OAKIE’S OUTBACK ADVENTURE

Australia, 2010, 94 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Katy Manning, Troy Dann, Kate Ceberano, Jack Thompson, Alan Jones, Robyn Moore.
Directed by Troy Dann.

Strange, sometimes, the films one discovers on a plane. I had never heard of this one before – and now wonder why.

This is an animation film for children which teachers might be interested in and might be able to use some segments for classes and for informing children about Australian stories and history.

It may also have been intended for overseas audiences because Oakie is a dog from the US who lands in Australia by mistake. However, he is welcomed by the animals, by an aboriginal girl and by a latterday Crocodile Dundee called Action Dan, who takes Oakie all over the Northern Territory and tells him a lot about Australia. In fact, the film opens and closes with some rather serious and homiletic observations about respect, racial understanding and care of the environment.

Some of the storytelling is quite entertaining. Waltzing Matilda is first to be shown, later The Man from Snowy River. Henry Lawson’s The Loaded Dog is included and we hear Click Go the Shears with the final credits have The Road to Gundagai. Along the way there are songs and stories about the Northern Territory, Aboriginal History, Captain Cook, Ben Hall and Ned Kelly.

It is somewhat in the vein of the Yoram Gross’ animation films of past decades, the combination of people and talking animals like Dot and the Kangaroo.

The film goes for an hour and a half but could easily lend itself to be watched in many self-contained segments that younger audiences could enjoy and then respond to. An easy way to learn Waltzing Matilda and remember some classic tales.

Not so sure about Oakie himself and his coming from the US – but, I suppose, we do have a lot we could pass on to the Americans!
1. The audience for this film? Appeal? Children? Adults?

2. The style of animation, the voices, the music?

3. The introduction, the emphasis on the importance of stories and storytelling?

4. Oakie and Texas, landing, thinking he was in America, the encounter with the Aboriginal girl, the animals, Action Dann?

5. Waltzing Matilda, the recitation, the visualising, the modernising? The sheep, the slapstick, the hot stove? The ghost underwater?

6. The animals, lizards, eagles, other birds, the frog, crows, the bull?

7. The Aboriginal girl, her appearance, her voice, the talking grub on her shoulder?

8. Song and dance, the Northern Territory, Ayers Rock?

9. The town, the homestead?

10. Action Dann, the history of the Aborigines, the emphasis on the environment, the Dreamtime stories, white settlement, the role of Captain Cook?

11. The stations, the cattle, the Northern Territory?

12. Mulga Bill, barmy as a bandicoot? The bike?

13. The story of the Outer Barcoo, Michael Mc Gee and his shanty, the christening, like a branding? Mc Ginnis?

14. The background of squatters, convicts, George Barrington?

15. The telling of the story of The Man From Snowy River, visualising it?

16. The helicopter, the Aboriginal girl, saving the bird, the wedge-tail?

17. The telling of the story of The Loaded Dog, the mining, the fishing, dynamiting the fish, the singing of Click Go the Shears?

18. I Love a Sunburnt Country... the story of Lasseter, the finding of the reef, losing it, rediscovering it, the myths about Lasseter?

19. The history of gold, the development of Cobb and Co, the bushrangers, Ben Hall and his story?

20. The Ned Kelly story?

21. Fish, the barramundi?

22. The painted Aborigines, the Mc Donnell Ranges, the history of Mc Dowall Stuart and his exploration?

23. The explorers wanting the inland sea, Eyre and the salt lake? Sturt and the desert? The Mc Donnell Ranges? The black and white map, the visualising?

24. The landowners, Sir Sidney Kidman, the drover’s life?

25. The didgeridoo, ‘The devil gets your soul’? ‘The devil went to the Outback’?

26. Dann and Oakie, all that Oakie learnt in his visit to Australia, the best mates? His returning home?

27. The final lecture, the focus on all people, all environments?

28. The final credits – and The Road to Gundagai?

29. Australiana designed for younger audiences all in ninety minutes?