The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

Jimmie Blacksmith (Tommy Lewis) is a young Indigenous half-caste raised in central New South Wales at the turn of the century, initiated by his tribe but also educated by a stern Methodist minister (Jack Thompson). Looking to gain respectability in the European society, Jimmy finds a white bride while performing back-breaking work on local farms, but cannot escape his skin colour, suffering ongoing racism and oppression. Discovering that he may not be the father of his wife’s child, and fired without pay, Jimmie explodes into a fury of violent revenge and escapes to the bush with his brother, Mort, trailing a bloody path of retribution upon the society that has forsaken him.

In 1901, the year Australian democracy is born, Jimmie Blacksmith finally faces his fate, and with it, the fate of his people.