It is a story that has inspired other artists, including painter Russell Drysdale and writers Murray Bail, Frank Moorhouse, Barbara Jefferis and Mandy Sayers. That's what's going to change our future. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: It's this epic four generational, linear story of grandmother, mother, Leah, daughter. I want to be a box office success. My mother was that drovers wife. For 30 years now she has been telling the story of her family, of her mother and grandmother. LEAH PURCELL is a proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland. She never saw her parents again. LEAH PURCELL: We went up to Mount Kosciuszko and you know, took in the beauty and then all of a sudden I yelled out, and this is true. ", Her father was a white man, the local butcher and boxing trainer, who lived with his white wife and three children on the other side of town. And then become the best at that. Bain was a champion kickboxer who ran a martial arts gym. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: Leah came down to do some local theatre in Brisbane. "I copied what Mum did . And while she sees her mother in Molly, there is also a lot of Purcells own resilience. We've done real jobs for a living, you know, like no disrespect to the to the mob that that do that but we're very happy doing what we're doing, thank you very much. Who's going to love her like a mother? Leah Purcell is a multi-award-winning and self-made author, playwright, actor, director, filmmaker, producer, screenwriter and showrunner. So one of my big dreams that I want to fulfil and I want to tick it off is I want to go to Hollywood. LEAH PURCELL: But I loved Wentworth, my gosh, the storylines like we had emotional storylines because we women and then we had kickass bad-ass moments, boss-bitch moments where we're beating people. ''No work now,'' declares two-and-a-half-year-old Raf when she gets home, leaping into her arms. Leah had 8 siblings: Stanley Purcell , Isabella Purcell and 6 other siblings . Credit:Bunya. But I thought if I killed myself and my daughter survived, I said, who's going to understand her. "I think I got my confidence from having nothing to lose. It's OK to have your black lens. The Drovers Wife by Leah Purcell.Credit: Were starting it in 2020 with Molly Johnsons great, great, great, great grand-daughter, she says. In 2019, she went on to write the bestselling novel, The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, which was adapted for the screen when Purcell made her directorial debut in the acclaimed film of the same name in 2022, for which she had also written, produced and starred as the titular character. Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Through family history, she had found that her great grandfather was Daniel Johnson, a white stockman who lived in the Aboriginal camp, and who had tried to save her grandmother from being stolen but had been unable to reach her. You weren't afraid to go, oh, I'm not too sure. She was my hero.. It was me putting her to bed. At the heart of her work are female and First Nation themes, characters and issues. Leah was 17 when she gave birth to her daughter Amanda. I never let it kill my dream. In 2014, Purcell wrote and starred in the play, The Drover's Wife, based on the original story by Henry Lawson. I didn't want that for her and this little voice said, 'didn't you want to be an actor?'". dead by daylight hooked on you release date leah purcell daughter amanda In January, her play - a radical postcolonial re-imagining of Henry Lawson's The Drover's Wife, which Purcell wrote and starred in - also took home the Victorian prize for literature which . Leah Maree Purcell AM (born 14 August 1970) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She was in the ABC drama Police Rescue. IN CINEMAS NOW, from Leah Purcell, named as one of the 100 figures shaping Australia's creative future. (Leah unveiling her plaque on the Australian Walk of Fame). So she directed across both of those series. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's Somewhere in the Darkness, which led to roles in films, such as, Lantana (2001), Somersault (2004), The Proposition (2005) and Jindabyne (2006). Id say, yeah, all right mate.. Man: No very often I say this you were good. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: Her head was always in the clouds, even in Murgon, even with the backdrop of everything that was going on in her life, she would dream of other things. Leah Purcell as Rita Connors in Wentworth.Credit:Fremantle/Fox. When I got my first laugh when I was 15, I went, the power in that. Last June, Leah was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for significant services to the performing arts, First Nations youth and culture, and to women. And then she was right. Leah: Gotta check camera B, just make sure we have the best of the best shot. Purcell kindergarten teacher Amanda Uhlenhake has been named the District-wide Teacher of the. It's about a drover's wife, sitting with her children in her shack waiting for a snake to leave the hut. Leah Purcell as The Drover's Wife / Belvoir. Csar Albarrn-Torres Amanda Barbour Tara Judah Abel Muoz-Hnonin Fiona Villella. Leah: Today I'm off to Government House and I am receiving a member of the Order of Australia Award medallion. Leah Purcell and Bain Stewart. All I can share is the truth in my family's stories, because that's all I know.". "Aboriginal people have survived since time began," she says. Man: If you're scared you should let them know. LEAH PURCELL: Once the play got up in 2016 at Belvoir Street. