The Silent Country (60 page)

Veronica was silent in the taxi on the way back to Network Eleven. At her feet were two old-fashioned
maroon-coloured Qantas flight bags Valma had given her to hold the precious cans of film.

It was all that remained of Topov’s dream. She just hoped the film had survived and would show them how it had really been.

V
ERONICA SPREAD HER NOTES
across the old pine table in what had been the lounge room of the cottage where the production offices of
Our Country
were now housed. She laid them out in sequences and scenes, shuffling and rearranging them, trying to construct a comprehensible and interesting structure for her story.

Stu stuck his head around the door. ‘Hi Veronica. What’s your favourite colour?’

She stared at the editor. ‘Huh? Why?’

‘The set. They’re fluffing up a new set for the show for when you start fronting it.’

‘Oh, no! I’d better talk to Andy.’

She hurried into Andy’s office.

‘What’s this about a new set and me fronting the show in the studio? It’s bad enough I’m on camera all
through the story!’

‘Don’t be so modest! Actually, the directive came from above. Big Bill is taking quite an interest. They all seem to be locked into the idea of having a face up front. A presenter who’s promotable, you know the kind of thing.’

‘But that’s what we agreed we wouldn’t do!’ exclaimed Veronica. ‘We want to let the story speak for itself. If they do it this way, then the next thing we know, the stories will be told through my eyes, my point of view. It’s overkill to have me front the show as well as relating the story.’

‘No offence, but I agree,’ said Andy. ‘I think that you’re right and it will change the focus of the program too much.’

‘Can I speak to the boss?’

‘Leave it for the moment. Let’s put this first big launch story together for the new-look program and give him a sneak preview and tackle it then,’ said Andy soothingly.

‘It’s almost together. I’m banking on that old footage being good enough to use. It’ll fit in perfectly and illustrate Colin and Marta’s stories as well as contrasting with the modern stuff we filmed in the Territory.’

‘The old film’s with the film lab, we won’t have it back for a day.’ Andy hesitated then asked, ‘I realise this mightn’t be the time to raise this, but have you thought about what you might like to do next?’

‘Do?’

‘Story-wise. Television is a voracious eater of time, talent and material, you may recall. We have to find next month’s feature before this one goes to air. The team will have to start working on it. But the story has to be one that excites you.’

For the first time in a long time Veronica didn’t feel enthusiastic about her job. Normally, once a story was in
the editing stages she mentally put it to bed and then the search to find the next assignment consumed her. Why was she not feeling that same adrenaline surge now?

‘I guess this story has taken so much out of me, I’ve got so involved with it, been such a part of it that I’m having trouble letting go, let alone thinking about what to do next,’ she confessed to Andy.

He looked at Veronica and then down at the papers on his desk. ‘Hmm. I thought this might happen.’

‘What do you mean?’

He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head. ‘You’re better at your job than you know, Veronica, but perhaps you need some time off before tackling the next story.’

‘I’m sorry, Andy.’ Veronica didn’t know what to think. ‘I’m just tired. I’ll be fine after I have a break when Jamie comes down.’

‘Veronica, I will eventually retire and you could easily fill my shoes. I want you to think about that.’

‘I understand, Andy.’

‘Now, we have a job to finish.’

Later Tom appeared in Veronica’s office.

‘It’s back already. The old film. Transferred to DVD. Andy thought we should look at it together. A sort of a screening with popcorn and coffee,’ he said. ‘After the production meeting, just you, Andy and me. I’m keen to see how it comes up. Lucky it was stored so well.’

‘Did the lab say how much of it was useable?’ asked Veronica, not daring to get too elated.

‘Most of it, apparently. The tech guys were pretty intrigued with what they saw.’

‘I can hardly wait to see it.’

Andy and Veronica settled themselves in a small editing suite and Tom cued up the computer.

‘This DVD has all the stuff from the big camera, the
one you said Topov mainly used, the thirty-five mill,’ said Tom. ‘The sixteen-millimetre footage is separate.’

‘That’s the smaller camera that Drago used a lot, though Marta and Colin said Topov used it sometimes, too,’ said Veronica. ‘I’m keen to compare their footage with the stuff we shot.’

‘It was a shoestring production, obviously,’ said Andy. ‘If Topov hadn’t died and they’d finished the trip, I wonder what he’d have made of the film.’

‘I guess we’ll know when we see it,’ said Tom.

‘Let’s all make notes for editing purposes. Just in case we have anything useable here,’ said Andy.

‘Gosh, I hope so,’ muttered Veronica. She sat very still, her coffee untouched and watched the images unroll before her.

Immediately Veronica was swept away as everything came to life. Marta, curvy and sexy, looked wonderful. There were glimpses of the others, including a smiling Colin, who was pointed out by Veronica.

‘Yes, I recognise him from the Pioneers’ Reunion,’ said Andy.

‘I bet that’s Drago, he looks Slavic,’ said Tom. ‘That handsome, wide face.’

‘No mistaking Helen, she does look a bit proper. And sensible,’ said Andy.

‘Who’s that with the car?’ Veronica strained forward. The young man, who’d been tinkering with the engine, gave a salute with a spanner. ‘Cocky. Could that be Johnny?’

‘You said Peter the Dutchman knew more about cars,’ said Tom.

‘Pause it, please, Tom,’ said Andy. ‘Yep. That young cocky lad is our Mr J. Cardwell,’ said Andy firmly.

‘So the dour fellow over there must be Peter. But where’s Topov?’ said Veronica. ‘Oh, of course, he’s filming this.’

‘There’s a cut. Aha, here he is,’ exclaimed Andy.

