Australia - Big Dreamers
- 55 min
[29 September 2007]
We follow a group of Outback Aussies as they embark on a project to build a Giant Gumboot. Very very funny!
A quaint and curious story of Tully - Australia’s wettest town. The deadpan wit of this crowd pleasing comedy will cause you to think it is a mockumentary. But no, Big Dreamers is most definitely a real-life documentary, and the quirky and quintessential Aussie townsfolk featured in the story are most definitely not acting.
Faced with declining fortunes, the community leaders held a meeting to see what they could do to inject financial life back into the township. After much thought and consideration the community leaders decided the best way to save the town from financial rack and ruin would be to build The World’s Biggest Gumboot.
Lifelong Rotary club member Ron Hunt took the cause with religious fervour. “We decided to build the boot 8 metres high in honour of the record 7.98 metre flood in 1950.” “Tully is renown as the wettest town in Australia and we think this is a fitting tribute.” The neighbouring townsfolk of Innisfail, who also claim to be the wettest town in Australia, challenge Tully’s claim by pointing to their rain guage. “That’s all very well,” chimes in Tully Mayor Tip Byrne, “but their rain guage is situated outside the pub, and the patrons urinate in the rain guage after a few beers on their way home, so I don’t think urine should be counted as rainfall!”
Small town rivalry aside, Ron has more pressing matters to deal with. Local artist Roger Chandler has put his hand up to build the Big Boot, but Ron is not so sure. “Dealing with Roger,” he says, “is like putting eggs in a wet paper bag – you never know when the bottom is going to fall out.” Instead Ron chose Bryan Newell, an artist from the hinterlands 100 miles away.
None too happy, Roger spat the dummy. “If you get that bloke to do the boot and the frog, then I want nothing to do with the project.” Oh – have we mentioned The Frog? In order to keep the peace, Ron commissioned Roger to build a 3m Green Frog to cling to the side of Bryan’s 8m boot. Bryan told Roger to build it out of polyurethane, but Roger, who is a bit of a “frogologist”, and has carved 140 frogs, knows better and used the cheaper polystyrene, which melted.
Ever keeping his controlling hand on everything, Ron steps in to fix the melting frog, while securing the footings and council approval. One thing out of Ron’s control however, is the delays caused by the monsoon rain. “I think I can get this finished,” notes Bryan, “if we don’t get any more rain and I have an 8 day week.”
Six months later the town wants to know where their $90,000 boot is. Bryan is so far over schedule Ron begins to wonder if his reputation will remain intact by the time this thing is up and erected in the local park.
Finally the Gala Opening Day for The World’s Biggest Gumboot in honour of Australia’s wettest town arrives, and it is raining! Not everyone in town likes it. “What I want to know,” says one disgruntled local, “is what kind of tourist is going to want to come to Australia’s wettest town? They would prefer the sunshine I would think!”
Reardless of what the locals think, Ron is relieved. “Hindsight delivers 20/20 vision, and if I had have known it was going to be so much trouble I wouldn’t have gone into it in the first place. But here it is, and I am glad it is finished. As it says on the back of my truck – GONE FISHING – and that’s just what I am going to do.”
Will The World’s Biggest Gumboot save the township of Tully from financial rack and ruin? Only time will tell!
