Individualism

It is not simply that Charlie’s Country and Tracks primarily follow one person that makes their stories about individualism. The staunch resolve of the protagonists to forge an individual path is also remarkable. Charlie lives alone by choice on the fringe of the community, his home in the community filled with family. Likewise, Davidson is pleased when a place at Basso Farm opens up and celebrates being alone there. The two also head into the wild to be alone with nature.

Further to actually being alone, the characters are individuals. Davidson is adamant she will throw off any stereotypes or expectations placed on her by society. She does not enjoy any intrusion on her plan. This includes others planning for her or pressuring her to take equipment such as the radio. She refuses to be pressured by circumstances or people. When Kurt repeatedly loses control of his temper, Davidson walks away maintaining her pride rather than submitting to Kurt’s abuse in return for the payment of camels. When Charlie is confronted by change in his community and seemingly unjust decisions, he takes a stand by returning to traditional ways or fighting the police. The ability to resist conforming to expectations or the norm is true for both individuals.

Despite their individualist traits, both Charlie and Davidson rely on others more than they would like to admit. Davidson feels shackled to Rick due to their agreement with National Geographic and is apprehensive about upcoming contact with him along the trip. She is also dependent on several station owners for advice and provisions as well as Eddie, vets and fellow camel handlers. Charlie is surrounded by community. He feels that he can go out on his own and fight the system but the events that transpire show he needs the support of community. Black Pete is a loyal friend who finds him when he is at his low points, sick in the bush, drinking in Darwin and in prison. Old Lulu, the respected elder, likewise never gives up on Charlie. He finds a way to engage him in the old traditions by encouraging him to teach dance.

Nature

Nature is ever-present in both texts and plays a role of its own, interacting with the characters. Nature is seen as an essential force that mankind needs to connect with. The characters that are in harmony with nature seem more happy within themselves than those who are at odds with it. Mr Eddie from Tracks flows with the rhythm of nature. He has detached himself from the constraints of society and is a mentor to Davidson. He teaches her to observe nature above man-made conventions. This helps her slow down and not feel rushed or anxious. Charlie likewise feels euphoric when he returns to nature and integrates with it in the traditional way. He dances and talks and seeks his ancestral roots. Davidson feels the euphoric and restorative power of connecting with nature as she sheds her clothes and dances in the dust with her animals.

Nature can in turn be formidable. A wild, bull camel strikes fear in those who are confronted by them in Tracks. Snakes permeate the rooms of the Basso Farm and keep the inhabitants on edge. A harsh desert terrain can seem impenetrable to Davidson and her camels. In the sub-tropical Arnhem Land the weather itself can be an obstacle. The rain catches Charlie unguarded and he is made unwell as the cold plays havoc with his lungs. Crocodiles are present in the Arafura Swamp and Charlie has to warn Gaz to beware of them. Despite the enormous power of nature, it can be subdued to some extent. Camels can be trained and hobbled by Davidson. Buffalo can be hunted by Black Pete and Charlie.

Those who have not found a place in nature are represented as if there is something missing. They are often aggressive or depressed. This is typified by the police who confiscate the buffalo from Charlie and Black Pete in Charlie’s Country and will let it rot in order to uphold a law rather than it being used as food for a community that desperately needs nourishing food. The Indigenous people who are longrassing in Darwin have missed a part of the traditional life that connected them to nature. They are lost, substituting a natural way of life for alcohol. In Tracks, Kurt is an example of someone who has not tuned into nature and his aggressive temperament is shared with people and animals as he berates Davidson, beats the camels and kills the crows. The tourists likewise have missed the ideology of Uluru as a natural and spiritual haven and treat it like an object to be conquered.

Freedom

The desire to break free is a commonly explored thread in Charlie’s Country and Tracks. Charlie has the ultimate restriction of freedom as he is incarcerated after an altercation with the police in Darwin. De Heer deliberately moves through the jail scenes in a repetitive and melancholy fashion to highlight the restrictions placed upon Charlie. Shearing Charlie’s hair and showing him in a darkly lit room far from his country emphasises the impositions thrust upon him. Davidson is detained by events or people but never truly rendered powerless by law. She has the freedom to move around, relocating from Brisbane without connection to country. When in trouble she moves from house to farm and spends time with Jennifer and Toly in Utopia. Her only restrictions appear conceptual.

