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BBC Four Collections,

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specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive.

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For this collection, Sir David Attenborough

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has chosen documentaries from the start of his career.

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More programmes on this theme

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and other BBC Four Collections are available on BBC iPlayer.

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DIDGERIDOO PLAYS

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PERCUSSIVE STICKS

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ABORIGINAL SINGING

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If you like the wide open spaces,

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if you want to get away from it all, well, this is the place to be -

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in the middle of the Northern Territory of Australia.

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This highway here - the bitumen, as they call it -

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links Alice Springs in the centre of Australia 600 miles that way

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with Darwin on the north coast, which is 400 miles that way.

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And in the entire 1,000 miles of highway,

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which is longer than the length of the entire British Isles,

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there are perhaps three or four settlements

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that can compare in size with a large English village.

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In-between, a few hamlets

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consisting of no more than a petrol pump, a store and a place to sleep.

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That's lonely enough, but if you REALLY want to be lonely

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then turn off the bitumen, down a road like this.

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Down here, you travel for 250 miles and you see nothing.

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No settlement, no store, no house, no human being,

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not even a source of fresh water.

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If you break down, you don't go and walk for help

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because there's nowhere to walk to and you would die of thirst.

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No, you just settle down beside your car and prepare for a long wait

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until a car may come by, perhaps a week,

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and you prepare too to drink the water of your radiator.

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We set off down this road a fortnight ago

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and we took with us an extra five gallons of oil,

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20 gallons of petrol, 25 gallons of water and food for a week.

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The road is flat and straight.

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You can drive for 20 miles

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without having to move the wheel more than a few inches.

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The worst hazard is dust.

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A fine talc-like powder lies over the road in drifts so deep

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that it conceals boulders and potholes big enough to break an axle.

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It swirls behind you and filters into the car, covering everything.

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It sticks in your hair and clogs your eyes and your mouth.

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It was unpleasant, but not as unpleasant as the thought

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that if the car broke down and we couldn't repair it,

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we would be marooned in this wilderness for days

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and maybe weeks until a passing car could take a message for help.

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After 250 miles of emptiness, this was the first building we saw.

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This is Borroloola Hotel.

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HARSH BIRD CALL

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Once, there was enough room here for 20 guests.

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Perhaps the accommodation, even at its best, was never very comfortable.

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But at least they would have got shade from the sun

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and shelter from the dust storms.

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A horseman reaching Borroloola might have travelled for days

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with little to moisten his mouth but tepid water from a water hole

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green with scum.

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Here, he could've got a decent drink.

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Here, once, he would have found company

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after days without seeing another human face.

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Now the only sound is the wind creaking in the corrugated iron roof.

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A wind that has already blown down much of the place.

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From the look of it, another gale will be sufficient

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to demolish the whole rickety construction.

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50 years ago, Borroloola was quite a large settlement.

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A base from which prospectors and cattlemen

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set off into the largely unexplored Northern Territory.

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It stood on the banks of the McArthur River,

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up which sailed ships laden with stores

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having made the thousand-mile voyage round the coast from Darwin.

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Pioneering cattlemen bringing up herds

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to establish new stations in the territory came through Borroloola

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because there was good fresh water by the river.

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Here, the drovers stopped and drank the hotel dry.

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If there was a white flag flying above the pub

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then all the drinks were free,

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for it meant that one of Borroloola's citizens had become a father.

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At the turn of the century, Borroloola had two hotels,

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five stores and a permanent population of over 50 Europeans.

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Even more remarkable, there was a library here of nearly 3,000 books.

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The government sent up surveyors to lay out squares and terraces,

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and divide the desert into building plots.

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Borroloola seemed certain to grow into a big and prosperous town.

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But somehow, for some reason, it never happened.

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Out in the desert, boreholes were drilled for water

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and it was no longer essential

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for the cattle to come by way of Borroloola.

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New roads were driven through the parched bush

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and traffic up the river dwindled.

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The ox wagons, waiting at Borroloola to take the ships' cargoes

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and haul them out to the cattle stations, waited in vain.

