SA - NAIDOC Movie and Discussion

Please join us for a viewing of The Drover’s Wife: The legend of Molly Johnson (2021)

This movie stars Leah Purcell, who also directed it, wrote the play based on a reimagining of Henry Lawson’s classic short story, and wrote the screen adaptation. Leah Purcell AM is an Aboriginal Australian (Goa–Gunggari–Wakka Wakka Murri ) stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist.

Purcell's version centres around Molly, who is left alone on their remote homestead while heavily pregnant and having to care for her four children while her husband is away droving cattle. She meets an Aboriginal man fleeing police, called Yadaka, and a personal drama evolves. She says that "The essence of the Henry Lawson short story and his underlining themes of racism, the frontier violence and gender violence are in her story". However, she has added stories from her own Indigenous family as well as incorporating her own extensive historical research, which included talking to Aboriginal elders and owners of property in the Snowy Mountains, where the story is set.

Movie length - 109 min. This will be followed by a 30 minute discussion on the film

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