The Fringe Dwellers

This adaptation of Nene Gar's novel about contemporary life among the Aborigines of Australia shows them as outcasts in their own country, despised by the whites, disinclined to work at what menial jobs they can get, and with a big partiality for hitting the booze. The Comeaway family is persuaded by their 15-year-old daughter Trilby (Nehm) to move from the shantytown where they live to a new estate. She is determined not to fall into the same overbreeding, underachieving trap as the women around her, but finds that events seem constantly to be conspiring against her. Beresford evidently feels considerable sympathy with the Aborigines, but this is tinged with despair at their apparent penchant for self-destruction. The film never really jells, but is notable for an engaging performance from Nehm.