The Sundowners

In the Australian Outback, the Carmody family--Paddy, Ida and their teenage son Sean--are sheep drovers...
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The Sundowners



In the Australian Outback, the Carmody family--Paddy, Ida and their teenage son Sean--are sheep drovers, always on the move. Ida and Sean want to settle down and buy a farm. Paddy wants to keep moving. A sheep-shearing contest, the birth of a child, drinking, gambling and a race horse will all have a part in the final decision. Written by Jeanne Armintrout <jeannee@uwyo.edu>





The Carmodys - husband and wife Paddy and Ida, and their young teen-aged son Sean - are a migra! nt family in 1920's Australia. Paddy works primarily as a sheep drover. Paddy loves their lifestyle, figuring that they are not dependent on the fortunes of one piece of land or on the strict daily timetable and routine of farm life. However, Ida and Sean both dream of having their own farm so that they can have a more stable and permanent home life. Ida also does not like the feeling that people they meet feel sorry for them. But on their latest six-week job droving sheep from Bulinga to Cawndilla, Ida at least gets Paddy to agree to think about settling down. Paddy's agreement is more to get her off the topic than a real want to do it. Rather than leave Cawndilla immediately for Queensland as was Paddy's original plan, Ida manages to get them all jobs - Paddy as a sheep shearer, Ida as the farmhand cook, Sean as a tar boy and their new older British companion Rupe Venneker as a wool roller - at Halstead farm, despite Paddy doing whatever he could not to make it happen. Al! though he had no ties to the place before arriving, Rupe has h! is own r easons now for wanting to stay in Cawndilla. The longer Paddy, Ida and Sean stay in Cawndilla, the more evident their differences become. Ida and Sean know that by the end of the season they will have enough money for a down payment for the farm they have their eye on in Bulinga. But Paddy hates his job the longer he does it, and if he makes up his mind to leave, he will do so with or without the rest of his family. A race horse named the Sundowner may factor into the Carmody's ultimate decision. Written by Huggo

Genres: Drama Adventure

Release year: 1960