This 1981 drama is drawn from the classic Australian novel by Mrs Aeneas Gunn, We of the Never Never. She called it a novel -- it was really her own life, very lightly disguised. It's an outstanding true Australian outback drama of how a pioneer woman battled isolation, hardship and prejudice.

In 1901 young Jeannie Taylor married Aeneas Gunn, and travelled with him to Elsey, a cattle station 480 km outside of Darwin, where he took up the post of Station Manager.

This was a man's world, and Jeannie was said by everyone save Aeneas to be out of place - and even he had doubts initially. But she gradually won all the station-hands over, by her fine horsemanship, her practicality and sense of humour.

More importantly, she set out to discover all she could about the society of the Aboriginals who lived around the station, in particular the women and children. She struck a deep and lasting rapport, and virtually adopted one child, Bett-Bett. She had successfully combated prejudice against herself for being a woman -- and now she was tackling another type of prejudice, one which is still entrenched in our society.

Sadly, after just 13 months at the Station, her husband Aeneas died of malarial dysentery, and Jeannie had to return South. But her experiences stayed firmly with her, and the two books she wrote, The Little Black Princess (about Bett-Bett) and We of the Never Never, remain classics.

This is a fine adaptation of Jeannie Gunn's novel. The accompanying documentary on this DVD shows just how hard location-shooting was. But the result shows that all the efforts were worthwhile. There are no unecessary dramatics injected into the story -- this quiet movie tells a tale about a very special type of Australian heroism, at a time when the character of our nation was still being defined by people such as Mrs Aeneas Gunn.

This is a first-rate anamorphic transfer of the widescreen Technovision movie, and it serves well the great vision of cinematographer Gary Hansen. Colours are not overly vibrant, but capture perfectly the slightly washed-out and dusty tones of the Outback. The mono soundtrack is a bit primitive at times, but most of the time serves the dialogue and music well.

The extras include an Isolated Music Score, which composer Peter Best's fine Australian-flavoured themes deserves.

There's a 25-minute Making Of feature entitled Back to the Never Never, which features great original location footage, and modern interviews with actors Angela Punch-McGregor, Arthur Dignam, director Igor Auzins, composer Peter Best and Co-Producer John B. Murray. This is one of the better examples of this type of documentary, a world away from the typical self-flattering American schmooze.

Most interesting though is a special bonus Short Film -- Walkabout Documentary, which is a 23-minute film compiled from two films shot by Australian ethnologist C.P. Mountford in 1940 and 1942.

He travelled into Central Australia for the University of Adelaide to film aspects of the life of the Western Pitjantjatjara people, meeting Aboriginals who may have never seen a white man before. Mountford is, for his time, free of condenscension, and gives valuable insights into a fast-disappearing way of life. The film is faded, but its antique colours suit its subject well. This is a great bonus.

The photo gallery is better than most. These are full-screen images which a rostrum camera pans across and into to create a semblance of movement, and the images are presented to a setting of soundtrack music. This slide-show presentation lasts for almost four minutes.

The final extra is a long original theatrical trailer (3.37 minutes) which is presented in anamorphic widescreen, but which shows wear in both image and sound quality.