Coopers Crossing

(1.14) Departures

2014-05-19T08:46:00.002+10:00

1.14 Departures by Graham Hartley

Summary: A drunk man wakes up angry and goes berserk in a bar. Jack and Tom are fetched to see to him. It appears the man has some kind of bi-annual drinking binges. His wife is fed up and wants to live him, and his station manager has stolen 15 unbranded calves from Baxter, and now Baxter wants them back. Meanwhile in Coopers Crossing, Sharon has been accepted to do a two-year training course in Sydney, which will allow her to become a social worker. While everyone's happy for her sake, Gibbo, Vic and Nance have difficulties trying to let her go. Gibbo because the two are such good friends, and the Buckleys have always treated her as their own daughter. Sharon argues with Gibbo about going, but they make up in the end. Sharon visits the mission to see her family and ask her grandmother's advice. The episode ends with Sharon and the fed up wife on the bus heading out of town.

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(1.13) A Choice of Enemies

2014-05-19T07:40:00.003+10:00

1.13 A Choice of Enemies by Judy Colquhoun

Summary: Adrian Bailey, the hippie-type son of successful (read: rich) businessman Rex Bailey, is travelling the Outback on a bicycle. He eats some red berries, and lands himself in hospital, from which he soon checks himself out and heads off again, despite being urged not to. A journalist (a friend of Chris's) is in the area, interviewing George Baxter, a couple of sheep station owners and the doctors. The farmers are on the verge of needing to sell up because of the economic climate. Adrian falls down a slope, and because his battery wasn't charged up whilst in town (it was nearly flat to begin with), his call isn't picked up. When he's found, Tom has to decide whether to save the reckless rich boy or a 7-year-old boy with severe burns. Tom saves the boy and Adrian dies. The journalist writes a negatively slanted article, prompting an angry Rex Bailey to show up. Sharon tells him she would have done the same, because Adrian chose to be where he was, and he had been warned not to go out there. Bailey relents.

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(1.12) E.T. - New Girl in Town

2014-05-17T10:00:00.000+10:00

1.12 E.T. - New Girl in Town by Vincent Gil

Summary: Tom and Gibbo are out in the plane when they're struck with bad weather and have to make an emergency landing. They land in a place where there's no homestead, according to the maps, but there is a shack occupied by a hostile man, Brian, and a sick, old woman on her deathbed. The old woman asks Tom to take her granddaughter Amanda back with them. The man says the woman has been making things up for weeks. Tom and Gibbo end up having to spend the night because of bad weather. As it turns out, Amanda is a young teenager. They get her back to the Crossing (being chased by the man wielding an axe all the way to the plane), but it's difficult for her to fit in, having lived so remote and sheltered all her life. Then Brian shows up in town, with a shotgun, and ends up killing himself when Amanda doesn't want to go back with him.

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(1.11) Do You Read Me

2014-05-17T09:07:00.000+10:00

1.11 Do You Read Me by Galia Hardy

Summary: We meet Mrs Cook, a School of the Air teacher, and her teenage daughter Margie. Margie is dating Max and asks Chris to get the pill, and Chris prescribes it without hesitation. When Margie goes to get the prescription fulfilled, she's overheard by Violet, and soon half the town knows about the girl and her supposedly immoral behaviour. Meanwhile, Mrs Cook is courted by George, who decides to help - and is told to back off. There's also a winch bursting, dropping some heavy pipes on a drill worker, and Kate, Tom, Gibbo and Max (who was helping out) have to clear a path for the plane to land. Margie then suspects she's pregnant and she and Max try to run away to get it checked out by a doctor somewhere else but get into a car crash, and Margie loses the baby.

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(1.10) Talk of the Town

2012-06-30T01:01:00.000+10:00

1.10 Talk of the Town by Mary Dagmar Davies

Summary: Tom and Chris, trying to spend some time alone together now that they've decided to try being a couple, struggle to find privacy - even when swimming at Evans' Dam. Tom is invited to speak at a conference in New York City, but decides not to go when he finds out the invitation was orchestrated by Liz (Series 0). Violet is diagnosed with diabetes, but doesn't want to accept it. She's forced to eventually change her mind. Emma tries to sort out the garage's finances by asking people for the money they owe. A bruised Ron returns from Sydney, only to find that Hurtle is leaving to go working at the oil fields and is leaving Emma in charge of the garage.

