The movie was inspired by the documentary Black Tracker (1997). Directed by Michael Riley, it was about his grandfather, Alex Riley.
Inspired by the advertisement and by a documentary about Indigenous Australian Aboriginal tracker Alex Rileyin Dubbo
in the 1930s which was executive produced by Rachel Perkins, composer Mairead
Hannan put together a creative team consisting of musicians and songwriters
Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody and screenwriter John Romeril. The creative
team took a workshop approach to the script. Hannan, Kelly and Carmody
started making the music, which then got refined through Romeril's script. At
the start, Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody were each given a character to develop
without thinking Kelly would necessarily play "the father", with Kelly and
Hannan writing the part of "the mother" together. The rest of the characters
and compositions were mostly written by Hannan.
When Rachel Perkins became involved as director in early 1999, she started
focusing on a different aspect of the story: the emotional journey of the
parents. Composer Mairead
Hannan said: "Initially the film was about Tracker Riley.
His story is really intriguing, but when you get deep into what is this story
about - the loss of a child - it becomes clear that it is more the mother's story.
The father is the ignorant, and she is the one who finally saves the day."
MusicArtsDancefilms (MAD) producer Aanya Whitehead agreed with this approach and said "Rachel really worked through
the last draft, and gave the film a stronger point-of-view." Paul Kelly added: "It is a story of knowledge offered and knowledge rejected, and the consequences that come from that and that has great
resonance for the history of both blacks and whites in this country."
First dramatic screen performance of actor-singer Paul Kelly.
Michael Riley was the original choice for director.