Original subtitles

Thank you.

Who are you?

Two gallon

He basically is travelling at an unsafe speed, these old country roads.

A dark night.

Probably had a few beers with his evening meal. Yeah.

Consequently, fails to take the bend.

Towing a heavy caravan.

Over he goes.

Both killed instantly.

I don't know.

People never seem to learn, do they?

Gotta go that bit faster.

Oh, well, I thought I'd call out and check personally.

And what about the car?

Anything salvageable?

Virtually exploded.

Burned right out.

You can see the wreck, if you like.

Oh, no. No, that won't be necessary.

Uh, look, uh, if you've got any business in the district in future, I'd be only

too happy to act for you.

Save your traipsing out all this way.

Oh, that's very kind.

Well, you might be able to arrange something.

Yeah. Thanks.

That's rather an unusual uniform.

I guess he was looking for a caravan.

You know, a caravan park.

I fell asleep.

Just before the accident, I woke up.

I remember his face. He was... There was this sound.

This terrible sound.

And a whole lot of lights.

No lights, matey.

One-way road, no other traffic.

You know your brother is dead?

The funeral's arranged for 11 o'clock.

In the meantime, you can come up and see me in my office.

Welcome to Paris.

Good

morning.

All right, are you?

That's the boy, you know that.

I'm off now, then.

Right, Daryl.

Well, I've done all the tidying up.

Good boy.

That new bloke, all the stuff out of his caravan, should I put it somewhere safe?

I told you, Daryl, didn't I?

Nothing's to be touched.

He's going to become a Parisian.

Oh, right you are.

You see, out here in the country...

Well, we get far more opportunity to do experimental work in the field of

surgery and psychiatry than your city expert.

There's a tremendous challenge out here in the country just waiting to be picked

up. This is where the really exciting work is being done.

You see, in this accident work, you've got to move quickly.

Without hesitation.

Try out new ideas.

What would you say to my doing a couple of tests on you?

If it's all right with you.

I'd like to, if I can, thanks.

But I haven't got much fun.

Now, this test scene is very simple.

It's the centre of you, sir.

I want you to name each item portrayed in the photograph.

All right, now? Yeah.

There we are.

Oh, what is it? Say what it is.

Well, it's a tree.

Right.

Seems easy enough, eh?

Yeah. Um, cheer.

Dog.

House.

Car.

Television.

Two cars.

It's a smash.

Accident.

Table.

Cat. Pen.

Accident. Dog.

Horse.

Ball. Scissors.

Cow.

Excellent.

Well done.

You know, sometimes I think it's a pity I didn't become a professional

photographer.

There are one or two other tests I'd like to try.

For Mrs. Henderson.

Not really, Matron. You're going to spoil me.

Ben Keely is the name.

Mayor of Paris.

I just want you to know that we're upset. We're terribly, terribly upset

about what happened.

Thank you.

Oh.

Stop it.

Oh, thank you.

I thought that this was the least that we could do.

Gosh, Lord, sometimes you work in ways that are totally incomprehensible.

We try to understand, but we're only human.

Help us not to ask why.

Help us not to lose faith.

Help us both to keep our faith and to bear our grief in times of trouble and

pain, and it's not easy.

Lord, give us courage.

Amen.

Could I have that, please? Thank you. The reason that we are here is to

discuss progress.

We must look to the future and that, thank you, is a very great

responsibility. As to the veranda posts, I realise there is a place for them, but

they should be in our new proposed museum, which I am sure that Mr Clive

Smedley would be the first to be with me.

As to our youth, they are idle, they are lazy,

they need to work. Hear, hear.

As that American president said, what was his name?

Roosevelt.

Roosevelt, yes.

The New Deal.

Build.

They have got to work.

Mr. Mayor.

I'd like to raise another question. Yeah?

It's a matter of our visitor.

Yes.

We're keeping him.

Look.

What do you think of it?

It's mink.

Is it real?

Yeah, real mink.

Where did you get it?

I had it secondhand.

Then gave it to me.

It's very nice.

I have to wear it around the house because he won't let me wear it outside.

He doesn't want me to look too posh.

I thought it might cheer you up.

Oh, it did, really. Thank you.

Hilary?

Bill Cotter, Sergeant Cotter.

Nice man.

Very good at his job. Very good indeed.

He said that you mentioned something about seeing lights

at the scene of the accident.

But then again, the doctor said there was a shock. If I'd been driving last

night,

George would be alive.

