โ Scribed by Leah Purcell
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Deep in the heart of Australia's high country, along an ancient, hidden track, lives Molly Johnson and her four surviving children, another on the way. Husband Joe is away months at a time droving livestock up north, leaving his family in the bush to fend for itself. Molly's children are her world, and life is hard and precarious with only their dog, Alligator, and a shotgun for protection โ but it can be harder when Joe's around.
At just twelve years of age Molly's eldest son Danny is the true man of the house, determined to see his mother and siblings safe โ from raging floodwaters, hunger and intruders, man and reptile. Danny is mature beyond his years, but there are some things no child should see. He knows more than most just what it takes to be a drover's wife.
One night under the moon's watch, Molly has a visitor of a different kind โ a black 'story keeper', Yadaka. He's on the run from authorities in the nearby town, and exchanges kindness for...
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES
Since Henry Lawson wrote his story 'The Drover's Wife' in 1892, Australian writers, painters, performers and photographers have created a wonderful tradition of drover's wife works, stories and images. The Russell Drysdale painting from 1945 extended the mythology and it, too, has become an Austra
WINNER OF: Best Drama and the Victorian Prize for Literature, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards (2017) Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting and Book of the Year, NSW Premier's Literary Awards (2017) Best New Australian Work, Sydney Theatre Awards (2016) Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright'
WINNER OF: Best Drama and the Victorian Prize for Literature, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards (2017) Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting and Book of the Year, NSW Premier's Literary Awards (2017) Best New Australian Work, Sydney Theatre Awards (2016) Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright'
"Henry Lawson's story of the Drover's Wife pits the stoic silhouette of a woman against the unforgiving Australian landscape, staring down a serpent -- it's our frontier myth captured in a few pages. In Leah's new play the old story gets a very fresh rewrite. Once again the Drover's Wife is confront
Tarantino meets Deadwood in this full-throttle drama of our colonial past, written by the indomitable Leah Purcell. Henry Lawson's story of the Drover's Wife pits the stoic silhouette of a woman against the unforgiving Australian landscape, staring down a serpent it's our frontier myth captured in a