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Clip description
This segment features thirteen-year-old Tom Thumbleton (David Morgan) narrating in voice-over his ‘exciting’ life on the homestead built by his great-grandfather. He helps his father on the farm, learns to ride a horse and has adventures with best friend Wombat (Rodney Pearlman). These include regular visits to an Aboriginal Reserve called Dreamtime Mountain. The clip also introduces mysterious strangers (Fred Parslow and Charles Haggith) who are obviously up to no good and hide in their car to watch Tom and his father (Telford Jackson) round up sheep.
Curator’s notes
Voice-over narration provides a very economical set-up to this first episode and to the series told from the point of view of the main protagonist, Tom. In a very short space of time the audience is introduced to Tom’s perspective of life on the farm, his relationship with his father and the history of the ‘fine old’ homestead he calls home. We also briefly meet Tom’s best friend Wombat (Rodney Pearlman). The appearance of the anonymous baddies who plan to ‘fix this without any trouble’, telegraphed by sinister music, builds a sense of mystery and impending drama – all is not as it would seem in paradise.