It's not the first time.

About a year ago, I killed an old man with my car.

I knocked him.

I knocked him down.

I was charged with manslaughter.

They acquitted me.

And now I can't drive anymore.

Hmm. Yes, these old pedestrians are a real problem, aren't they?

And then you were acquitted.

The Prime Minister, in today's address to the nation, talked of the need for

cooperation. The future promises great things for us and our country.

The light is at the end of the tunnel.

But have you the strength to travel the short distance that remains?

State road toll reached an all-time high this weekend with 82 deaths, mostly in

country areas.

A police commissioner has his men working round the clock to catch the

offending motorists. The opposition...

Charlie. Come on, give us that.

Give us that!

And nick off.

Come on, give us that too.

You know you're not supposed to be here.

Same bed. Get back in your own beds.

Right, that's it.

Bye.

I didn't know you were going.

Yes, I am.

Well, then he's gone to work.

I left him a little note. It's a thank you note.

It's on the desk.

That's nice.

Um, goodbye.

See ya.

Good morning, Mr. Waldo. Morning.

I wonder, would you mind coming down to the council chambers?

What for?

The mayor would like to have a few words with you before you set off.

Arthur, I'm going to be frank with you.

I'm a plain man, and I don't like fancy words.

So what I'm telling you, I'm telling you because I like you.

Okay?

Arthur, you're a very, very sick man.

The doctor left just a moment ago. He spoke to me and all that technical

rubbish, you know, but I thought it'd be better if you heard it from a layman.

The main thing that you've got to keep in your mind is that you're basically

normal. But this mightn't stay that way unless you can face your problem. That

man spent almost all through the night analysing the results of your tests.

What did he say?

Well, let's be blunt. I think you've got two dead men on your conscience.

You've also got this...

Fear of driving.

This fear of cars.

Do you know, here in Paris Hospital, in the Bellevue ward,

we have people who don't even know their own names.

No, this is true.

It happens in hospitals all over the country, all over the world.

Accident. Brain damage.

Sometimes they haven't even got a mark on their bodies.

People who can't handle the suffering and the shock.

People like you.

Not very pleasant, is it?

But that's the world we live in.

It's the world of the motor car.

I don't know much about your financial situation, but if it helps, the doc says

that you can work with him as a medical orderly. Now, you can either take the

profit hand or help, or just walk out that door and drive away.

It's your decision.

you

Right. Now, this is your waiting room here, see?

And there's your people waiting.

Now, that, you see that?

Yeah. If anyone brings any stuff in, you give it to me, okay? Because I'm looking

after it for everybody, and I'll take it to the bank at the end of the week or

something. Now, stretcher. I'll show you how to use that, just in case you have

to. Put it out like that.

Sorry, mate.

Just showing Arthur how to use the stretcher here, mate.

He knows now.

Would you come with me, please?

Whenever she turns up, you're always busy, right? You've always got to find

yourself something to do.

Now. Oh, yeah, this.

Remember that, won't you?

Don't forget it.

Now, let's see. Ward's in here.

All right, mate.

Don't worry.

She'll be right.

Right. Now, just two more things.

One, the doctor.

Now, I get my orders from him, and you get your orders from me, right? Right,

OK. And the other thing is the patients.

Now, most of the people here are accident victims, so what you've got are

your veggies.

Veggies? Yeah, now, these are people who've been in accidents that are so bad

that their minds all get scrambled up like scrambled eggs, right?

Yeah. In any case, you've got your four veggies, but I doubt if you'll actually

see them. I don't think you'll have much to do with them, no.

And then there's your half veggies and your quarter veggies, like Leslie here.

He used to be a bank manager.

Did you, Leslie, eh?

All right.

Cover to you, eh?

Yes, right.

Come on, then.

Yeah, well don't worry about him.

He might try and give you a couple of orders next week, but he still thinks

he's in a bank like, you know what I mean?

Yeah, well a couple of weeks time you'll be telling them what to do. There's a

few of them about, you know.

Yeah,

but look, you were lucky, mate, you know. What saved you? That caravan.

Took all the impact.

Hadn't been for that caravan, you wouldn't be here.

Used to get a lot of caravans come down here.

Not anymore, though.

The other bloke, though.

George was my brother.

What was he like?

Well, put it nicely, I mean, he was one worse than your full veggie, wasn't he?

What do you mean? Well, you ever seen a bloke with a foot up his nose?