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: There's something very different about the Drover's Wife film, you know, it's not just your stock standard sort of western. If my ancestors want me to keep that issue alive until change actually happens then I hope that I can be a part of that journey., If my ancestors want me to keep that issue alive until change actually happens then I hope that I can be a part of that journey.. ", At barbecues, she would direct 20 cousins in a performance. Leah Purcell 's journey from a white man's 'secret' daughter to the Drover's Wife. Purcell is notable for her roles in several television drama series, including Police Rescue (1996), Fallen Angels (1997), Redfern Now (20122013), which earned her an AACTA Award, Janet King (2016), and perhaps her most recognisable television role being that of her AACTA and Logie Award-nominated performance as Rita Connors in the Foxtel prison drama series, Wentworth (20182021). Australian Story first met my mate Leah Purcell 20 years ago as a star was on the rise. My DNA is within it. Let's go. [Skip to the in conversation with Leah Purcell] An introduction to The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson. ", Actor and friend Deborah Mailman remembers the young Leah as having "long dreadlocks" and being "really strong". BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: If you were to say to me, 20 years ago, you know, you'd be producing films or TV or plays or negotiating publishing deals it would be laughable. I fell pregnant when I was 17 turned 18 in August my. Construction Worker: Last load to go Pete. To be proud of and to participate in. When I was at school, I hated it. The Drover's Wife is utterly authentic, brilliantly plotted, thoroughly harrowing and entirely of our times exploring race, gender, violence and inheritance. Leah, in character: So you're going to get Jenkins charges dropped. Her cousin set her up on a blind date with Bain Stewart and 30 years later they are still going strong. Leah, in character: C'mon here Steph. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday. Nah, I've already done that. "I come from the dirt, a sole parent's pension, and I'm proud. Credit: "We're starting it in 2020 with Molly Johnson's great, great, great, great grand-daughter," she says. I cannot think of any more fitting way to acknowledge her contribution to Australian film and culture than with a star on the Australian film walk of fame. And she was shipped out of her traditional lands in Mitchell and ended up at Cherbourg Boramba Mission. Grandkids all away. Good. Leah Purcell makes her entrance at breakfast in the hotel dining room as a seasoned . She never went to a NIDAs or an AFTRS or a Conservatorium of Music. And back ourselves in that. So she wasn't allowed to be black, but yet she still wasn't accepted in the white world. And then it took off. Let's go'. Leah's mother, Florence, was part of what she calls the "lost generation". (She is also one of five women who directed the anthology drama Here Out West in that CinefestOz competition.). And we touched hands and bang, bang, bang. LEAH PURCELL: What was beautiful about Wentworth is when I moved down to Melbourne to do the show for three months, my apartment was just this writing hub and I was finishing the screenplay for the film. She is also known for her writing and directing acrossRedfern Now Series 1 and 2, the children's TV series My Place, and the award-winning short films She.Say and Aunty Maggie and the Womba Wakgun. Books by Leah Purcell. Leah and I both had cousins that were trying to put us together so I roll up for this blind date and she's just stunning, beautiful, you know. I'm actor Deb Mailman. "She said to me, 'Without you, I'd be in the gutter'. So I think it was a breath of fresh air actually to see Leah sort of really take these roles with such guts and make them her own. In the great flourishing of Aboriginal cinema, such talented Indigenous women as Rachel Perkins, Beck Cole and Catriona McKenzie have directed Australian films, but only Tracey Moffatt has written, directed and starred in one before Purcell. