
[Japanese]
[Aboriginal Language]
Drove 'em home, Drover.
[Gunshot]
Sergeant, get the men on the trucks.
We're evacuating within 15 minutes.
We rendezvous with the main convoy at 0800 hours at Adelaide.
Start the truck, Sergeant Lapin.
Lfanyone is lagging, use whatever force is necessary.
Every single man, Lapin. And don't take no for an answer.
- You won't have to wait for us, Captain. - Move! Come on! Move!
[Callahan] Thanks for coming down, Mr. Fletcher.
It's my awful duty to inform you...
that yourwife, Catherine...
My wife is dead?
It's a funny old world, isn't it?
Generous to a fault.
Did you know that Lady Ashley insisted...
that my wife work her shift...
so that she could see some... half-caste kid on the mission?
Now my wife's dead.
Now I've lost everything.
We have to go, Sarah.
Come on! Come on, boys!
They'll be flying in here and blowing us up any minute!
Get on the bloody trucks!
[Dutton] Sarah, please. We have to go now.
[Nullah Narrating] My magic not good.
All the smoke.
But then he speak to me. [Singing Quietly]
Grandfather. [Chanting]
[King George Chanting, Echoes]
[Aboriginal Language]
[Two Notes]
Come on, love. Don't muck about.
["Over The Rainbow"]
Can you hear that?
Music. Can you hear it?
Come on, boys.
[Continues]
Sing.
[Children Singing Hymn]
Sarah, please. Can't you hear it?
[Singing Continues]
It's children singing.
[Singing Grows Louder]
[Chanting]
- Sarah! What's going on? - Just give her another minute.
[Singing Harmonizes With Harmonica]
[Gasps]
Mrs. Boss! Mrs. Boss!
Mrs. Boss!
Mrs. Boss! Mrs. Boss!
Nullah!
Mrs. Boss! Ah!
I can sayyour name! Oh!
Mrs. Boss. I sing you to me like the first night I see you.
ThemJaps nearly got us. We had to swim'em.
Some ofthem little fellas from the desert can't swim'em.
But the Drover take 'em on his back like a turtle.
What did you say? What?
Drover.
You're alive! Oh, God!
[Horn Honking]
Sarah, what's going on? I can't hold the sergeant any longer!
[Excited Chattering] Come on, boys!
Oh, my God. It's the children from the mission.
- The last convoy leaves Darwin in a matter of minutes. - Come on!
In the truck! Come on, boys!
To the truck. Follow Brother Frank. Truck's waiting. Let's go.
Follow Brother Frank. Follow Brother Frank.
That's it. That's it. Come on, boys. Come on, boys.
- Let's go. - Come on, boys.
[Dutton] Quick as you can to the end ofthe wharf, and then straight on the truck.
Sarah. [Gasps] Ivan!
Thankyou!
Thankyou.
I shall prepare your bill.
[Children Chattering]
Where'd you come from?
The good Lord has delivered us, but we could do with a ride, Sergeant.
I'm notJesus Christ, but I'll give it my best shot.
Come on, kids. Come on. On the trucks.
I want a third in the front, a third at the back.
Come on. Leg 'em up. They're little fellas. Come on.
Bring those little fellas up to the front.
You cursed me, you little creamy.
Oh. Oh.
When I said that no one could get out there,
I'd forgotten about you, Drover.
That no matter. We gonna go back Faraway Downs.
Yes, he's right. With the water up, it's the safest place in the north.
These are, after all—
Extraordinary circumstances.
Thank you, Emmett.
I'll see you mob in Faraway Downs.
[Children Laughing]
Here, fellas, make some room for the kids, will ya?
Can you help me, please? In you go.
Right-o! That's it. They're all on.
Let's get out of here. Come on. Let's go.
All right, kids, hold on.
Mr. Fletcher!
Mr. Fletcher.
Neil.
We gotta go.
Go and tell Callahan there's looters everywhere.
Go and tell Callahan!
I've got the keys to the car upstairs. Right-o.
Come on, Mrs. Boss. Hurry up.
Nullah!
I got gulapa magic. No one can hurt me.
- [Sarah] Nullah! No! - No!
- [Screams] - [Panting]
No! No! [Gasping]
[Weak Gasp]
[Screams]
Nullah!
Nullah, you all right, little man? Nullah, please. Come on. Please.
Come on.
There. That's it.
No bullet. Me gulapa.
[Laughing]
[Nullah Narrating] King George teach me...
the rain will fall, the grass grow green...
and life, it begin again.
Let's go home.
There's no place like it.
[Nullah Narrating] One thing I know.
Why we tell story is the most important ofall.
That's howyou keep them people belong you...
always.
Oh.
Mrs. Boss, I sing you to me.
Here.
- [Grunts] - [Chuckles]
[Aboriginal Language]
And I will hearyou.
[Animals Calling, Faint]
[Acoustic Guitar]
[Man Vocalizing]
[Woman Vocalizing]
Sing and I will hearyou
No matter where you are
A song to light the darkest night
And guide me from afar
And I will never
Be afraid
Now I knowyou're somewhere
You're everywhere to me
The warming ofthe sun
Upon the earth beneath my feet
And when the rain falls down
You tell the story
And I will hearyou
Always nearyou
By the Boab tree
[Man] From the sunburnt plains offar-off north Australia
Came a fella born to ride the wide, brown land
Oh, he grew up running wild
But soon by all was styled
As the country's greatest ever-drovin' man
Though his legend rode the winds from Broome to Darwin
They loved and loathed him right from end to end
For when the Drover gave his heart
To a girl whose skin was dark
From that day on he was no white man's friend
So goes the Drover's story
You will hear it near and far
And in the end it's all he'll ever own
It says the outcast is a free man
If he sleeps under the stars
Makes the blanket ofthe southern skies his home
But the Drover is a man ofconstant shadows
Haunted by his pain his past and name
For every mile he rides
What he cannot hide
Is the longing in his heart
To love again
So goes the Drover's story
You'll hear it near and far
And in the end it's all he'll ever own
It says the outcast is a free man
If he sleeps under the stars
Makes the blanket ofthe southern skies his home
And makes the blanket ofthe southern skies his home
His home
[Woman Vocalizing]