I thought you might like a cup of tea.

Arthur?

What's the matter?

I'm not going to work in that hospital anymore.

They told me all about George.

George. No, Arthur.

It wasn't your fault.

He had to take care of me.

He had to bring me up.

He didn't even like me.

He hated me in a way.

He said I was weak.

Len says I'm weak.

Because I get upset about not being able to have children.

Hillary and Jeanette.

They're not ours.

Well, I mean, they are.

They're orphans.

An accident.

All right, kids, come on. Just pick up all that mess that's way past your

bedtime. Yeah.

Don't we say good night to Daddy anymore?

Good night. Good night, Dad.

Well, I suppose you've lined yourself up a place by now.

I thought it was all right for me to stay here for a while.

You can't really stay here all the time, can you?

You have to stand on your own two feet.

Clive will put you up at the pub until then.

Lynn? Yeah?

You know, I did see lights on the night of my accident.

Nothing.

Good morning.

Hymn 407.

Pray be seated.

On my way in, I was handed an invitation to the Paris Pioneer Ball.

That should be a very exciting evening.

I think it's a marvelous idea to make it a fancy dress ball.

As you know, I have two hobbies.

The past, which is manifest in these lovely old country towns like Paris,

and the future, which lies with our youth.

And I'm very pleased to notice here that they're having a car gymkhana the Sunday

after the ball.

That's an excellent idea.

It'll give our youth a chance to blow off a bit of steam and share with us in

our celebrations of our glorious past.

About the only criticism that I could offer as a newcomer is your road.

It's a real bone shaker.

I'd certainly hate to travel on it at night.

I think that's a part of your past you don't really need to preserve.

Oh,

Arthur, what are you doing here?

I thought you'd left.

There's something I have to talk to you about.

I'd love to talk to you, but I can't do it today.

When?

I'll be back to the ball.

That be all right?

Okay.

Don't worry about it. I might be able to help.

Right. Thanks very much. You give me a ring. Yeah.

Jeanette, put those things up the car.

Just get them off.

um

Get in, Arthur.

Arthur, I wanted to talk to you today.

I wanted to talk to you very seriously.

I'm a great family man.

I always have been.

I love my family, and I've always taught them to be frank and to be honest.

I would like to talk about last night.

Last night, when I saw you with Jeanette, I

realized there was something missing in our family.

A son.

A son?

Yes.

Yes, I feel with you that, uh... that I could say anything.

And, uh... I would like to think that you could, me.

Because, after all, I mean, that's what, uh... that's what families are about.

And... Oh, Beth.

She's mad about you.

I'm going to have to watch you, or she'll spoil you.

What I would like you to do is I would like you to settle here permanently

and become part of our family.

Part of my family.

That means I stay with your family.

That's right.

Okay.

I never had a real family.

There's one thing that close families don't do.

They don't talk to outsiders like... Ted

Mulray. They keep themselves to themselves.

Of course you know I'll need a decent job.

Now, the next item of business is the position of parking superintendent.

Parking superintendent?

That's right.

We've got to think of the future. We have to be prepared.

Like the pioneers who settled this land, we have to seize the initiative.

And so, superintendent of parking, a powerful and responsible job.

The man is faced with the job of cleaning up this town and making it a

decent place for people to park.

There is only one man for the job.

Arthur Waldo.

There's a man who came here, an orphan.

He came here...

seeking help, and it is only today that he's decided to

stay with us.

I have created a symbol

of his authority.

Come forward Arthur Waldo.

Did you hear something?

No

What about sharing the tires out a bit?

A bit of music wouldn't go down too bad. A couple of your radios, eh?

perks mate do you know whose car this is yeah whose is it mine you're gonna have

to move it down you just can't park it here who said the mess is oh he can't

say that mate he can't i'm sorry he tries to start squeezing us out all

right then anything to oblige

mate

G'day, fellas.

Hi, Daryl. Hi, Arthur.

All right, are you?

Don't you want to be a doctor anymore?

Well, they give me a new job.

Parking officer, see?

Well, the mayor said that I was supposed to tell people where to park.

Do you think you could, you know, move a little?

Anything to oblige over.

That far enough for you?

Hey, Darryl says you owed a brother.

What happened to him?

George got squashed.

You should have got squashed too, mate. You shouldn't be here.

You should be a veggie too.

Hey, he'd make a great veggie, eh?

Hey, Liz, I reckon he hates cars.

Hates cars, eh?

