Tracks

The story begins in Alice Springs, a town that lies in the literal and figurative ‘heart of Australia’. A central desert town with a population at the time of Davidson’s arrival of approximately 11,000 people, Alice, as it is affectionately known by locals, sits alongside the Todd River, a river which is usually a dry bed but prone to floods after heavy rain. The town (at the time of Davidson’s account) was strongly divided by racism and prejudice, with pioneers, hippie-style drifters, government workers and the local Indigenous population all calling the town, home.

Leaving Alice with her camels, Davidson heads toward Uluru, then known as Ayer’s Rock. A long-held popular tourist attraction, Uluru is a large monolith that rises from the red desert in striking contrast to its flat surrounds. Sacred to the local Pitjantjatjara Anangu people, the formation is home to an abundance of springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Now formally closed as a climb, Davidson describes a time when tourists would flock to climb the rock and fill the nearby camping areas with rubbish. Davidson stays nearby to Uluru, at the Olgas. Kata Tjuta, as the Olgas are known, are a series of protruding rocks that were once like Uluru but have been weathered into unique formations.

Heading west, Davidson’s camel train passes Docker River and heads down what is known as the Gunbarrel Highway. A simple track through the Gibson Desert, the highway passes through some of the most remote and harsh country Australia has to offer. Although its association with the cliché ‘as straight as a gun barrel’ gives the impression the highway is straight, it is actually only partially straight. Named after the construction company that used the road during the 1950s and 1960s, the road is difficult to follow by the time Davidson and her camels attempt the journey.

Davidson finds accommodation in remote Indigenous communities along her journey. Although the terrain is one of the most arid regions of Australia, residents of these communities regard them as rich in resources. With little outside contact, these communities are simple, comprising of a collection of dwellings, a central store, a medical centre and a school. Often their only contact with non-Indigenous Australians comes through the staffing of the store, school and medical centre. Some communities are so remote that it was as late as the 1980s when, owing to a drought, one such Indigenous community was forced east and made contact with non-Indigenous Australians for the first time.

Relying on several stops at pastoral stations, Davidson meets station owners who call the central desert region, home. About 40% of Western Australia is covered by these large ranches or stations. There is significant distance between these homesteads, with cattle and sheep routes such as the Canning Stock Route between them known and used by the locals. Davidson follows several of these to link the red centre to the coast.

Arriving in Western Australia’s Coral Coast, Davidson’s camel train finds relief from the exacting desert with sweeping beaches of aqua waters and coral reefs. The Indian Ocean coast south of Carnarvon is unpopulated and Davidson and her camels find refuge there, frolicking in the water and walking along the empty beaches.

Charlie’s Country

Arnhem Land is a vast area of land set in the middle of Australia’s northern coast. Its isolation has ensured that its natural landscape has remained relatively untouched compared to the rest of the nation and enabled its large Indigenous groups to maintain a traditional lifestyle. The countryside is full of natural beauty including waterfalls, coastline, rainforests and woodland. It also contains the Arafura swampland and river systems.

The action in the film begins in a small Indigenous community, one of many that are sprinkled across Arnhem Land. Each community is of course unique but Raminging, where Charlie’s Country was filmed, is typical of many. Raminging, also used by de Heer in Ten Canoes, is often inaccessible by road during the wet season but there is an all-weather airstrip. Representative of many communities, it has a community office, local store and medical facilities.

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory and the setting for the urban scenes in Charlie’s Country. A small city of about 150,000 people it is a gateway to southern Asia and has seen an influx of people seeking business and tourism opportunities. Significant numbers of Italians and Greeks settled there in the 1960s and 1970s,  followed shortly after by other Europeans, including Dutch and Germans. A large percentage of Darwin’s residents are more recent immigrants from South East Asia.

Darwin’s population is notable for the highest proportional population of Indigenous Australians of any Australian capital city. In the 2006 census, 10,259 (9.7 per cent) of Darwin’s population identified as Aboriginal. Many of these Indigenous Australians have been marginalised through societal systems and the attitudes of the general population, and camp near the city centre in a practice known as ‘longrassing’ or sleeping rough. Being the state capital, Darwin is the location of government offices, medical and legal facilities and as such is relied upon by Indigenous Australians living in the Top End.