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(1.09) Rally to the Cause

2012-06-29T01:33:00.002+10:00

1.09 Rally to the Cause by Peter Herbert

Summary: The London to Sydney rally comes to town. The Australian car is first, but has an accident which puts the French car in the lead and moves the New Zealand car into third. The New Zealand car is driven by a woman who Gibbo takes a shine to. The French driver makes soufflé for Chris and Tom realises he's jealous. Kate tries to tell Tom she fanicies him, but he completely misses it, as he's too wrapped up in being jealous of the French guy. Someone sabotages the New Zealand car and Chris and Tom finally kiss - for real, this time. Hurtle's niece Emma shows up in town ...

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(1.08) Sins of the Fathers

2012-06-28T04:37:00.001+10:00

1.08 Sins of the Fathers by Peter Pinney

Summary: Violet's organising a fancy dress party. A woman with airs shows up at a clinic with her pregnant niece, but something seems fishy. As it turns out, the pregnant young woman isn't a niece at all, but a woman who has got paid to be a surrogate mother to a childless couple. The would-be father actually did the deed himself, rather than insemanating her. They didn't go for an adoption because "people would talk". In Coopers Crossing, a mum with a whole horde of unruly children has come to give birth to yet another one, and the townsfolk have to look after the five kids she's brought with her. When babysitting, Ron shows them his own special crackers, and in a bid to save the youngest child from getting blown up by one, he throws himself over the home-made bomb as it explodes, rendering him unconscious and badly injured. After giving birth, the surrogate mum decides to take the baby and run, but eventually is persuaded to see reason and hand the baby over to his father. The fancy dress party goes ahead like planned, and everyone says good-bye to Ron, who is flown to Sydney for special treatment.

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(1.07) Square Pegs

2012-06-18T19:19:00.000+10:00

1.07 Square Pegs by Howard Griffiths

Summary: Chris comes second in a shooting competition. Someone's broken into the Nomad only to steal a particular kind of painkiller. Turns out to be the son of the farmer who won the shooting competition (for the 6th year running), who is depressed because his mother left him and he's not living up to his father's expectations. The boy's good at playing violin, not sheep shearing, but his father won't realise they're two different people. The boy ends up shooting himself in the shoulder by accident. On the outskirts of town, a woman with emphysema has set up camp with her mentally disabled adult son. The son ends up introducing himself to everyone in town, and when his mother dies, he's shipped off to an aunt who can look after him, as he can't look after himself.

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(1.06) Is Nothing Sacred

2012-06-16T11:16:00.000+10:00

1.06 Is Nothing Sacred by Peter Schreck

Summary: Aboriginal land rights activist Debbie Wilson comes to town to "stir up trouble" as most people see it. There's possibly a sacred site somewhere in the area, and she's there to investigate. If there is, it spells trouble for George Baxter, who pays an old man, Don Shepherd, to keep quiet about it. Shepherd manages to dodge Wilson for quite some time, until the two head off into the bush. He shows her some cliff paintings she correctly identifies as fakes - in fact, Shepherd painted them himself to convince Baxter there's a sacred site there ... so he can receive the payments for keeping quiet about it, and pass it on to the local tribe. In town, because of the presence of Aboriginees, there are racistic clashes. Violet turns out to hold her own, while Vic bends to the will of the whites, with a bar brawl ensuing. Wilson and Tom end up having a fling, and Tom gets so worked up about Baxter and his racist attitudes that he eventually takes him outside and punches him.

