Character Review (Australia) : Lady Sarah Ashley

Lady Sarah Ashley is an English aristocrat who inherits a cattle station, Faraway Downs in Australia. In 1939, Lady Sarah travels from Great Britain to Australia to meet her husband, Maitland Ashley in northern Australia, initially to force her husband to sell the cattle station. Her husband's drover comes to the city of Darwin to bring Sarah to their farm; however, when they reach Faraway Downs Farm, they are shocked to find out that Maitland was murdered. Therefore, Sarah decides to take control of Faraway Downs. Sarah befriends Nullah, who tells her that the administrator Neil Fletcher is stealing her cattle; has killed her husband; and is working for the cattle baron King Carney. Sarah fires Fletcher and his men. In order to save Faraway Downs from bankruptcy, she decides to continue her husband’s plan before he passes away which is to deliver 2000 cattle to Darwin. She persuades Drover to help her to take the cattle to Darwin. Sarah, Drover, Nullah and a group of loyal employees, they ride together to drive the cattle to Darwin.

Physically, Lady Sarah Ashley is a pretty and charming woman. She has blond curly hairs and blue eyes. Before and when she reaches Australia at the beginning of the movie, she looked arrogant. As an aristocrat, she used to live in luxuries; therefore she is not very being used to the environment in Australia when she first arrives at Australia. For instance, Lady Sarah overdressed herself when she travels with the drover to Faraway Downs.

Inwardly, Lady Sarah is a determined woman. Even though her husband has passed away, she is still determined to protect her property, Faraway Downs from greedy English cattle barons. In other words, she is tough and strong. She never gives up easily when she faces difficulties. For example, when King Carney’s men poison the water source along the cattle-drive route, she continues the journey although it is going to be an uphill task. With the help from Nullah and King George, she finally completes the task. She shows remarkable courage and determination, and that makes her acknowledged by all people including the barman. He serves Lady Sarah a cup of drink even though women are not allowed in his bar. Besides that, Lady Sarah is strongly opposed to the discrimination of aborigines. She disagrees with the action of the white people to take the half-aboriginal kids away from their mothers. She is very concern about a half-aboriginal kid, Nullah. She loves and takes care of him very much. She even wishes to adopt Nullah after his mother drowned in the water tank, but she faces a lot of difficulties as the society does not accept half-aborigines. Therefore, she tries to make the upper-class whites realize that half-aboriginal children belong to their mothers, not the government. However, the organizers of the mission insist that aboriginal women will forget their “offspring” and they will send the children to Mission Island. When Nullah is taken away to the island, Lady Sarah plans to sacrifice Faraway Downs in order to save him. This shows that she is a loving and caring “mother” as she treats Nullah as her son. Her love towards the kid inspires Fletcher’s wife to have sympathetic feeling towards her, and thus helps her to save Nullah from Mission Island.

Despite of this, Lady Sarah is a rather stubborn person. She always makes decisions for others. At first, she makes decision for her husband to sell the Faraway Downs. Then, when it is time for Nullah to walkabout, she forbids him from walkabout. She does not want to let him go even though walkabout is one of his cultures. Lastly, she rejects an army droving job for Drover without asking his opinion.

Furthermore, Lady Sarah is an emotional woman. For instance, she gets very excited when she sees kangaroos the first time she arrives Australia. Besides, when Fletcher slaps and tries to stop Nullah from telling Lady Sarah about the backroom dealing between him and King Carney, she gets very angry, and emotionally fires Fletcher without considering the negative effects as she may lose the only helping hand to take care of the cattle.

At the end of the movie, Lady Sarah changes from an arrogant, stubborn and emotional person to a loving, caring, tolerant, brave and determined woman after goes through all the hardships. She learns to respect others opinions and accept others points of view. She lets Nullah goes walkabout with King George because she understand that it is their culture.

“Just because it is, doesn’t mean it should be.”