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The Drover's Wife by Leah Purcell

Leah Purcell is a well known Goa-Gungurri -Wakka Wakks Murri actor and writer from Murgon in rural Queensland. She is a multi-award-winning and self-made author, playwright, actor, director, filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and showrunner. In the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours Purcell was 1889179 appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to the performing arts, to First Nations youth and culture, and to women".

The Drover's Wife explores issues of race, gender, violence and inheritance. It is set in Australia’s high country which is along an ancient, hidden track. Here, Molly Johnson and her children reside. Her husband Joe is away droving sometimes six months at a time, leaving his family in the harsh bush to fend for itself. Molly has her children, their family dog, Alligator, and a shotgun for protection. Molly’s eldest son Danny is the true man of the house, determined to see his mother and siblings safe – from raging floodwaters, hunger and intruders. Danny is mature, but he knows more than most just what it takes to be a drover’s wife.

One night, Molly receives a visitor – a black ‘story keeper’, by the name of Yadaka. He is on the run from authorities and Molly offers him kindness and shelter. Both know that justice in Australia caught between two worlds can be as brutal as its landscape. But in their short time together Yadaka shows Molly a secret truth, and the strength to imagine a different path. 1889178