One Night the Moon

Plot

Set in the 1930s Australian Outback, starring singer Paul Kelly as a farmer, Jim Ryan, newly settled in the area. He is the father of a girl, Emily (Memphis Kelly, his real life daughter), who climbs out the window of their farmhouse one night and follows the moon into the hills. Rose Ryan (Kelly's then wife Kaarin Fairfax and mother of Memphis) comes to check on her daughter only to find that Emily is missing.

The Ryans get the local police, led by a sergeant (Chris Haywood), to search for her, but when their Aboriginal tracker, Albert Yang (Kelton Pell) arrives, the father says he does not want any blacks on his land. Jim Ryan and the white police go searching for Emily, destroying evidence Albert could have used to find the girl. The white men cannot find her, eventually Rose goes to Albert's hut and together they go looking for Emily, they find her dead in the hills and bring her body back home. Jim blames himself for not finding Emily and commits suicide. Albert's wife (Ruby Hunter) sings the funeral song for the lost child.

Cast

Background

A 1997 documentary, Black Tracker on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV, concerned an indigenous tracker called Alexander Riley from Dubbo, New South Wales. Singer-songwriter Mairead Hannan saw Black Tracker, she liked the story about a young boy who disappeared near Dubbo in 1932 and was tracked by Riley. Hannan wanted to tell the story as a musical for a project sponsored by ABC TV's Arts and Entertainment department. Mairead enlisted her sister and fellow composer Deirdre Hannan, then other composers/performers Paul Kelly, Kev Carmody and Alice Garner to help with the project. Screenwriter John Romeril and director Rachel Perkins were approached and together wrote the screenplay. Garner was due to take the part of Rose Ryan, the mother, but became pregnant so Kaarin Fairfax (Kelly's wife) undertook the role. Aside from the search for a missing child, the film deals with the racist attitude depicted by the father's refusal to use the indigenous tracker. The original story was about the tracker seeking a young boy who had gone missing, but Perkins decided a missing girl would have greater impact and also shifted the focus to the despairing mother. Fairfax and Kelly volunteered their seven-year-old daughter, Memphis Kelly, for the part of the lost child. Location filming occurred on Adnyamathanha land in the Flinders Ranges and other sites in South Australia for six weeks early in 2000. Kelton Pell portrayed the indigenous tracker, Albert with Ruby Hunter playing his wife. Musical score was by Kelly, Kev Carmody and Mairead Hannan, and with other artists they also contributed to the soundtrack.

Awards

Awards and nominations received by One Night the Moon.

One Night the Moon: Original Soundtrack

Track listing
Songwriters according to Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), with performers listed after track times.

1. "I Don't Know Anything More" (Paul Kelly) – (2:08) Paul Kelly
2. "Flinders Theme" (Mairead Hannan) – (2:11) Mairead Hannan
3. "One Night the Moon" (P Kelly, John Romeril) – (2:34) Kaarin Fairfax, Memphis Kelly
4. "Moon Child" (M Hannan, Deirdre Hannan) – (2:21) M Hannan, Deirdre Hannan
5. "The Gathering" (M Hannan) – (0:59) M Hannan
6. "Now Listen Here: Introduction to This Land is Mine" (M Hannan, D Hannan, Alice Garner) – (1:27) M Hannan, D Hannan, Alice Garner
7. "This Land is Mine" (P Kelly, Kev Carmody) – (2:41) P Kelly featuring Kelton Pell
8. "The March Goes On/The Gathering 2" (medley) (M Hannan, M Hannan) – (1:20) M Hannan
9. "Spirit of the Ancients" (K Carmody) – (1:31) Kev Carmody
10. "What Do You Know" (M Hannan, D Hannan, P Kelly, K Carmody) – (4:08) K Fairfax, K Pell
11. "Carcass/The Gathering 3" (medley) (M Hannan, M Hannan) – (1:07) M Hannan
12. "Night Shadows" (M Hannan, D Hannan, A Garner, K Carmody) – (1:44) K Carmody, A Garner
13. "Black and White" (K Carmody) – (1:49) K Carmody
14. "Moment of Death" (M Hannan) – (4:04) M Hannan
15. "Hunger" (M Hannan, D Hannan) – (2:17) M Hannan, D Hannan
16. "Unfinished Business" (P Kelly, K Carmody) – (1:56) K Pell, K Fairfax
17. "Spirit of the Ancients" (reprise) – (2:18) K Carmody
18. "Moody Broody" (D Hannan) – (0:46) D Hannan
19. "Little Bones" (M Hannan, P Kelly) – (3:25) K Fairfax
20. "Oh Breathe on Me" – (1:55) Ruby Hunter
21. "Moonstruck" (Carmody) – (4:40) K Carmody

Credits

Box office

One Night the Moon grossed $276,270 at the box office in Australia.

Stage Adaptation

John Romeril subsequently adapted One Night the Moon as a music theatre work. The stage adaptation was first performed by Melbourne's Malthouse Theatre, opening 16 September 2009, directed by Wesley Enoch and with Mairead Hannan as musical director. The cast included Natalie O'Donnell, Kirk Page, Mark Seymour and Ursula Yovich.