WILLIAM: These people are the last members of a group that goes back to the eighteen fifties, during the gold rushes when everyone had the fever. Bankers, convicts, businessmen, doctors… But unlike in Victoria, the rush finished pretty quickly here. One group moved much further into the South-West looking for gold than anyone else. Most of them were ex-convicts, escaped convicts, failed colonists, general scum… even a travelling actor tired of doing bad shows for stupid colonists. One of the escaped convicts by the name of ‘Simpson’ kept a notebook. Some of it is his information, but the rest of the notebook is his obsession with his dreams. He dreamed he should found his own town, independent of the rest of mankind, so he tried to. And what material did he have? Criminals, retards, the lost, the desperate. [Smiling] So what we have before us is the true Australian culture.

GEORGE: What about the way they talk?

WILLIAM: Simpson, like his sister, had a cleft palate. Their language is a word salad made up of Cockney, Scottish, Irish dialects. There must have been a thread of retardation running through the original group because some of them just didn’t learn to speak.

FRANCIS: Perhaps they didn’t feel the need to speak.

WILLIAM: [amused] Of the younger ones, only Betsheb can talk. Ayre forces her to. Once Ayre dies, Betsheb will be the last repository of their culture. Stef is Angel’s son; he’s the final genetic mockery. Betsheb’s brother died recently.

FRANCIS: The corpse?

WILLIAM: Yes. And Mac will never be able to have children because his genitals are malformed. Queenie Ayre is a woman I admire more each day. It would have taken a lot of courage to come back to the world of ‘rack ’n’ cat’. Back to the world she had only heard about, a world of racks, whips, prison, hatred. She knows they have no future in the wilderness. Inside her head she has kept everything she deems important. Dreams, memories, snatches of songs, Bible stories… it’s had to be passed on by word of mouth.

Silence. The three newcomers look curiously vulnerable and BETSHEB and AYRE are embarrassed as the others stare at them. STEF, stares at the sky.

FRANCIS: What’s going to happen to them?

WILLIAM: We decided not to let the public know until we know a little more about them. [Looking at GEORGE] We plan to release the information on Tuesday.

GEORGE nods.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the children of our past.

AYRE points to ELIZABETH.

ELIZABETH: What is it, Ayre?

AYRE: [motioning to ELIZABETH’s neck] Shiny, shiny.

ELIZABETH takes off the necklace and gives it to her.

ELIZABETH: For tonight.

She puts it around AYRE’s neck. AYRE is very pleased. PETER sits down to have a drink. WILLIAM pours one for GEORGE. WILLIAM watches as FRANCIS approaches BETSHEB. STEF begins to stalk GEORGE.