The Shiralee

In Australian slang, "shiralee" means "burden." It also describes how itinerant laborer "Mac" Macauley (Bryan Brown) thinks of his nine-year-old daughter, Buster (Rebecca Smart). Proud and stubborn, Mac ekes out a living--sometimes with his fists--on the dusty roads of the 1940s and '50s outback, with Buster in tow. Together they befriend a number of colorful characters, and Lily (Noni Hazlehurst), a lovely rancher as maddeningly willful as Mac. At times grudgingly, Mac and Buster forge a father-daughter bond that hunger and hardship cannot break. (official distributor synopsis)