Storm Boy

Clip 2: ‘Wild things should be free’

Taken from the feature Storm Boy (1976)

Original title classification G – this clip chosen to be G

Please be aware that this clip may contain the names, images and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may now be deceased.

Curator’s clip description

Mike (Greg Rowe) is overjoyed when Mr Percival, his pet pelican, returns after being set free.

Curator’s notes

Some of the most charming scenes in the film as boy and bird become inseparable.

Paul Byrnes, curator

Teachers’ notes

provided by The Le@rning Federation

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This clip shows ‘Hideaway’ Tom Kingsley (Peter Cummins) trying to comfort a despondent ‘Storm Boy’ (Greg Rowe) after he has released the pelican Mr Percival into the wild. As Tom gruffly explains to his son that wild things should be free, Mr Percival’s call is heard. Storm Boy rushes up the beach toward the bird, while his father looks on. This is followed by a sequence showing Storm Boy and Mr Percival together, which demonstrates the bond between the two but also underscores how important Mr Percival is as a companion to Storm Boy.

Educational value points

The clip shows scenes from the feature film Storm Boy. Released in 1976, the film was an immediate commercial success in Australia and overseas. Based on a popular children’s book by Australian author Colin Thiele, it uses the overlapping themes of alienation, marginalisation and loss that connect Storm Boy, his father Hideaway Tom, Fingerbone Bill and the pelicans to tackle issues such as black and white relations, family and environmentalism.

Storm Boy’s dependence on Mr Percival and the symbiotic nature of their relationship are well illustrated. Until Mr Percival’s appearance, Storm Boy lives a secluded life with his reclusive father in an isolated coastal town, where he has no companions of his own age and his only entertainment is self-made. When Storm Boy rescues and rears Mr Percival, the bird provides the boy with companionship and an emotional bond.

The orphaned pelicans that Storm Boy rears and then sets free provide a powerful allegory about the use and respect of the natural environment, and the need for people to coexist with, rather than spoil, this environment. Hideaway Tom shows he understands this when he says ‘Wild things should be free’.

The exteriors of Storm Boy were shot in the Coorong wetlands, south-east of Adelaide in South Australia. The wetlands cover 140,500 hectares and consist of a long, shallow lagoon more than 100 km in length that is separated from the Southern Ocean by a narrow sand dune peninsula. It is one of Australia’s most important wetlands, providing a habitat for many animals and a refuge for waterbirds.

The clip celebrates the pleasure Storm Boy takes in his environment. While he eventually has to accept the incursions of the outside world, the film suggests that the wetlands are as much of a sanctuary for the boy as they are for the wildlife, with the wetlands allowing him to pursue simple pleasures such as sailing a homemade wooden raft with Mr Percival.

Mr Percival is an Australian pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus), common to Australian wetlands and recognisable by its distinctive elongated bill, with its massive throat pouch, which is used for feeding. Pelicans grow up to 1.8 m long with a wingspan that can extend to 2.5 m, making them Australia’s largest flying birds. Three pelicans were trained for several months before production of Storm Boy began.

Actor David Gulpilil is shown in the role of Fingerbone Bill. Storm Boy was one of the first Australian films to cast an Indigenous Australian as a central character and in a positive role. Fingerbone Bill teaches Storm Boy about the land, the sea and Indigenous people and the friendship that develops between the two offers an alternative model for black–white relations based on cooperation and respect rather than distrust.