August 2, 2009
The Shiralee
In Australia the word ‘shiralee’ is an Aboriginal expression for a burden, and that justly describes itinerant laborer Mac Macauley’s feelings for his nine-year-old daughter Buster at the start of this miniseries filmed in 1987, starring Bryan Brown (The Thorn Birds, 1983, Australia, 2008). The three-hour-saga, set in the 1940s and filmed on location in the gorgeous bush country, delightfully captures the spirit of the times and the travails of the proud and stubborn Mac and his kindhearted child as they face hard times and struggle to survive as a family.
