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    Stephen Dillane

Kings In Grass Castles is the true story of Irish settlers who left their homes in famine-stricken Ireland to find a new life in the wild frontier of Australia in the mid 1800’s.  Based on Dame Mary Durack's classic book about the real adventures of her family, this is an inspirational saga spanning generations of struggle, romance and loyalty, starring James Fox (The Remains of the Day, Never Come Back).  

Stephen Dillane (Anna Karenina, The Secret Garden) portrays the stubborn and ambitious Patsy Durack, who defies his father and gambles his family's future in a determined search for a new homeland. 

He forges an extraordinary relationship with Burrakin, an aboriginal tribesman who is his right-hand man. It is a friendship that underscores the terrible irony of Patsy's life – that the Irishman and his tribe, dispossessed by the English, in turn help dispossess the aborigines of their native land.  

Following devastating twists and turns in fortune and fate, this epic story beautifully depicts the vicious circle of man's bigotry and oppression, while portraying the loyalty and commitment of a family that not only opened up the Australian continent but also created a dynasty of kinship and courage that thrives to this day.

1:40 minutes            1:20 minutes            2:17 minutes

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Library Journal

Thursday March 15, 2001

Kings in Grass Castles

by Jo Manning, Barry Univ. Lib., Miami Shores, FL

This miniseries premiered on Australia's Seven Network in 1998. Based on the perennially popular, best-selling memoir by Dame Mary Durack, it tackles the daunting task of compressing 75 years of the Durack family saga into just four hours. The Duracks were poor tenant farmers in Galway, squeezed out by English overlords and the 1840s potato famine. They made the difficult decision to immigrate to Australia, leaving everything behind. From dirt-poor, starving farmers in Ireland and indentured servitude in Australia, the Duracks, led by Patsy, the driven older brother, become owners of gold mines and of a cattle empire that would eventually encompass millions of western Australia acres. Patsy (in an indelible performance by the talented Stephen Dillane) is the Moses of his clan. His is the vision that releases them from their indenture to the powerful English/Australian overlord Longman (James Fox) and takes them on a trek across the great Australian desert to Queensland, where, as settlers, they abuse the Aborigines just as the English abused them. It's difficult to cram this broad canvas of Australian pioneer families into a mere four hours; details are sometimes lacking, and the story line can seem superficial, though the drama is not. There are wonderful supporting performances, but the fine actor who steals every scene is David Ngoombujarra, who plays the Aborigine Burrakin, called "Pumpkin" by the Irish, who serves as Patsy's conscience. The program is made for video, and the resolution is not as sharp as it could be, but it's adequate. This is a stunning look at the history of a country some of us may know only from the recent Olympics, and it's worth a closer look. Highly recommended.