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Clip description
Nullah (Brandon Walters) thinks 'coppers’ are coming to take him away. The car in the distance is actually bringing Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) to Faraway Downs. Nullah describes her as 'the strangest woman I ever seen’.
Curator’s notes
This stirring pre-titles sequence 'sets out the stall’ of Australia. The voice of the film is Nullah, a young boy who fears being taken away by police and placed in a mission home for half-caste children. Humour is signalled by the sight of English aristocrat Lady Ashley struggling through heat and dust dressed in full colonial finery. Nullah’s description of Australia having many names indicates political and cultural intent. This is about Australia as it is known and seen by Indigenous inhabitants and settlers from many other lands. The glorious aerial photography and sweeping crane shots show the grand scale of production. The music at the start of this clip incorporates a few notes from Waltzing Matilda, a beloved 19th century bush ballad written by Banjo Paterson in 1887 and widely regarded as Australia’s unofficial national anthem.