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One by one, they rotted

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until nothing remained of them but the iron hoops of their wheels.

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In the 1920s and '30s,

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a few cars came roaring and rattling across the desert,

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driven by enterprising prospectors.

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Some managed to return to civilisation,

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but others coughed their way as far as Borroloola

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and then stopped for good.

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There was no-one here to tackle a major repair.

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Already, business at the hotel had shrivelled to almost nothing.

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White ants chewed their way through the entire library.

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Only one volume survives.

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The Imitation Of Christ by Thomas Akempis.

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Its title page is still easily legible.

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But, inside, the termites have eaten most of the holy man's words.

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Although gold had been found close by, the claim petered out

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and the machinery, brought in with enormous labour to sort the ore,

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was abandoned to rust.

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Up in the hot hills, the last of the full-time prospectors

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sitting alone, shot himself.

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Life ebbed away from Borroloola. But it never entirely left it.

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For some, the town was more attractive as a dead shell

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than it would have been had it grown and flourished.

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The last keeper of the hotel never left it.

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He's an Irishman and his name is Jack Mulholland.

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Jack, what brought you first to Borroloola?

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I heard it was a good place, nice country.

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Plenty of water holes and springs and ducks and geese... Nice climate.

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And did you settle down in the place then?

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No, no. I stopped one night here, joined the library up here

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and put in about three or four months' reading.

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Did you? What did you read?

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All those books in the lib... Not them all, but quite a few of them.

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- What sort of thing? - Oh, well,

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it had almost a complete set of WW Jacobs, and I like Jacobs.

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- Oh, yeah? - And I read all those.

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What else?

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And also various other books. I've forgotten them now.

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I remember reading one medical book.

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- Did you? - After I'd read the medical book,

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I reckoned I suffered with every disease known to man.

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HE LAUGHS

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I liked the place while I was here.

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Then I had this offer to manage this public house here, which I did.

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I took it up and came over this way.

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Was that a full-time job?

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Well, yes. You had to be here all the time.

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- Yeah. I mean, was it a busy job? - Definitely no, no. No.

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You got plenty of time to sleep, plenty of time to read,

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plenty of time to eat.

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How many guests do you reckon you would get at any one time?

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At one time, oh, never more than one, and I don't think there'd be more

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than about four or five all the time I've been here while it was a hotel.

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What? Do you mean at any one time?

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Or four or five guests at all?

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- At all. - What, total?

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- Total. - No wonder it closed.

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Jack, what do you reckon keeps a man in this country?

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It must be a pretty lonely sort of life.

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Oh, no. That all depends.

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I've never been lonely in my life.

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There's always been so much in life,

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I could never honestly say I was lonely.

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I've lived for years on my own in the desert,

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haven't seen anyone for months, but I've never been lonely.

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The trees are company and the birds and all the rest of it.

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You've made a lot of sacrifices to live here.

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Which one would you like to take back, as it were?

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Well, I can't honestly think of any sacrifice that I regret...making.

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Hmm.

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No, I honestly can't think...

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You must miss... You must miss people?

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Oh, no, no. I don't miss people.

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Oh, no.

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Or the company of drinking companions or beautiful women?

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No, I don't miss beautiful women.

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Women never made much impression on me.

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- No? - No.

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What's wrong with them?

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Oh, I consider they're very deceitful, they're liars

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and they're totally without principle whatsoever.

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But they're lovely to look at.

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I admire them and I like looking at them.

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It sounds as though you might have come out here

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for the classical reason

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of an unhappy encounter with a beautiful woman, Jack.

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Oh, no. No. Definitely no.

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You just never had any use for them?

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Oh, I wouldn't say I wouldn't have any use for them.

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Oh, no. I like them...very much.

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But, er, as far as...

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as, er, devoting my life to any particular woman,

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no, definitely no.

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Jack, how do you fill your days?

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Well, most of the time I'm in the bush.

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Got an old truck there,

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I make periodic visits out into the scrub, prospecting and...

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Prospecting? What are you looking for?

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Well, I'm supposed to be looking for copper or gold, silver and lead,

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something like that, but I'm looking for contentment mostly.

