By ERWIN CHLANDA
In the opening sequence we’re told by the central character, played by Anna Torv: “Everything up here is trying to kill you.”
Not long after we see an already injured man getting mauled to death by a pack of feral dogs.
Subsequently, there is a funeral for him at which, incredibly, business haggling is going on with the dead man’s family, an uninvited competitor turns up, drunk, and a brawl breaks out.
That’s the start of the Netflix series Territory into which the NT Government has sunk $1.3m of taxpayers’ money and on the back of which our tourism promoters want to boost the industry, currently running at half its normal speed.
“The opening scene of Territory, depicting the wildness and unforgiving beauty of the NT outback, is likely to intrigue rather than deter potential visitors,” explains the government in a statement yesterday, after a request for comment from the Alice Springs News.
“It reinforces the NT as a place of raw adventure and natural wonder. This is exactly what draws adventure tourists who want a unique destination filled with dramatic landscapes and untamed nature.”
The elite of the Territory’s cattle raising community is being portrayed as semi-articulate, swearing, brawling, drinking rednecks, hating each other. Does the industry propose to put visitors in touch with people like that?
“The show’s portrayal of the NT pastoral community is an independent, creative choice made by the filmmakers,” says the statement.
“The NT Government had no input or influence on the script or character depictions, as all film content is entirely the filmmakers’ responsibility. What audiences see is fictionalised for dramatic impact.”
Neither the government nor Tourism Central Australia will say whether they consulted with the NT Cattlemen’s Association before putting public money into the production.
The News has invited the association to comment.
“Territory joins a proud legacy of NT filmed productions like Jedda, Crocodile Dundee, Top End Wedding, and The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, to name a few,” says the statement.
“These films have long inspired global audiences to visit the NT, and now with Netflix’s reach, Territory provides an extraordinary platform to showcase our landscapes and culture worldwide, inviting more people than ever to explore the NT.”
The production resulted “in a direct, audited spend of $6,885,521 into the NT economy over the 10 week filming period,” says the statement.
“This supported local jobs, services, and businesses, demonstrating how such projects can deliver economic benefits while highlighting NT’s unique landscapes.”
The government is not commenting on the fact that the locations are entirely in the Top End – none are in The Centre.
Travel Weekly comments: “For those captivated by the visuals, the show also serves as an inadvertent tourism ad.
“Locations like Bullo River Station, Bamurru Plains and Finniss River Lodge, which feature heavily in the series, offer luxury outback experiences that may tempt many viewers to visit.
“Territory is more than a TV show. It’s an invitation to experience the Northern Territory’s raw beauty firsthand.”
The series is available worldwide on Netflix to over 238 million paid members in over 190 countries. It will be interesting to examine whether it attracts visitors, or keeps them away.
PHOTO at top is not part of the showreel.
Whoever is responsible for allocating NT taxpayer dollars into this garbage should be dismisssed immediately.
It is yet another attempt to YANKIFY Australia with every minor issue resolvable only by gunfire. It’s not just the boss with a revolver on his hip, but every employee on “the world’s largest cattle station” has access to high powered rifles and is happy to use them.
In the real Australia they’d have to face court proceedings; they certainly would not be allowed so many – if any – firearms licences. And the writers of this farce have SFA knowledge of the cattle game.
If there is nothing to fight about, let’s muster the top paddock! Great idea!! 200 ringers jump into their 4WDs, their choppers, motor bikes, quaddies a couple even hop onto horses; a small mob of cattle are yarded, but nothing else happens.
Let’s all go to the Saloon Bar for fisticuffs. The final, inevitable “Shoot out at the OK Corral” resolves all. So let’s start writing the sequel. What nonsense!
Well said Ted. Having painfully watched the fiasco in America over the last week the policy is to inundate the rest of the world with American ideals and values.
They are not ours and get to us only because we have free but often not responsible for the consequences of free speech. I can envisage a situation where vulnerable youth on the communities see this and regard it as normal behaviour and act accordingly.
What is the target market this is aimed at? More rednecks of like ilk and will they be held responsible for the consequences among our youth? They will laugh all the way to the bank at our expense.
Unfortunately Big Tourism is self defeating in that eventually it destroys what they come to experience. Mt Fiji, Venice, and Pompei illustrate the point and we need to be very selective about whom we are trying to attract. Money is not the sole detriment.
Preserving who we are is far more important than the dollars. In fact watching a US based perspective on the expectations of young women in a summer camp with my granddaughter forced me to turn the TV off in disgust. It’s all about conflict which in this sad world is valued in dollars. This series simply re enforces that concept.
I am all with Ted Egan on this. And with Trevor when he says “it’s all about conflict” and the dollar ringers.
Well said Ted, and Trevor.
Why is government funding more misery and negativity?
Now more than ever we need to lift up The Centre and the Territory … (sigh)
Did “The Untouchables” TV show encourage people to visit Chicago? That must be the thinking behind this nonsense.
C’mon everybody.
Like countless TV Series before it, the Territory was produced for entertainment.
It was loosely based on a few current issues that were amplified for effect.
It never pretended to be a documentary on a real cattle station, or the cattle industry.
Unfortunately Ted Egan’s efforts of decades ago to make a movie titled The Drover’s Boy were strangled, as I understand, by the financiers trying to rewrite the script. It was going to be based on truth.
I do agree that the relentless efforts to Americanise Australia are pathetic. One of the worst offenders is the taxpayer funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Entertainment strongly influences perception.
Yes Minister = Operation of Government.
House of Cards = American Politics.
The Apprentice = Presidential cabinet selection.
Anyone would think Australia is the 51st American State.
@ Wayne Carter: Don’t know about Australia but some in Alice Springs happily put in a bid as 51st state some 39 years ago: “Alice Springs is now well on the way to becoming the 51st state of the U.S. following Alice Springs Mayor, Mrs Leslie Oldfield’s latest move to secede.
“The idea moved closer to fruition as the 30th American Independence Day ball careered its lively way into the heart of Alice Springs on Saturday night.”
The story continued: “President Ronald Reagan would have been proud.
“Rounds of applause greeted Mrs Oldfield’s quandary – whether she should hand over her remote Central Australian outpost to the U.S.
“Mrs Oldfield said Alice Springs’s long association with the U.S. must be an ‘acceptable reason’ to consider the creation of the 51st state.
“To prove it, Mrs Oldfield planted what is now the 51st star – made of paper – on to a huge U.S. flag which backdropped one wall.
“And the sticky tape held” (“Statehood æ it’s just a star away”, Centralian Advocate, 12-7-85).
Not to be taken seriously, of course – like most shows on television.
The “30th American Independence Day ball” was staged by U.S. Detachment 421 from Schwarz Crescent, based in Alice Springs since 1955.
American Independence Day festivities used to be a major invitation-only annual event in the Alice but since about the turn of the century have become very low-key occasions, if held at all.
[ED – The Pine Gap gates through which hundreds of protesters over the years have done their best to break, used to stand wide open once a year – for a Christmas party. To be sure, that wasn’t extended to protesters, but to town’s VIPs, including this newspaper’s editor, and my wife and co-founder of the Alice Springs News, Kieran Finnane. Alas, that social occasion became one of the victims of 911.]