outback information

I always thought of McLeod’s Daughters viewing as ‘essential research’. However when it was announced that the series might be discontinued due to the high cost of production, I realised how much I’d miss it. In fact I’d really hate to see it go because for me it has been enjoyable watching.

To my knowledge there has never been a rural-based drama like McLeod’s Daughters. It is unique. Writer Posie Graeme-Evans has been quoted as saying she originally pitched the idea to television executives as ‘a feminist Bonanza, with gags’. For those too young to remember — Bonanza was a classic, very blokey American western television drama series that ran for an impressive 14 years, 1959–1973, featuring well known actors such as Lorne Greene and Michael Landon. So Posie’s reference to Bonanza probably had as much to do with the age of the people she was pitching the idea to (there’s a very good chance these blokes were once small boys on the loungeroom floor in front of a black and white tv, imagining themselves galloping horses across Bonanza’s Ponderosa Ranch) as with explaining exactly what she envisaged.

Any beady-eyed rural resident will tell you of occasional glitches in McLeod’s Daughters but the research is thorough and there are many very typical characters on the show. In fact one was so like a relation of mine, it was very disappointing when she left the series. And the vet Dave Brewer was a classic — we’ve known blokes who have trotted out cheeky lines like his. In fact all the characters would have parts of people that the average Australian knows — and likes.

Very topical rural issues have been written in to the show — for example the unmanageable costs associated with maintaining historic homesteads, the difficulties involved in organic farming and the struggle to retain ownership of long-held family farms after divorce. (There are plenty of people around who if they had to make a choice, would actually choose to keep the land rather than the more recently acquired spouse. The love of the land runs so deep it is a fundamental part of a person’s character that can’t be reasoned with.)

The McLeod’s Daughters office is very typical — the late model computer sitting on an old wooden desk, surrounded by walls hung with ancient photographs of prize bulls or long-dead race winners. Rural houses, furniture and land sometimes make farmers look misleadingly affluent however the reality is that the assets of most farmers and graziers have been steadily built up over many generations of very tight business management. Often luxuries such as holidays have been scarce or even non-existent. Recycling has always been a way of life in the bush, as has very careful spending. Traditionally most farmers have bought quality and expected it to last many years, so a lot of what they own — including clothing — is many years old.

Only the mentally tough survive the inevitable difficult periods caused by droughts, floods, insect plagues, diseases, bushfires, high loan interest rates and low commodity prices. There is a well-known saying in the bush ‘shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations’. Meaning that the first generation slaves and saves and builds a farm up, the second generation looks after and consolidates what the parents created, and the third generation, without their forbear’s self-discipline, squanders it.

Because there is such a gap between city and country it is an almost impossible task to produce writing that will do an ideal job of satisfying both. Most rural people would like to see a bit more meat on the bones of the issues raised in McLeods Daughters. They’d also like to see more work being done and worry that McLeod’s Daughters gives the misleading impression that rural people spend a lot more time socialising than they could ever manage in real life. But too much reality does not of course make good television entertainment, and there’s no point to it if people don’t watch. So it is a tricky balancing act.

I recommend that rural residents and decision makers make time to watch McLeod’s Daughters and consider it seriously because right now it is the only source of rural information on television, apart from the ABC’s Landline programme and occasional doom and gloom stories skimmed over on news bulletins. (News bulletins raise more questions than they ever answer, and unfortunately usually portray farmers as a bunch of whingers, as there is no time or inclination to adequately explain issues.) It makes good sense to understand information sources, if only to nip false impressions in the bud. Australia is the most urbanised country in the world and is becoming more so, with one in four Australian citizens today, born overseas. Most migrants settle in the largest cities, not in regional areas, and they have no way of obtaining a first hand understanding of the bush, its historical importance nor its continued significance. It is the attitudes of voters in urban regions that will increasingly determine policies that govern the lives of people living in remote areas.

When the supermarkets are always full it is all too easy to forget our lives are utterly dependent on food produced in regional areas, and our current lifestyles are also dependent on agricultural and mining export income. Apart from McLeod’s Daughters and Landline, where else does the general public easily obtain basic rural information? Most simply aren’t able to gain personal or hands-on experience. People who are completely unfamiliar with the bush are much better off for having watched McLeods Daughter’s and Landline.

In recent years many station managers and employment agency staff have told me that they attribute increasing numbers of female applications for station jobs to McLeod’s Daughters. Some of these applicants can’t cope with the difference between their romantic vision and reality, but others take to rural life like a duck to water. Anyone whose natural character is to be independent, resourceful, hard working and practical is likely to get great satisfaction out of living and working in the bush. It is not easy to make the leap and begin a career in totally unfamiliar territory so I am pleased that McLeod’s Daughters has encouraged people to do so. Anything that is helping to bridge the increasing divide between urban and rural cultures, and helping people find their niche in life, should be applauded and supported.

Of course there are substantial differences between McLeod’s Daughters and everyday reality. The average Australian farmer is around retirement age and just as in any other avenue of employment they spend large slabs of time working on solitary jobs that wouldn’t make riveting television viewing, such as ploughing through acres of essential paperwork. Much as I love the life, everyday reality wouldn’t be great entertainment on the night-time box. Beanies and gumboots are de rigueur for many in winter and there’s usually not a horse to be found for miles. Instead mustering is done by motorbike or ute, with sheep or cattle dogs saving labour costs. Horses are only used for mustering if it’s the owner’s specific preference (eg they campdraft or enter rodeo events on weekends) or in very hilly or rough country.

However large cattle stations in northern Australia still run mobs of dozens of horses and are dependent on them to muster stock. During the dry season it’s horserider heaven because it is usual to spend 6-10 hours or more in the saddle each day. This means you get to know your horses better than is possible in any other field, though mustering is interspersed with long days spent working in the yards and on other jobs (from fencing to vehicle maintenance). At present there is a dire shortage of people who have any horseriding experience.

I would like to encourage anyone considering taking up work in regional Australia to give it a go. The book ‘A Million Acre Masterpiece’ has more than 200 photographs illustrating the typical life and work on Australia’s largest cattle stations, spread across northern Australia. The book also contains a substantial glossary of words and expressions not commonly used in other parts of Australia. And just as a McLeod’s Daughters episode doesn’t feature much of the dry stuff, such as essential business paperwork, my book doesn’t either. The majority of photographs show people riding stockhorses and working cattle, in a variety of spectacular outback landscapes.

At a time when Australia is sinking under the weight of films, television programmes and advertisements imported from the U.S., to the great detriment of our culture and national identity, it is great to see at least one programme has had a lot of time, money and effort invested in producing what is a very good quality, very Australian drama series. Channel Nine should be given credit for producing McLeod’s Daughters and applying such attention to detail, eg still filming on location rather than in a studio, and the South Australian Government should be commended for supporting a television programme that ultimately has far reaching benefits for all Australians. The SA government has a good record of supporting ventures that benefit the bush, and the country as a whole. For example the SA Government’s 2002 Year of the Outback promotion was second-to-none.

Constructive comments on McLeod’s Daughters can be sent to the writer of the series, Posie Graeme-Evans.

If McLeod’s Daughters disappears we’ll no doubt have yet another cheaply produced irrelevant import in its place, and we’ll all be the poorer for it. So remember it is a drama, it is uniquely Australian, and enjoy watching it. And kick up a fuss if it looks like being discontinued.