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- For contentment? - Yeah.

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Of course, the prospector wouldn't admit that.

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But most of them are doing just that very thing, looking for contentment.

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- Do they find it? - I think they do.

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- Do you find it? - I find it, yes.

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I'm still the same as I was when I was 25,

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I like to see what's over the next hill.

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Yeah. And that's a reward for life in itself?

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- I consider it is, yes. - Yes.

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Have you ever found any diamonds or gold or...?

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Oh, yes. I've found a little bit.

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I've found a little bit of opal, a little bit of gold.

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I've found copper.

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Have you ever exploited it?

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No. I've sent samples away, parcels away, but never did any good.

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Which is typical of most prospectors.

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DAVID LAUGHS

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Well, isn't that pretty disappointing?

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Oh, no. No, it would break a man's heart if he DID discover anything.

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What would there be to live for? Nothing.

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- Truly? - Well, there's nothing in life.

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If you've a lot of money, what good's money to you?

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Well, it can make life comfortable, easy.

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Yes, well, what are you going to do, drink it?

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Give it away to women, something like that?

216
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Buy a few motorcars? A yacht or two? Something like that?

217
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No. I can see nothing in that.

218
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You must have a need for SOME money?

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- What do you do? - Yes, you have to.

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This life makes it necessary to have a few pound.

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Well, I, er, get it where I can.

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Scalping dogs and crocodile hides and...

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DAVID LAUGHS

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But...that way you get enough pounds to sort of buy, what, flour?

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Flour and tobacco is the main things.

226
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Flour, tea, sugar, tobacco - that's the main things.

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Ammunition, of course.

228
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You don't work over-hard at it?

229
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Oh, you work... I work MORE the way I'm living now, I work harder

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than the present day fella in this country works

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to get his £25 and £30 a week.

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You spend a fair amount of time

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sitting and thinking, don't you, Jack?

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Oh, I do a lot of thinking at times,

235
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but when you've got to walk 20 miles a day prospecting, that's work.

236
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Would you describe yourself as a happy, contented man?

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I should say so.

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- The gods have been very good to me. - Yeah.

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I consider myself a remarkable fella.

240
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Why remarkable?

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Well, I'm reasonably happy and contented.

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Yeah?

243
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Well, there are not many people

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who can sit down and say that they're happy and contented.

245
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Oh, yes, well, of course, there's a screw loose somewhere.

246
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- Yeah. - Definitely a screw loose.

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'Jack's old truck is a 1928 model.

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'When we first saw it,

249
00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:36,480
'there was a large nest of white ants in the middle of the engine,

250
00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:39,000
'but Jack assured us that it was only a moment's work

251
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,360
'to get it into running order.

252
00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,840
'It had no electric starter, nor even a crank handle,

253
00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,480
'but Jack had his own method of starting it.

254
00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,920
'The rear axle has been jacked up and the engine is in gear.

255
00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,800
'To have suggested to Jack that it might not go

256
00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:00,400
'would have been extremely tactless and have offended him deeply.

257
00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:02,200
'But I must admit I had my doubts.'

258
00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:04,640
- Nearly. - Nearly, but not quite.

259
00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:13,040
ENGINE SPLUTTERS

260
00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,600
ENGINE ROARS

261
00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:42,200
Jack rather prides himself on making his own roads.

262
00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:44,800
And when the engine is going sweetly,

263
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:46,720
he never misses an opportunity

264
00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:50,200
of knocking down a few trees to improve one of his tracks.

265
00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:07,960
CLUNKING

266
00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,960
People in the territory say that Jack and his like are mad.

267
00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,960
They call them hatters or no-hopers.

268
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,520
But he's not the only one in Borroloola.

269
00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,880
Two others live around the decaying remains of the town.

270
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,400
One of them has built himself a cabin

271
00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,000
some five miles away from Jack's hotel

272
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,000
by the side of a small lagoon.

273
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,360
He's known as the Mad Fiddler.

274
00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,520
VIOLIN MUSIC

275
00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:46,280
He sits for weeks on end without leaving his tiny cabin,

276
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,640
playing his violin. He refuses to be photographed.

