AUSTRALIA CHARACTER REVIEW

AUSTRALIA CHARACTER REVIEW – 27th August 2009

The Character : DROVER

Hugh Jackman plays as an independent cattle drover, who is simply named Drover; one of the main characters in the film Australia. He makes his living steering thousands of heads of cattle across hundreds of miles of outback. This is also termed as droving cattle.

There is little doubt about Drover’s impressive physical appearance as Drover is handsome, has an incredulously massive physique and is very muscular. His character practically oozes macho-ness and he is often seen in tight almost-bursting-out-of-clothes outfits that compliments his physical stature. The character Drover is made significant in the movie when he meets Lady Sarah Ashley at the bar. Lady Sarah Ashley is introduced to Drover just as he ends his fight by whacking the daylights out of someone with one of her suitcases. This leaves Sarah with a bad first impression of him and things do not flow well between them at first.

Drover also exhibits bravery. He is brave as he dares to take up such a risky career such as droving. He is also seen to be brave when he scouts Faraway Downs alone as he sees smoke and dust everywhere upon their arrival. He orders Sarah to stay in the car while he searches the area with a gun that Magarri throw to him from above the truck. His bravery is also proven when he steps up immediately to the challenge of rescuing Nullah from the island. This is despite the fact that the island had just been bombed and the island was infiltrated with Japanese military soldiers who were known to be cruel and brutal people back then.

Drover is a loving person. He is seen to be very loving towards Lady Sarah Ashley in the movie as they get closer to each other. Their affections for each other develop a lot in the movie and Drover even shaves and suits up (he wears a pearl white tuxedo) to appear more refined just so that he can accompany Sarah at the ball. He is also a loving person as he exudes fatherly love towards Nullah. Nullah’s father, Fletcher does not acknowledge Nullah as his son and thus, Nullah does not a father figure in his life. Drover takes it as his responsibility to treat Nullah as his son and takes care of Nullah until he goes for a walkabout (an aboriginal ritual in which the person goes on a journey to learn and find himself when he comes of age) with his grandfather, King George.

Drover is a man of principles. He has no problems with race and despises the racial sentiments that were constantly being stirred up then. Tracing back the history of the country Australia, aborigines were disrespected back then and were given ill treatment due to their skin colour. He has many aboriginal friends despite the fact that aborigines were looked lowly upon at that period of time. He also sticks to his principles and stands up for Magarri, one of his aboriginal friends in a bar where the bartender refuses to serve blacks.

In conclusion, I conclude my review by saying that Drover is a fantastic character as he strikes a perfect balance of being good natured, heroic, brave, loving and owns a great physique. He is the perfect example of an ideal Australian man. Crikey!