The Shiralee (1987 film)

For the 1957 film starring Peter Finch, see The Shiralee 1957 film

The plot revolves around an itinerant rural worker and fighter named Macauley sometimes described as a swagman or swaggie who unexpectedly finds himself taking responsibility for his child. The film contrasts the harshness of Australian masculinity with a parentchild relationship.On one of his infrequent visits to his wife Marge in Adelaide, itinerant bushman Jim Macauley Bryan Brown finds her living with another man, Donny. He beats Donny up, grabs his fiveyearold daughter Buster Rebecca Smart, and returns to the road. They walk from job to job in rural South Australia, camping beside riverbanks, until Buster becomes sick with fever. Desperate for help, Macauley takes her to a station where hes not welcome, run by a grazier named Parker. Macauley learns that years earlier, he made Parkers daughter Lily Noni Hazelhurst pregnant. She lost the baby and almost died. ........

Source: Wikipedia