277
00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:53,360
He's even been known to threaten unexpected visitors with a shotgun.

278
00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,400
Every few months, he drives out to a store in an ancient car

279
00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:00,040
to collect flour and tea and tobacco.

280
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,360
But his visits are as short and as infrequent as he can make them.

281
00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:06,520
VIOLIN MUSIC CONTINUES

282
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:17,640
There's a story in the territory

283
00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:21,360
that he is the titled son of an English aristocratic family.

284
00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:22,840
40 years ago, he told us,

285
00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:26,400
he had been an actor in the theatres of the north of England.

286
00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:29,240
And when I asked him why he had left, he replied,

287
00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:31,880
"I got out of England for England's good."

288
00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:36,200
Now he seeks no company except the birds that haunt his lagoon.

289
00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,360
VIOLIN MUSIC CONTINUES

290
00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:45,640
"A man's riches," he said to us, "are the fewness of his wants.

291
00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,320
"I find all I want in the country around me."

292
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:51,480
VIOLIN MUSIC CONTINUES

293
00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:03,960
The last of the hermits of Borroloola is its oldest inhabitant, Roger Jose.

294
00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:05,800
No-one knows how old he is,

295
00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,880
and Roger himself has been claiming that he's 68

296
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,120
for at least the last five years.

297
00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:19,640
With him lives Biddy, his wife,

298
00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,280
who catches fish for him in the river and cooks his meals.

299
00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,240
Every morning, he fetches water and chops wood

300
00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:37,040
so that he can have a fire to keep himself warm during the cold nights.

301
00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:40,440
His hat was made for him to his own design by Biddy

302
00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:44,400
out of the leaves of the pandanus trees that grow nearby.

303
00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,520
His house is extremely odd -

304
00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:54,040
a circular construction of corrugated iron with no windows

305
00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:58,240
and only a small opening cut in its side to serve as a door.

306
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,920
It must be suffocatingly hot during the heat of the day,

307
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,720
but then Roger spends most of his time outside,

308
00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:08,160
sitting down by the wall of his extraordinary house, thinking.

309
00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:15,560
Roger, this is a rather curious house. What exactly is it?

310
00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,440
It's a tank, a conservation of rainwater.

311
00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:21,400
How many gallons did it hold?

312
00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:23,600
5,000, I think.

313
00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:26,000
Where was this tank originally?

314
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,760
Up there. You can see the base of it now.

315
00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,920
- What, by the hotel? - Yeah. Under that mango tree.

316
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:33,560
What made you shift it?

317
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:35,960
Well, it was crippled. It got badly crippled.

318
00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:40,600
And it was no longer any use. You can see where it's been patched.

319
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,480
You can see patches stuck onto it in all sorts of cruel manner.

320
00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:45,160
I don't...

321
00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:49,240
And I thought it would make a good dwelling.

322
00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:53,960
So, I got it off and brought it down here.

323
00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:56,560
When did you first come to Borroloola?

324
00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:02,120
About... A little later than this, about this time in the storm time.

325
00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:05,640
- But which year? - 1916.

326
00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:07,520
A long time ago.

327
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,600
46 years, I think.

328
00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,080
You're a man who likes solitude, I imagine.

329
00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:15,240
Oh, indeed I do.

330
00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,920
I don't know whether it's vanity, I'm very fond of my own company.

331
00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,240
- I never feel lonely. - Never?

332
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,520
No. Well, hardly, to be honest.

333
00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:29,040
I've mostly always had a mate, a female, like a...

334
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,960
And prior to that, I lived in civilisation.

335
00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:34,080
I got married about 30.

336
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:38,640
Well, I hadn't developed this superiority complex, you know.

337
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:40,280
I found out

338
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,920
I couldn't get any better company than my own by then, you know!

339
00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:46,600
And I'd already learned enough off my fellows, savvy?

340
00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:48,160
Oh, goodness, yes.

341
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,320
So, you came out for the wilderness?

342
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:55,120
In a sense, but I'm at bay in a sense.