Is that right?

How would you like to...

Time for a burn with me in my car, mate, eh?

That'll do, Les, mate.

Righto, who was it?

This was the mayor's place last night.

Come on, don't fuck about.

Talking about pot plants.

Smashed pot plants.

You just told this little worm to lay off.

Yeah, we'll talk about that later. Meantime, you and Les come with me for a

little chat.

He's telling the blokes not to park here, not to park there.

Well, outsiders shouldn't be telling us what to do.

Come on, Liz. We'll talk about it at the station.

And leave those cars.

You say this bloke's gone too far.

Yeah, maybe he has.

What about you, bloke?

You went too far.

Why pick on the mayor?

Must be bloody mad.

Look at this.

The me is aboriginal.

Broken in half.

All right, everybody outside.

Hey, that's my car.

Hey, what are you doing with my car?

What are you doing?

Get off of me! My bloody car!

Now, let this be a warning, a warning to all people who

defy the laws of Paris.

Okay, Max.

You can't find a bloke's fucking car!

Take that off, quick!

I got

this

one.

This one's mine.

You bastard. You irreligious bastard.

Steady, steady. All right, come on, come on. You bastard. I

can't report this to you.

We can't. Get down.

Will you shut up, you animals?

You heard what I said, now shut up.

Max,

go to the door and see that no one...

Here's our... I never did nothing wrong.

You always kept the best bits for yourself.

I've never done nothing bad.

I've never done nothing wrong.

Now, listen!

Listen!

Hold you.

Now, just remember, an accident has occurred.

A shooting accident.

Uh, Mr.

McDowell? Mr. McDowell.

A, uh, a shooting accident has occurred.

Would you say that?

Go on.

A shooting accident has occurred.

That's right.

That is right.

This is better not interfere with my work. I haven't finished my work.

Well, I can only go so far, then.

I've got my career to consider. I haven't finished my work. Your work?

Your bloody work.

You're in this as much as we are. What about those experiments, those bloody

experiments of yours? Take that experiment back to the hospital, will

you? All right, Len. Move it.

Yes, Len. Come on. Come on.

Bring him along.

Come on in, China. We've got a nice Meccano set for you. Come on.

Max.

Close the road.

No one in or out.

Until we sort this mess out.

Neil, the ball will go ahead as planned.

Alf?

Cut him out.

And get rid of the car.

What are you waiting for?

I'll see ya.

Well, we've had a hard day, but we got through it.

How do you like your costume?

Beth spent all afternoon doing that.

I don't think I can go to the ball.

Why?

Because I've got a lot of things on my mind, things to sort out.

Think you're leaving?

Look, I can't stay.

I'm not well. I worry.

I'm not like you. You're all right.

You're like George.

Now, you listen to me.

Now, you get this into your mind.

Nobody leaves Paris.

No one.

Now, you get into those clothes and you go to the ball.

Jim.

Jim.

Keep him over here. Over this way, I'll give you a good speech.

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow pioneers, a

happy night, and yet a sad one.

As you by now know, the Reverend Ted Mulbray has met with a tragic shooting

accident.

A cruel trick of fate.

Took him from our midst.

But I feel that he is still here tonight with us.

In spirit.

The early pioneers suffered adversity and they

overcame it. It was a tough life.

Only the strong survived and the weak perished.

The future promises great things.

For us.

For our town.

The light is at the end of the tunnel.

But have you the strength to travel the

short distance it remains?

I think most of you have. I thank you.

Have you country boys forgotten the old school war crime, have you?

Have you forgotten the meaning of those words?

Woomera, woomera, babaloo, boomerang, crocodile, kookaburra, wombat,

orangutan, wee-ho, way-ho.

Taramanga Mine, Kwondong, Billabong, Gundablui Pine, Platypus Emu, Wallaby

Roo, Ivis Bulger, the White Cockatoo, Marabaracara, Colamine Fanko, Bogobrine,

Aramine, Nevertine, Yanko, Hoopra, Hoopra, Ha Ha Ha, Yanko!

Close the road?

Yeah. What's the problem?

The cars.

They're a bit upset over the burning.

Well, keep in touch. If there's any real trouble, you know what to do.

Get the traps? Yes.

Very nice of you.

Let's hand it over to the young people.

It's their turn.

I don't care.

I can drive.

Stop!

Nobody can drive.

There are traps made in and out of the town.

Nobody can go in or out.

There is no safe road.

foreign is