The Shiralee

In Australian slang, "shiralee" means "burden." It also describes how itinerant laborer "Mac" Macauley (Bryan Brown, Gorillas in the Mist, Cocktail) thinks of his nine-year-old daughter, Buster (Rebecca Smart, Blackrock). Proud and stubborn, Mac ekes out a living-sometimes with his fists-on the dusty roads of the 1940s and '50s outback, with Buster in tow. Together they befriend a number of colorful characters, and Lily (Noni Hazlehurst, Little Fish), a lovely rancher as maddeningly willful as Mac. At times grudgingly, Mac and Buster forge a father-daughter bond that hunger and hardship cannot break.

Director: George Ogilvie
Producer: Bruce Moir
Producer: Denis O'Dell
Producer: Irving Allen
Actor: Lorna Lesley
Actor: Lorna Leslie
Actor: Noni Hazelhurst
Actor: Norman Kaye
Actor: Bryan Brown
Actor: Rebecca Smart
Actor: Noni Hazlehurst
Actor: Lewis Fitz-Gerald