343
00:20:55,120 --> 00:20:59,520
I'm here. This is as far as I can travel!

344
00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,120
A lot of people, I suppose, would find this loneliness unendurable,

345
00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:04,800
Roger, for a long period of time.

346
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,840
True enough! Oh, that's obvious.

347
00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:12,600
- Oh. It would overpower some men. - It would overpower them.

348
00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:16,280
It is overpowering, but I doubt it would ever overpower me.

349
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:21,240
But like I said, I'm not an example of complete loneliness, see?

350
00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:26,440
Old Biddy, although she's primitive and all that, she's company, yes.

351
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,720
And the sort I like - she won't argue the point with me!

352
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:33,240
And moreover is not a bit interested in what I've got to say!

353
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:34,880
THEY CHUCKLE

354
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,120
Are you seeking loneliness?

355
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:42,160
No, not loneliness. I want you to understand, I'm not a bit lonely.

356
00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:44,960
- You're not? - No. Oh, goodness, no.

357
00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:47,960
If you said isolation, well, that would be slightly different.

358
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:51,080
Yeah, I could say yes, I am fond of isolation.

359
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:53,960
But I couldn't really talk of loneliness

360
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,160
because I don't know what it is.

361
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,640
But I gather that, for some men, it's overpowering, yes.

362
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,520
Talk to a stump or anything. Well, I suppose I would, in a way.

363
00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,240
- In fact... - Do you talk...?

364
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,440
Do you talk to the birds?

365
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:11,120
Oh, yes, and talk to myself too.

366
00:22:11,120 --> 00:22:13,120
- Do you? - Yes. Quite often.

367
00:22:13,120 --> 00:22:15,720
You get the best answers that way?

368
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,480
Yes, it improves my mental state too, talking to an intelligent man! Yes.

369
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,080
DAVID CHUCKLES Oh, yes.

370
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:24,560
There was a library here at Borroloola, wasn't there?

371
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,960
What sort of things did you read?

372
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:32,680
Oh, nearly anything. I'd read the labels on jam tins. Yes, really.

373
00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,120
- I'm a good reader once I start. - Yeah.

374
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,400
But it's rather an odd place to have a library at Borroloola, isn't it?

375
00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:39,680
Beg yours?

376
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:43,040
Borroloola's not the first place you'd think of as having a library.

377
00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:45,520
- Indeed no. - Was it a big library?

378
00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,520
Like I told you the other day, there was at least 2,900 books in it.

379
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:50,600
There may have been more.

380
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:54,880
I got a job rearranging them once and I distinctly remember 2,900.

381
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,360
Who are your favourite authors, Roger?

382
00:22:57,360 --> 00:22:59,240
First and foremost, I would put Gray.

383
00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:01,560
Thomas Gray?

384
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:03,600
- Was that his name? - What? Gray's Elegy, you mean?

385
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:08,080
Yes, well, that'll just tell you how much I know. What was his name?

386
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:15,600
I mean Gray, the author of Gray's Elegy, or the Lincolnshire poet.

387
00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:18,680
- I forget when he died... - And who else?

388
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,320
Oh, well, I would put him first and foremost.

389
00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:26,400
You must understand I can only read English, like. Yes, that's all.

390
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,120
But I don't want to read anything else, in a way.

391
00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:31,200
I would like to read

392
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,240
anything that was better than Gray's Elegy, I would.

393
00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:38,360
And...and...and Shakespeare, of course.

394
00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:40,960
You sound particularly fond of poetry.

395
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:42,160
- Me? - Yeah.

396
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:43,400
Oh, indeed I am.

397
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,000
Have you written much yourself?

398
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,360
Oh, a good bit, but you know what I mean...

399
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:54,000
Strange to say poetry was never in favour, was it?

400
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:55,440
People bought it,

401
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:58,160
but I don't think any poets ever made a fortune out of it.

402
00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:00,520
Can you recite any of your own poetry?

403
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:05,400
Come to think of it, yes. One is not unconventionally long. Mm-hm.

404
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,960
Strange to say it's got no title! THEY CHUCKLE

405
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,200
But, er, would you like to hear it?