Topov stepped in front of the camera, lifting his viewfinder to his eye and gesticulated as he posed, pretending to direct Marta. He wore a small hat, a scarf around his neck and occasionally stroked his beard earnestly. He dominated the screen, turning to the camera to direct Drago, who must have been filming this sequence. His flamboyant actions, cheeky lifting of an eyebrow, eye rolling and dramatic gestures caused the three watching to break into laughter.

‘God, what a ham,’ said Tom.

‘He’s magnificent!’ said Andy.

‘Even without sound,’ agreed Veronica.

There was a lot of scenery and they were staggered by the road conditions as Topov filmed the group digging the cars out of deep sand.

‘There’s virtually no road at all, just space that might be a track between the dunes and grasses,’ said Veronica. ‘I’m amazed they got those vehicles through there. I thought it was tough going off-road in Jamie’s big four-wheel drive.’

‘Look, there’s Peter letting the air out of the tyres. That helps driving in sand,’ said Tom.

‘It’s a good bit of action that gives a sense of how desolate the country they travelled through was,’ said Andy. ‘Wouldn’t have been too many travellers out there in those days.’

Veronica joined in the laughter at a scene of Marta staggering down a sandhill and ‘dying’ at the bottom.

‘God, talk about melodrama. It’s a wonder Topov didn’t have his heroine tied across the railway tracks,’ chuckled Andy.

‘I thought she was supposed to be a serious actress,’ said Tom.

‘She’s doing what the director says, obviously. You can see that she’s sending herself up a bit,’ said Veronica.

‘Now where’s this? Isn’t this river pretty,’ said Andy. ‘What a lovely place to camp.’

Veronica looked at her notes from her interview with Colin. ‘I’d say this could be Cooper Creek.’

‘Ah, I wonder if they knew what an historic place Cooper’s is,’ said Andy. ‘Bit of voice-over explanation needed there. Now here’s a place coming up, not much to it by the look of it,’ said Andy. ‘Inland Mission Hospital. And a nice nurse out the front. Blimey, she’s in the full uniform, starched veil and all! Way out there.’

Veronica flicked through her notes. ‘Birdsville, I think.’

‘Pretty isolated isn’t it?’

‘Hey, here’s Topov again. Don’t you love him?’ laughed Veronica. ‘What’s he dragging? He looks very pleased with himself.’

‘Some sort of bird,’ said Tom.

‘Oh, it’s the bustard! The one the white drover and his Aboriginal mate caught,’ said Veronica.

‘And there’s Johnny cooking it over the campfire. The rest of them don’t look very impressed,’ said Andy as the camera panned around the rather sullen group.

‘That must be Topov filming. He looked so pleased with himself and with the bird and look at everyone else. They look really pissed off,’ said Veronica.

‘Now what’s this, where are they here? The Devil’s Marbles. Amazing, that’s a good shot,’ said Andy.

‘They camped there, apparently Drago filmed a lot at this spot. Some must be on the other camera,’ said Veronica consulting her notes from the interview with Colin.

‘So here they are back on the road. People up ahead, walking,’ said Andy. ‘Oh, dear, what a sad looking bunch.’

‘These could be the Aborigines from the awful camp,’ said Veronica. ‘Drago didn’t want to film them, but Topov thought they should show the appalling conditions.’

‘I expect that part will be on the other camera as well,’ said Andy.

There was little talk as they watched the scenes of the changing landscape from the gibber plains to spinifex country, to raw-looking red dirt.

‘Look, ’roos. I bet that caused a bit of excitement,’ said Tom as they watched a large mob of big red kangaroos bound across the road, taking no notice of the little convoy.

‘What’s this coming down the track? A mini tornado?’ asked Andy.

‘A dust storm?’

‘A couple of horses. Two drovers.’

‘I’d like to have seen more of that,’ said Tom. ‘Have you noticed that when Topov is filming and something happens, he stops filming? Probably goes up to do all the talking.’

‘Look at that drover. He’s got a packhorse and a kid behind him,’ said Tom. ‘Oh, it’s a little girl I think.’

‘What a cutie,’ said Andy.

‘It’s Doris!’ shouted Veronica. ‘So that must be Len. Oh, I wish there were more shots of her. Andy, that’s Jamie’s mother! I think Drago took a lot of film of her as well. I can’t wait to see it. Isn’t she adorable?’ said Veronica excitedly.

‘Cute eyes and hair, but she looks like a scruffy little boy,’ said Andy.

‘If you meet her one day, Andy, I’ll tell her you said that,’ said Veronica. She felt quite emotional and suddenly this was all very real to her.

‘So where is Len taking them? Looks like they’re off the track,’ said Andy.

‘It’s Brolga Springs. It has to be,’ said Veronica, studying the building, which she recognised as the original old homestead of Brolga Springs. ‘And that woman,
that must be Annabel Johns. Oh, I have to get a copy of all this for Doris and Jamie. This is their place. Doris was born there.’

Andy gave Veronica a slightly amused glance but he was touched when he saw the light in her eyes and her excited expression.

‘Okay, what’s next? Hey, look at this,’ Tom leaned forward. ‘Aborigines. They look in better shape than the ones they passed on the side of the road.’

‘Wonderful-looking men. And painted up, too. It’s a corroboree.’ Andy folded his arms, watching shots of the group getting ready for their performance.

‘Look, there’s Drago with the little camera following the men and the boys,’ said Veronica. ‘He must have filmed their preparations.’

The scenes of the corroboree were not well composed and it was difficult to make out what was happening in the limited light.

‘I hope Drago got better shots with the Bolex. This is magic stuff,’ said Andy.