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: She was bricking it, as they say, and and then it sort of came and it sort of went. She was escaping a violent relationship, grieving the death of her mother. I love youse . ", Leah has been researching her family history since she was 14. My mother was the drover's wife. Performing saved her from the consequences of heavy drinking that started . Her father was a butcher and a boxing trainer. so I'm excited by the way, they're going to go next. While she was writing she had her childhood copy of Henry Lawson's book on her desk. Leah Maree Purcell AM (born 14 August 1970) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist.She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's Somewhere in the Darkness, which led to roles in films, such as, Lantana (2001), Somersault (2004), The Proposition (2005) and Jindabyne (2006).. We did 12 takes on that and we had the distributors on set that day. Her directing credits for . Once again we meet a drover's wife, alone with her children in a harsh frontier landscape. "I was born to look after her. Vodka was my poison. The acclaimed Aboriginal actress, singer, and filmmaker rose from poverty in Australia's outback to become a household name in her country. And so I reminded her all of that. LEAH PURCELL: I was going to semi retire after I did the Drover's Wife play because I wanted to focus on my writing and directing and just really get my head around that. Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. And then, of course, fate steps in and I get a phone call and they say, we want you for Wentworth. Leah: Would it be a good thing to go through Molly's 2020 journey. June 30, 2002 10.00am. Her father was a butcher and a boxing trainer. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: I understood the language and what Leah was talking about. [9] She then wrote and directed the documentary film Black Chicks Talking, which won a 2002 Inside Film award. [12], In 2018, Purcell joined the cast of Foxtel drama series Wentworth as Rita Connors, a role originally portrayed by Glenda Linscott in Prisoner. However, she has added stories from her own Indigenous family as well as incorporating her own extensive historical research, which included talking to Aboriginal elders and owners of property in the Snowy Mountains, where the story is set. Kate Erbland Mar 18, . You know, first show to be written, directed, produced by First Nations artists. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: And then Clever Man comes up shortly after that. ai thinker esp32 cam datasheet And in cultural ways you have that thread of a Songline which connects you to country, to family, to culture. I never went to uni. Bruises heal. [3] She has said of the development of the stories:[17].mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}. I think I'm going to do a film. And he doesn't like you talking about Bain because he wants you to talk about Leah. Actress Leah Purcell appeared in a variety of films over the course of her Hollywood career. AUNTY BRONWYN PENRITH, ELDER AND CULTURAL ACTIVIST: She didn't look like an Aboriginal woman just being put in the place because it's an Aboriginal woman. My grandmother never had a voice. Ali tried to transfer $30 for his nephew's birthday. ", Leah would get her mother home from the pub, get her to bed, sit with her until she was asleep and breathing properly, frightened she might stop breathing altogether. You live another life when you become a character. You werent black enough to be black and you werent white enough to be white because they knew you were of Aboriginal descent, Purcell says. Their favourite was The Drover's Wife. Author of the iconic short story The Drovers Wife, Henry Lawson, c1900.Credit:State Library of NSW. ABC News. Jacqie rivera new house. No Yadaka you tell your story. "My DNA is within it. It was flagged as potentially breaching economic sanctions, Sherpa are world famous for their work, which is synonymous with their name. ", If she stayed, her only option would have been working in the local abattoir, her days a cycle of drinking and the domestic violence she had lived with since she was 14. [11] She went on to appear in three 2004 films, Somersault, The Proposition and Jindabyne, as well as playing the role of Condoleezza Rice in David Hare's play, Stuff Happens in Sydney and Melbourne. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: Animals, kids, period piece. She was pregnant at 17. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's Somewhere in the Darkness, which led to roles in films, such as, Lantana (2001), Somersault (2004), The Proposition (2005) and Jindabyne (2006). My mum's dead, so there was nothing keeping me in this town. 