The Secret River

The Secret River is an epic tragedy in which a good man is compelled by desperation, fear, ambition and love for his family to participate in a crime of inhuman savagery. Through the deeply personal story of early convict colonists William Thornhill and his wife Sal, The Secret River raises the question of when two worlds collide, who is wrong and who is right? The dispossession of Indigenous Australians is made comprehensible and ultimately heart breaking, as Thornhill's claim over a piece of land by a beautiful river brings his family and neighbours into a fight for survival with its traditional custodians. The Secret River is a landmark television miniseries based on Kate Grenville's, Man Booker Prize nominated bestselling novel of the same name, from two of Australia's most talented and internationally successful screenwriters Jan Sardi and Mac Gudgeon. In 1813, after serving eight years of a life sentence in the penal colony of New South Wales, convict Will Thornhill and his wife Sal stake a claim of land on the remote and beautiful Hawkesbury River. But Sal develops a life threatening illness and misunderstandings with the local Indigenous people overshadow their new life.