Australian
Screen

Clip description

John ‘Dingo’ Anderson (Colin Friels) has become the laughing stock of the town, for believing a fake telegram that said Billy Cross wanted to record one of his songs. John accuses his wife Jane (Helen Buday) of not believing in his talent. She tells him to grow up. Out in the desert, he finds that a very ‘well-educated’ dingo that he has been unable to catch has sprung another trap. John plays his trumpet, to ease his blues. The dingo appears, followed by a vision of Billy Cross and his band, from 20 years earlier.

Curator’s notes

John’s connection to the dingoes isn’t overly elaborated in the finished film, but it’s a significant theme – part of an underlying sense that there is a kind of spiritual connection for him between his musical creativity, the wilderness in which he works and the soulful, independent nature of the dogs. Anderson has been trying to kill this dingo for some time. It walks on three legs because it has been trapped before – that makes it harder to fool, and more dangerous to sheep, because it can’t run fast enough for quicker prey. John has developed his trumpet sound by listening to the dingoes at night. This scene is like a Biblical epiphany in the desert – the moment when John realises he shouldn’t be killing dogs, but playing trumpet. It’s a little clumsy, with the superimposition of the band, but still very haunting, largely because of the solo trumpet (played by session musician Chuck Finley, who created the John Anderson sound), and the quiet solitude of the bush setting. The dog’s name is Diz – named after Dizzy Gillespie, another famous jazz trumpeter.