'The Drover's Wife', Henry Lawson's version is part of my songlines. I think it was the first time I could use my imagination and I put myself as that little boy, she says. But we just got to empower ourselves, empower each other. She is a proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from QLD. Leah, in character: I made some pretty dumb choices. Life's for living, so just get out there and have a go. Leah Purcell is a proud Goa-Gungarri-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland, Australia. LEAH PURCELL: I was given the opportunity to collaborate on my character's story and of course, the Indigenous component so I went, gosh, what a gift. Leah wrote, directed and starred as Molly in the film, in an unflinching performance. But we have just got to empower ourselves, empower each other. "They are a formidable team; they complement each other so beautifully. Got a blackfella to do it before and the bastard stacked it hollow and a snake got it. "It would start a whole Drover's Wife journey for me. Leah Maree Purcell AM (born 14 August 1970) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. Zodiac. Supplied: Oombarra Productions/Bain Stewart, These 'ordinary' Australians shared incredible stories and made a difference, How a 21yo man with the code name 'Svyat' smuggled residents past Putin's private army, Anna called police to report an assault, but they took out a family violence order against her. Mrs Joe Johnson. "What she is doing is paying homage to her grandmother and her great grandmother and her mum, what they went through to allow her to have the life she has now," Bain says. I was tired," Leah says. So it's exciting that this that this classic story that I've reimagined has lots of lots of life in it still. LEAH PURCELL: And I am in a time in my life where I've got all these vehicles to be loud, to be proud, to push the agendas that I want to push. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: And everywhere she looked she had an ally. Leah Purcell is a proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka woman born and bred in Murgon, Queensland. LEAH PURCELL: And he said, 'So why don't let's sleep on it. PAULINE CLAGUE, FILMMAKER AND ACADEMIC: I call it a contemporary songline that she's creating for herself. Leah, in character: No no no. This is an Australian story and I want my Australian audience to own this: Writer, director and actor Leah Purcell, who has interpreted a classic Henry Lawson short story for the film The Drovers Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson.Credit:Louise Kennerley. And she always says it would be criminal if I didn't grab it with both hands by my teeth and take, take these advantages. . In 2014, Purcell wrote and starred in the play, The . Then Leah would recreate the movie in the wardrobe mirror in her bedroom. [2], In 1996 she moved to Sydney to become presenter on a music video cable television station, RED Music Channel. Leah, in character: Ruby's out you're fighting me. Leah was 17 when she gave birth to her daughter, Amanda. ", She would give them the voices they never had, shouting them as loudly as she could. She . I think, you know, just be brave. To make people cry. Purcell is well known for acting in the TV dramas Redfern Now (2012-13), Janet King (2016) and Wentworth (2018-21), the films Lantana (2001), The Proposition (2005) and Jindabyne (2006), the semi-autobiographical play Box the Pony (1997) and the documentary Black Chicks Talking (2001), which she co-directed then adapted into a book and a stage show. Purcell is the first Indigenous woman to write, direct and star in her own feature film, The Drovers Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson. LEAH PURCELL: Because I believe that if you call Australia home, this ancient culture is yours as well. Leah Purcell as The Drover's Wife in Belvoir's 2016 production. [31], Purcell's partner is Bain Stewart, who is also her business partner in Oombarra Productions. She raised her seven children and two nephews, she looked after her own mother for 20 years. In Year 10 at Murgon High School she gained the role of Gloria, the secretary in Bye Bye Birdie. Then Bain came home with a surprise a book deal with Random House. All the time she was watching and learning:"I never sit in the green room. Housing policies favour the rich and leave first home buyers high and dry. Well, at least, you know, her childhood. And that put me back onto the path of this isn't right for me. Directed theatre on all the main stages in Australia. And I thought, if I did that well, all of this pain, all of this confusion, I said, doesn't it all just go away? Submit your Australian Story now. Finally, the woman on the autocue noticed she had trouble reading and helped her. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: Mate, I've worked in the building game and Leah and I have both worked in meat works. Before Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman Leah Purcell was a Logie-nominated actress and a four-time NSW Premier's Literary Award-winning writer, she was a teenager growing up in Murgon, a rural Queensland town 270 kilometres north-west of Brisbane. 