406
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:14,600
- I would. - Wouldn't bore you?

407
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,240
- No. - Well, I'll tell you about it.

408
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:21,160
You can get a bit of a sideline on how I came to write such weird poem.

409
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,480
There was one of the old-timers about here called Gaunt, Charlie Gaunt.

410
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,440
And he was well up in the... must have been towards 70.

411
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:32,240
He got a bug to write about the early days.

412
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:35,560
Raiding the blacks, you know, and shooting them up.

413
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:38,960
Well...

414
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,800
I wrote once... I remember writing something.

415
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:48,320
Here doddering in senile decay My memory harks blithely away

416
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:52,560
To pink dawns when I'd creep on blacks fast asleep

417
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,240
And knock 'em hell-west in all of a heap

418
00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,920
A bravo just hired to slay

419
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,560
That their weapons could scarcely compare

420
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:07,960
Didn't cause me much care

421
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:13,920
Nor the fact that they slept while sheer murder crept

422
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,280
By red embers guided And no sentinel kept them apprised

423
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:22,080
Of the sinister shapes lurking there

424
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:27,160
And any who are prone to declare This one-sided fight wasn't fair

425
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:31,760
Should have seen the bold bids made by women and kids

426
00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:35,680
Whom we slew for the benefit of opulent yids

427
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:37,560
Reclining in far Belgrave Square.

428
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,880
That'd be a joke if I haven't got that wrong.

429
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,400
- Is that a residential area? Posh? - Yes, that's all right.

430
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,480
Belgrave Square is a residential area.

431
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,080
I couldn't afford to stop, you know.

432
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,520
Reclining in fair Belgrave Square...

433
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:52,400
Mm-hm. Don't know where I am now.

434
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:56,400
Roger, it would seem that living out here,

435
00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,320
your life really couldn't be more simple.

436
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,840
What do you live on, for example? What do you eat?

437
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:07,600
Well, I live on the simplest kinds of food perforce.

438
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:12,040
I would fain eat a bit more of the master's oxen, but I can't get 'em!

439
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:17,440
I live mainly on tinned beef, damper - oh, not so bad.

440
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,080
Damper is flour and water?

441
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,880
Yeah, and baking powder. Might as well be without the baking powder.

442
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:27,800
And I could go out and slay a marsupial or one of master's...

443
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,440
Slay a marsupial? You mean, knock off a roo?

444
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,160
Beg yours? Knock off a roo?

445
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,600
Yes, that's to put it in your best Australian...

446
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,040
HE MUTTERS

447
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,680
Would you regard yourself as a philosophic man?

448
00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:41,480
Oh, yes.

449
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:46,800
Like, er... I would interpret it this way for my convenience.

450
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:50,920
I surely love wisdom and learning, goodness me, above all things.

451
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,040
What do you regard as the greatest reward

452
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,840
that comes from living this rather harsh life?

453
00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,760
Harsh and lonely out here in Borroloola?

454
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,560
People wouldn't understand.

455
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,200
I think one of the great advantages about living here...

456
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,120
I've been accused of thinking too much, like,

457
00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:12,720
if you could think too much.

458
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:14,720
What is a man frightened of?

459
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,960
Did he uncover things in his thought or what? But, um,

460
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,200
a keen sense of values of what really matters.

461
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:23,000
And what does matter?

462
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:24,840
Peace.

463
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:28,040
And... Yeah, peace, I suppose.

464
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:29,680
And, er...

465
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:34,080
And you mightn't believe this, might think I'm piling it on,

466
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,800
but I'm a very religious man, you know.

467
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:39,360
And...

468
00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:42,160
You say, "Do I feel lonely?"

469
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:46,240
Why should I feel lonely with God

470
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:51,760
and men that ought to be immortal - Bill and Gray and old Omar, eh?

471
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,280
Why should I feel lonely?!

472
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,840
VIOLIN MUSIC

473
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,200
ORCHESTRA JOINS IN

474
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:02,600
MUSIC CRESCENDOS

475
00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:27,320
MUSIC DIMINUENDOS