The Drover’s Wife

The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson is a 2021 Australian revisionist Western / Australian Western drama film written and directed by Leah Purcell, who also stars in the eponymous role. It also stars Rob Collins, Sam Reid and Jessica De Gouw. The film premiered at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival on 18 March 2021 and opened across Australia on 5 May 2022. Plot The film opens with a scene in which Molly Johnson, heavily pregnant, shoots a stray bull which has wandered near her home, after ensuring that her four children are safe. Shortly afterwards the new sergeant of the district, Sergeant Klintoff, turns up with his sickly wife, Louisa, asking if they could share some of the meat that they smelt cooking, as they had lost all of their provisions when crossing the river. She gives them food in exchange for their taking her children to the settlement for safekeeping while her new baby is born. Cast Leah Purcell as Molly Johnson, the drover's wife Rob Collins as Yadaka Sam Reid as Sergeant Klintoff Jessica De Gouw as Louisa Klintoff, the sergeant's wife Malachi Dower-Roberts as Danny Johnson, Molly's eldest son Origin The plot is a reworking of Henry Lawson's 1892 short story The Drover's Wife, but deviates significantly from the original story as developed in Purcell's earlier award-winning play and novel of the same name. It tells the story of a woman living with her children in an isolated location in the High Country in the colony of New South Wales near the border of the colony of Victoria.