AUSTRALIA : HUGH JACKMAN AS THE DROVER IS HOT!!

CHARACTER REVIEW ON THE DROVER PLAYED BY HUGH JACKMAN IN THE FILM AUSTRALIA

Being a drover means the person does not have to rely on others. He is the boss and he is the worker, no
one can hires him or fire him. This shows that the drover is an independent person. He is a freelance cowboy who makes his living steering thousands of head of cattle across hundreds of miles of outback. He is a horseman who prefers to live under the heat sun, a person who can manage himself to live in it. Seriously it’s hard to live in a desert like country with a low average of rain pour. So it’s hard to find water and to feed ourselves but the drover could stand the challenge even though his alone droving, he still can survive by himself.

Other than that, being a Drover also means that he is a brave man. He could face any challenges during the droving period. During the time where he and his groups were on their way droving Lady Sarah Ashley’s (Sarah) cattle to Darwin, he had to face several problems. First is when the cattle was caught by fire while the groups have their rest, the Drover tried his best to lead the cattle to a safer place. Second, is the part where he had to decide the fastest path to get water and to get to Darwin in time. The nearest water is a five-day ride, but Magarri remarks that across one of the deserts, a three-day ride, where there is water. Drover argues that there is no way they can drive across it, because there is not enough landmarks, so they will get lost and die. But he bravely agrees with the decision to take that path as King George willing to take them there. He also brave to confront the white people even he knows that he had been neglected by them. This is when Sarah invited him to the ball and told him that she had a special suit for him but he does not want to go. On that night after Sarah was dancing with King Carney, the crowd in the ball became silence and all eyes was staring at the entrance. It was the Drover! Sarah invited him for a dance, Foxtrot. They dance, as everyone is incredulous that she would dance with him since he associates with aborigines. There is another part where Nullah was almost been shot by Mr. Fletcher, the Drover risk his life to protect him.

The Drover was also a friendly person, especially to the aborigines. On their way to Faraway Dawns, he meets up with several of his friends. There was a man, running along side of his truck, saying hallo to him. Sarah was surprised because the man could catch up with the speed of the truck. On the next day, they met with an aboriginal girl, who wants the Drover to hang out with her but the Drover tells her that he is delivering a package. Sarah misunderstood his friendly manner as she was sure that the Drover is exploiting women down in Australia and they get into an argument.

The Drover is very well ordered with his work. When Lady Ashley fires Flitcher, he was very mad at her and said that he cannot drive her 1500 cattle by his own. He needs at least seven men to do that but now he has only three, himself, Magarri and other aborigine. He noticed that Nullahs mother and grandmother could ride the horses. Thus, he agreed to recruit them. Nullah volunteers and Sarah told him that she can ride a horse too. He explains that it is not an easy riding, but she insists. At the end, he manages to get the group for droving.

Everyone has a talent and so goes to the Drover has the talent to tame the horses. It seems that he is gifted, like what Lady Ashley said, “You really do have a gift with horses”. We could see it when he tries to tame Capriconia, Lady Ashley’s horse where she had given to the Drover as a gift of helping her sending the cattle to Darwin. Lady Ashley thinks that he could manage Faraway Downs but he was not interested.

The discrimination of the aborigines is widely shown in this movie. Unlike other white man, the Drover is different. He hates the way the whites treat the aborigines. He always hang out with his friend, Magarri, an aborigines even though he always being teas by the men at the bar. The Drover once married with an aborigine, which was also Magarri’s sister. Supposedly, a white man cannot marry an aborigine, it’s against the law. Since then, he is just like an outsider where he is not accepted in the white society neither in the Aboriginal society as he is a white man. Thus, he disagreed with the whites who discriminated the aborigines and there was one part where he said that, “Just because it is, doesn’t mean it should be”. It is the part in the bar where his friend, Magarri was not allowed to enter a white man’s bar, he cannot drink with them either.

The Drover is well known about the aborigine’s culture. He said that they cannot speak the dead person’s name when talking about them. It was when Nullah’s mother died because of drowning when she helps her son, Nullah hide in the water tank. During that time, one of the men from the car uses the faucet to cool down. This fills up the water tank. The same happened to Mr. Flynn when he was trampled by the cattle as his horse breaks a leg, sending him flying onto the ground. When they were helped by King George to get pass the dessert, the Drover explains that the aborigines have a song for every rock and landmark, allowing them to find a path. The Drover also understands that every aboriginal child will have to learn walkabout, where they had to learn travelling to become a man, a real man.