461 following. Leah: Their love was deep as the highest peak to the lowest valley and as wild as the Snowy River. So we really related on that. I saw my mother as that drover's wife. She's directed scores of episodic TV. While she loved growing up in Murgon her father was a butcher of German and English stock who trained boxers, her Aboriginal mother raised seven children it was a tough upbringing with her light-skinned family experiencing racism from both sides. Bring baby Jess. And the actor is not done with The Drovers Wife yet. ", But she knew she could never leave her mother. You know, I love this landscape. Do I need to conquer it? The Drover's Wife The Legend Of Molly Johnson is Leah's debut feature film which premiered at SXSW as part of their Narrative Spotlight programme in March 2021. Very large text size. I yelled out. You know, I've got my name in the car park, you know. McCord has her hair soaking wet, and she is holding a glass of red wine. Its always challenging when youre on location because of time and money. Man: One action straight through, shoulder and hip. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: There are some themes that are in a lot of Leah's work. And we realised that we were sort of pretty. [14], Purcell developed stories in three different media based on the short story by Henry Lawson published in 1892,[15] which Purcell recalls her mother reading to her. She was in a relationship where she couldn't express herself. Leah, in character: And didn't little Leah Purcell look grand. There was domestic violence. Purcell's versions centres around Molly, who is left alone on a remote homestead while heavily pregnant and having to care for her four children while her husband is away droving cattle. Leah Purcell: Everything in my life is a challenge, . I was in the C group. Who is Leah Purcell Husband. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: She's always wanted to direct and in the early 2010s she feels like she's ready to make that transition so she directs on Redfern now. Photographer: And shift your weight back and head back and chin up a bit. Even then she had confidence that was at odds with being beaten down as a teenager. She was being honoured by the very establishment that only two generations ago had treated her family as if they were barely human. She is an actor, writer and director. She was a staunch woman and she had a lot of stuff thrown at her and she survived, she says. Id walk out and go, Ive got my shot list, weve got a plan, what are you going to throw at me Mother Nature?, Rob Collins (Yadaka) and Malachi Dower-Roberts (Danny Johnson)Credit:John Platt. LEAH PURCELL: In our very early stages of our relationship when we did have a first our first dispute, he said, 'Stop'. "I'd want to get home. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: In 2005, We were doing the Jindabyne film with Ray Lawrence and Leah said, I love this landscape. Leah Purcell was born on 1970-08-14. What's your Australian Story? If I could perform something or recite something, I was fine. An incident sets her on a path of going back and discovering.. That's all gone now, now they get drunk and they flog their women to prove that they are a man and we stand there and take it to be initiated as women. "I just made my mind up that I was going to do it for myself and my daughter. Although no one believes me but my daughter was planned. First film writing, directing, lead actor. It took me nearly 12 to 15 years to psychologically get that pattern out of my life. Escaping her abusive relationship at 19, she threw her belongings into her "little yellow . I didn't know how; it was just a need. "I was listening to her dreams and aspirations, and then it all took off," he says. [10] She appeared as Claudia in the Australian film Lantana for which role she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress by Sydney-based Film Critics Circle of Australia; she lost to Daniela Farinacci. Master of Ceremonies: Miss Leah Maree Purcell. So I can't wait to see what's ahead and what she's going to bring because I think she's only just getting started. My job was to protect her and look after her. From then on, the industry knew her as a wonderful sort of writer/director. "You have to confront those issues where there's anger within you. "We lived through two Ice Ages and we're going to survive again. I want to make a Hollywood movie. LEAH PURCELL: Aboriginal people have survived since time began. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: My mother's Aboriginal and my dad's, white Aussie. Posted By was tasha cobbs husband married before in floridita washington heights menu 25. She was four-foot-nothing but she was unreal. Email the writer at gmaddox@smh.com.au and follow him on Twitter at @gmaddox. She taught me to split the logs into chips. STEPHEN PAGE, ARTISITIC DIRECTOR BANGARRA: Someone said geez that Leah Purcell's ambitious and yeah we have every right to be. ", "I don't think you can talk about Leah, her life and her work, without acknowledging Bain," DebMailman says. Leah: I don't come to block anything darling until I come to put it on and go oh no not as awesome as I thought it would look! Nhn hiu; Sng ch; Kiu dng cng nghip For her work, she has won several awards, including a Helpmann Award, AACTA Award, and Asia Pacific Screen Awards Jury Grand Prize. To my daughter Amanda for putting up with me for far too long. [17][30], In June 2022, Purcell was honoured with a star on Winton's Walk of Fame, which was unveiled during The Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival. Leahs life could have turned out very differently. Her latest offering is the feature film The Drover's WifeThe Legend of Molly Johnson. She can't not tell stories. We haven't unpacked, let's just get out of here. After a difficult adolescence, looking after her sick mother who died while Leah was in her late teens, problems . You've got to be real here. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: Fast forward like a decade and the opportunity that we got through the Balnaves Foundation and Belvoir. "I'm a truth-teller. Home; Uncategorized; leah purcell daughter amanda; Posted on January 19, 2023; By . She's, she's already doing it. [27][17], At the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards held in November 2021, she was awarded the Jury Grand Prize for her film The Drover's Wife,[28] "not just for her singular vision in writing, directing, producing and starring in the film but for the journey to bring this remarkable story, viewed through the lens of a First Nations woman to the screen in its entirety". So I want to use [film] to bring stories to the forefront and be a truthteller.. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: Because I never came from that background at all. And I want Ruby Mitchell transferred out of Wentworth. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: I said to Leah, there's a film in this as well. Bain: And then the new love interest is going to throw a spanner in the works in a good way. In early TV presenting jobs, Leah had to phone a friend at home to find out what some of the words meant. [00:20:17] Leah Purcell Television directing and film directing - there is a difference and its time and money because there's more of it, and well, not that we had a lot, but there's more of it, and you can afford time to allow an actor to find whatever they need to find for that moment a little more. ( Supplied: Leah Purcell ) When Leah left Murgon she had three bags, a baby on her hip, a tank full of petrol and nothing left to lose. Pending lockdown, Sydney Film Festival runs August 18-29 with the full program to be announced soon. Now she's putting her history on the big screen. Salary in 2020. And I've sung up business on it. She was born to a black mother and a white father who did not publicly acknowledge her as his daughter. Can we go home? She is the youngest of seven children of Aboriginal Australian descent. You go half pace.' Photograph: Brett Boardman. How did it come to this? Scientists hope to learn new tricks from dogs from radioactive Chernobyl, Prime Minister dismisses Greens' calls to expand scale of super changes, Alex Murdaugh handed two life sentences for murder of wife, son, Bakhmut under siege as Ukrainian defenders consider retreat, International drug operation stops $1b worth of cocaine, Magnificent aurora australis stuns stargazers in Western Australia, How to spot greenwashing terms in fashion, food and cosmetics, Newly-engineered varieties of fruits to land in Australia, 54 people drowned on the Australian coast over summer period. My mother had a wood heap at the back. He was very open to having those conversations and he told me his truth and I told him my truth. bashas donuts ingredients. But it is her politically charged interpretation of Lawsons famous short story that has taken her to new acclaim. VO: Flowers for Leah Purcell to admire and $20,000 to fund her dream to write a major stage play. Hey ladies! It just resonated with me. It's in her DNA. It is estimated that Purcell's net worth falls somewhere in the range of $4 million to $6 million. I'd sing with Whitney Houston, dance with Janet Jackson. Stream this episode on ABC iview and YouTube, ABC feature article | Leah Purcell was part of 'the secret family on the other side of town'. BAIN STEWART, PARTNER: There's a maturity now in this Australian storytelling about the Indigenous experience, a large reason for that is it's blackfellas telling blackfella stories and there's blackfellas in front of the camera and behind. Purcells mother would read the story to her when she was five years old. Her daughter, Amanda, is temporarily living with Purcell and her husband of two decades, Bain Stewart. By nine years of age Leah had a drinking problem, by 14 she was in an abusive relationship and by 17 she was pregnant. Detective Elliot El Stabler Sr. And shes also found out that her film The Drovers Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson has been selected for opening night of the Melbourne International Film Festival, the $60,000 competition for courageous, audacious and cutting-edge cinema at Sydney Film Festival and the $100,000 competition at CinefestOz in Western Australia.