[GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC]
[MONTY] It was the morning after the Australia Day bash
and I was the only bloke in the nation not hungover.
Buddah, breakfast.
[MONTY] But I did have a mean appetite.
When Paulie stayed out all night,
he'd come home so full of stories
I'd need tea, milk and six hours of free time.
Oh, OK.
[MONTY] Any other morning, I would've stopped and conversed with the natives,
but today, it was bacon over birds.
[STARTS ENGINE]
[SIREN WAILS]
Nothing to see here, officers.
[MONTY] Back in the day,
the first thing the government would do to break a black fella
was take them off the land.
That robbed them of their spirit.
Same thing would happen to me if they took my Merc.
How long have you had this car?
It's mine.
Lucky you.
You know why we pulled you over?
[MONTY] Uh, because I'm black?
No, why?
You left your milk on the roof, mate.
Oh, well, there's that too.
Didn't you see those girls waving?
Is that a crime?
Not unless you stain the duco on this beauty.
I would love to spend a bit of time in her.
If you know what I mean.
You have a good one.
[MONTY] There's a first time for everything
and that was the first time a copper did me a good turn.
Couldn't wait to tell Paulie.
Paulie! You're home, my brother.
Hey, you won't believe what just happened with me and the cops.
You had a big night, hey, Buddah?
Paulie...what happened?
[THUMPING AND GROANING]
[MONTY] After they'd bailed him up outside the pub,
they took him down to the station.
[GASPS]
They made him pay for talking back.
We're going to get pizza. Don't fall asleep.
First with his body.
Then with his spirit.
[GASPS]
Come here.
[DISTANT DIDGERIDOO]
[DIDGERIDOO INTENSIFIES]
[MONTY] When your spirit's gone, your body is an empty shell.
[DIDGERIDOO CONTINUES]
The body must follow the spirit. They cannot be parted.
But sometimes, the body is scared.
So Paulie helped it along.
[DIDGERIDOO CONTINUES]
[MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY]
[MONTY] The royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody
looked into Paulie's death.
They said the officers' conduct fell well below what was expected.
They got off with a warning and that was the end of it.
I closed myself off to the world and buried my head deep within the sand.
Wasn't pretty down there.
[JULIE, THROUGH A WINDOW PLAYS] ♪ As though it was yesterday ♪
♪ I remember your voice ♪
♪ But my song is the only way I can talk to you now ♪
♪ If I feel you beside me ♪
♪ I'll try not to weep ♪
♪ But I cry when I'm frustrated, you should be talking to me ♪
♪ Like you say ♪
♪ The tips of my fingers ♪
♪ Are less than you have ♪
♪ Without the chance for me to say goodbye ♪
♪ I'm not as strong as you ♪
♪ Would like to believe. ♪
[MONTY] I decided to follow Paulie.
♪ But you can't tell me what to do ♪
♪ For I'll cry if I have to ♪
♪ Not frown if you think I'm weak ♪
♪ You shaped me into a star ♪
♪ And threw me into the sky ♪
♪ You pushed that I kept the right path ♪
♪ Sit back and watch me fly ♪
♪ Like you said ♪
♪ The tips of my fingers ♪
♪ Are less than you have ♪
♪ Without the chance for me to say goodbye. ♪
It'll be good eating tonight, Paulie.
I'll go check on the stingrays.
♪ Without the chance for me to say goodbye. ♪
[GENTLE PIANO REFRAIN]
Which one did he give ya?
Which what?
I know he gave you a story.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn't.
-Come on, which one was it? -Can't tell ya.
It was the stingray one, wasn't it?
You could tell the way Dad's arms were moving.
-Like how? -Like this.
-That's not how they go. -How would you know?
Because Dad told me all about it!
[GENTLE PIANO REFRAIN]
[SHOUTS]
Hey.
Why haven't I got that story?
Why'd you tell him? I'm older.
I didn't tell it, Mont.
The spirits told it through me.
They wanted Paulie to learn, knew it was his time.
His mind must've been in the right place.
When is it my time?
[MONTY] Stingrays, spirits and death, it's all in the timing.
I didn't know it then, but sometimes it's good when it's not your time.
Probably why I used a rope meant for tying trucks,
not for hanging black fellas.
I wanted to be rid of everything.
I sold the lot.
[MONTY] And I mean everything.
I wanted to forget. It hurt so much.
But a certain someone had other ideas.
[PHONE RINGS]
[PHONE CONTINUES RINGING]
What?
Is that how you answer a phone?
-Busy, Mum. -[MUM] You're coming home.
-Why? -'Cause it's time.
-And you're not right. -I've got a lot on.
-We all have, Monty. -I don't have a car.
-And can't you afford one? -Of course I can, I'm a grown man.
Well, then get one and get your moy-you back up here!
-Easy. -Well, I'll see you Friday.
Make it Wednesday.
[MONTY] Jeez, I sure showed her.
I should've been there more.
Should've been there, Paul!
[MONTY] Home was the last place I wanted to be.
Too many memories.
[EXHALES]
But my mum was a force I couldn't reckon with.
[CLEARS THROAT]
Porra!
[SQUEALS]
[MONTY] My sister, Chicky. Basically Mum in tight jeans.
I missed you!
Missed you too, Chicky.
Hey, you sound like a white fella!
Hey, look out.
Too long in the city, I suppose.
[POSH VOICE] Oh, too long in the city, I positively do suppose.
[LAUGHS]
Mont, I'm only gammin'.
Hey, you know we're all sad...
Chicky? It's not just you.
Hey, look out!
Yeah, he's visiting from Buckingham Palace.
Mum, Mont's here!
My son.
Look at you. My boy.
It's yours, Dad. I don't want it.
He got a lotta spirit for your brother.
-Paulie wanted you to have it. -Yeah?
Look what happened to him.
-We got ceremony tonight. -I'm not coming!
Of course you are.
It's alright.
It's OK.
-It hurts so. -I know.
I know, baby.
It really hurts.
I know.
It's OK, bro. Bro.
You're home, bro.
[DISTANT DIDGERIDOO PLAYS]
[MONTY] That night was a naming ceremony.
The elders hold the baby close to the fire so it gets the warmth.
They speak language to it and give it a birth name, an Aboriginal name.
When I was young, we weren't allowed one of those.
Despite all the whitening forced upon them,
the old people had ways and means of passing things on
so the culture stayed alive, even when their children didn't.
Paulie was our dancer, our singer, our storyteller...
and he was gone.
He fought so hard to keep his culture, our culture.
What had I done?
You back, young fella?
Where you been?
Hiya.
You come sit down with me now. I got something for you.
[MONTY] It was my time.
And that's when he gave me his name, Boori.
It means fire, where the old people give their stories.
Storykeeper.
An old name and a new purpose.
And Dad finally gave me that stingray story.
It's the story of a lost boy, that's why Paulie got it first.
When Paulie left us, I realised just how lost I'd become,
stuck between two worlds.
It was time to reach out to one by preserving the other.
But first, there was something I needed to get back.
[BRIGHT UPBEAT MUSIC]
[BOORI] People often ask me whether there's anything good
that white fellas brought with them.
I tell them literacy and the Mercedes V8 turbo compressor.
[DISCO MUSIC PLAYING]
[BOORI] Paulie had taught culture in schools.
One school still had him booked.
I decided to go in his place.
I must've sat in my car for at least a half an hour.
I'd been a model, a DJ, a human rights champion,
a really ordinary drunk,
but I'd never been a teacher.
I was terrified.
This one's for you, Paulie.
[DIDGERIDOO PLAYS]
[BOORI] If us black fellas lose our spirituality, our culture,
then you lose it too.