As a woman, she constantly highlights the struggle to beat male stereotyping and misogyny. Although she admits the attention she receives is largely because of her gender, she is continually reminded that her gender leaves her vulnerable in many ways. She notices that the sexism is more heightened in town and that the pub in which she works is a hot bed of misogyny. She elaborates on this to explain the historical origins. As she moves into communities, she comments that the Indigenous women are more empowered than their town sisters. Finally she sees that the desert offers her freedom from gender, letting her menstrual blood flow without concern and shedding her clothes.

Charlie’s desire for emancipation is from a different system. Charlie is determined to break free from the imposed western worldview. He recognises that the intrusion and constriction of European society is in the everyday. De Heer has chosen to showcase systemic prejudice rather than overt racism and Charlie wishes to escape that system. A system that fills his store with junk food, confiscates his spears and watches him suspiciously is overwhelming for Charlie.

Indigeneity

It is impossible to tell the two stories without the stories themselves reflecting the multifaceted nature of relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The key difference is that the main protagonists are on either side of that distinction. De Heer is renowned for his films having a clear social message and in Charlie’s Country that message is about the wide-reaching and long-lasting effects of colonisation and the recent extension of white Australian rule in the form of the intervention. Criticised for not having clearly defined racist characters, de Heer has a more sophisticated and contemporary view on the divide. He highlights small, pervasive intrusions and imbalances in power.

The introduction of new European influences are seen to have corrupted the Indigenous way of life. Junk food is one example along with marijuana, tobacco and alcohol. The effects on the members of the community is evident. Charlie’s lungs are damaged from smoking. Albert’s kidneys are malfunctioning from junk food and Faith is lost in alcohol addiction.

The other invasions come from a system that is contrary to Indigenous Australians’ way of life. Local police confiscate food and weapons from community members. The court system, with a white magistrate speaking in English and an ill-fitting suit wearing Charlie responding in language underscores the broken biased system.

While Davidson is aware of Indigenous issues and discusses land rights and sacred sites she is not personally involved with the problems herself. She has access to employment and housing. When required, she can access money and move back and forth from Brisbane. It is this position that she finally understands when she admits she could never enter their reality, would always be a whitefella tourist on the outside looking in. This is not to say that her attitude is poor, she does not share the overtly racist views that she encounters from some of the locals in Alice Springs. Apart from Gladdy who shares her optimistic views on the Indigenous population, many see them as lazy and uncivilised.

Of key concern to both texts is land rights. Tracks was set in the 1970s and land rights was a prominent struggle at the time. Davidson’s visit to Uluru is an example of a traditional landscape that had been overtaken by tourists. She is saddened by the foray of camera-wearing rock climbers. In some ways she is selective in her understanding of white Australians and colonisation when she is reliant on pastoralists for provision and shelter. Pastoralists were instrumental in expelling Indigenous people from their lands. She refers to them as the hardworking Australians and never questions how they obtained the land she travels through. Davidson is keen to find a connection with Eddie and enjoy it while it lasts. However she is an accomplice when Rick oversteps the mark and takes photos of the elder.

Charlie’s understanding of land rights is fundamental to who he is as a person. He is often reminding government workers such as Errol the community officer and the local police that they are on his land, his country. For First Australians, their home country encompasses a symbiotic relationship between an individual and their ancestral lands and seas. This reciprocal relationship between the land and people is sustained by the environment and cultural knowledge. The land is their mother and they are of the land, they do not own the land rather they co-exist with the land as part of it, expressed in their food, culture, spirit and identity. To be dislocated from land causes a painful disconnection. Charlie ponders with Albert how sad it is when someone is sick and they are taken from their homeland. Even more poignant is the knowledge that all white Australians are standing on Indigenous land.

Identity

The issue of identity is explored through the central characters in these texts. Davidson is aware that a large part of her identity is that she is a woman. A notion that she is trying to dispel. The struggle for Davidson is that she has traded part of her identity when she agreed to release her story through National Geographic. She calls the camera a liar as it only captures contrived moments often dictated by Rick. She is upset by the identity created as the ‘camel lady’ as it is a loaded term that encompasses her gender rather than her as a person.

Charlie has his identity manipulated by those around him. He was once a proud young man who danced for the Queen and had been a hunter. Fondly remembering those days, Charlie is often seen looking at a photograph of his proud moment. However, Charlie’s identity is now controlled by others. He is deemed a recreational hunter by the local police officer Luke when he applies for a gun license, a distinction that upsets Charlie. His identity is manipulated in court, forced to wear a suit, and again in prison as his trade-mark locks are removed. When purchasing alcohol from the store in Darwin the store owner looks at his identification issued by the government. ‘That’s me’ concedes Charlie in a symbolic statement that reflects he has become what the white man expected, drinking and longrassing.