It was written and directed by Nick Parsons, and starred Bryan Brown, Angie Milliken, Ernie Dingo, Aaron Pedersen and John Jarratt.
[2] As a play,[3] the piece was staged by Belvoir St Theatre, directed by Neil Armfield, at the Eveleigh rail yards, Sydney, in 1994.
The film explores the strained and complex relations between the people of the town in the aftermath, amidst growing tensions of forbidden love, sacrilege and murder.
Nick Parsons wrote a script called Dead Heart based on the true story of an Aboriginal who killed someone in the 1930s for traditional reasons.
Parsons was not happy with it but decided to rewrite the story as a play when he attended National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).