Share
clip 2Clip description
Dumby’s sister Clarence (Lisa Flanagan) and Gary Black (Nathan Phillips) share a marijuana cigarette under the pier. She is called away as their lips meet for the first time. Their courtship is watched by Gary’s team-mate Pickles (Tom Budge), who swigs from his own bottle. In the pub, the publican Big Mac (Mas Fairchild) and Bob Black (Simon Westaway) are so drunk they drench themselves in beer from the tap.
Curator’s notes
The film shows us a lot of shared, secret stories, going back through the generations. There’s a sense that the races have co-mingled, but that history is then denied by the whites. Blacky’s affection for Clarence is also shown as secret: they court each other under the piers of the jetty, away from where they can be seen (at least they think they can’t be seen).
In a sense, that secret taboo has existed also in Australian cinema: there are few scenes of affection between the races in our movies, even now. That made Australian Rules somewhat groundbreaking, despite the controversies surrounding its making. The scene is beautifully played by Lisa Flanagan and Nathan Phillips. There’s also a strong contrast between the effects of intoxicants here – the mellow amorousness of marijuana, versus the completely out-of-control drinking of the publican and Blacky’s father.
