Australian
Screen

Clip description

In a dramatised scenario, an injured stockman is given urgent medical attention in remote Australia. It begins with ‘Skipper’ Partridge and a property owner who are notified of the situation. This then cuts to a woman on a pedal radio contacting the Alice Springs wireless station to summon the flying doctor. The narrator explains that the doctor is unavailable, so one of the sisters at nearby Oodnadatta is called to assist. The sister is shown on a rail trolley with two men en route to the patient. These scenes are intercut with scenes of Skipper picking up the injured man in his ute and dropping him at the property. The clip ends with Skipper driving up to the sister at the railway line to take her back to the injured stockman.

Curator’s notes

The use of music in this clip is representative of how the film employs a recurring signature theme. As the tension builds, through editing which juxtaposes scenes of the AIM sister on a rail trolley with those of Skipper in his ute, the musical score also shifts between two different orchestrations. The signature theme – a pulsing melody which conjures a mood of movement and progress – accompanies Skipper’s ute, while a softer variation underscores the scenes showing the sister in transit.

This clip also illustrates the strong sense of community amongst the people of central Australia – a point emphasised by both this film and its successor, The Back of Beyond (1954). The community are connected through technology – by air, over pedal radio and wireless and by rail and road – but more importantly they are connected to each other. The goodwill, cooperation and communication between Skipper, the property owner, the Aboriginal stockman, the AIM sister, the radio communicators and others involved are normalised by Kingsford Smith and presented as one of the community’s strengths.