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(1.05) Public Property

2012-06-16T10:59:00.000+10:00

1.05 Public Property by Denise Morgan

Summary: The Hayes brothers are driving into town to meet up with the younger brother's penpal fiancée. As he's driving while being drunk, they have an accident (minor scratches), and get a stern talking to by the doctors for wasting valuable time. When the bus arrives, carrying the woman he's never met but is meant to be marrying, Bruce Hayes gets the shock of his life - the woman's heavily pregnant! She didn't say anything about that in her letters ... and so he refuses to marry her. The woman ends up marrying the older Hayes brother, who's now taken a shine to her, belly and all. Both Gibbo and Chris think Tom works too much and decide to stop off in Broken Hill, claiming there's something up with the plane, when in fact Chris has planned to take Tom for a swim as he needs to learn to relax. In town, there's an annual fundraiser for the RFDS - a "boat" race - followed by a bar brawl. Tom keeps getting badgered about being in the organising committee, and Violet isn't too happy when Chris goes in his stead.

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(1.04) Dreams of Sand

2012-06-16T10:41:00.000+10:00

1.04 Dreams of Sand by Peter Hepworth

Summary: Gibbo finally gets thrown out of the Majestic and moves in with Tom. Vic is concerned about Sharon's reputation and wants Gibbo to stop seeing her, even if nothing's actually going on between them. Hurtle, the garage owner, returns from his stay in Surfer's Paradise - only to say that he's not staying. He wants to sell the shop and move up there permanently, because he's met a woman - who then shows up in town only to dump him. Ron saves Hurtle from a snake bite. Out in the bush, old man Rabbit is mining for opals and keeps getting injured. When the mine half caves in and he's taken to hospital, Chris wants to move him to a retirement home for his own good, but Tom urges her to listen to her patient's wishes.

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(1.03) Hot Enough for You

2012-06-15T22:02:00.003+10:00

1.03 Hot Enough for You by Vince Moran

Summary: There's a heatwave, which Chris finds difficult to cope with, as she's not used to the heat of the Outback. A Scottish couple with three children who seem to want to stay clear of the police show up in town, asks Ray the mechanic if he knows of any jobs available, and he recommends a place, but the family gets lost on the way. The father goes off to try and find help and is found unconscious and injured and taken to hospital, while his family remains by the car. When he finally comes to, he says his family is still out there, so they arrange a search party. The mother and baby are found in the car, but the boys aren't there, they've wandered off, so the search continues until they're found: one brother sitting with the other one lying dead in his lap. The couple had a dream of living in Australia, but have over-stayed and their visas have expired. The mother doesn't want to stay in the country where one of her children met his end. At the Majestic Hotel (where the rooms are anything but majestic!), Gibbo has been keeping Zeppelin in secret, with Sharon taking him out during the day. Vic isn't pleased (he thinks flirty Gibbo is trying to seduce innocent Sharon) and evicts him when he finds out.

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(1.02) Trial by Gossip

2010-04-03T10:57:00.000+11:00

1.02 Trial by Gossip by Christine McCourt

Summary: Speeding through the Outback in a white, convertible car is the new pilot, David Gibson with his dog Zeppelin. He arrives in Coopers Crossing only to find the other newcomer, Chris, not just viewed with suspicion anymore, but downright hated and feared. Gossip is rife - she has crippled a man by amputating his leg. Surely she's not competent to do her job as a doctor, and if only she had made the decision to take off in the bad weather, his leg could have been saved. George Baxter, a friend of the amputee, convinces the man he should sue Chris for malpractice. On one of the clinic runs, Chris has to stay the night. The four-year-old girl of the house keeps coughing, but the mother won't let Chris have a look, even when the coughing turns into a difficulty to breathe. Meanwhile, Gibbo has come up with a plan to convince George that the neglected airstrip was in such bad condition that the plane couldn't possibly have taken off in a storm. The plan works and George ends up convincing the mother to let Chris do a tracheotomy to save the child's life. Town gossip Violet tries to find out why American Liz left Tom, and orders Ray to have a man-to-man with him.

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(1.01) Will to Survive

2010-03-22T03:37:00.001+11:00

1.01 Will to Survive by Tony Morphett

Summary: Chris Randall arrives in Coopers Crossing to take up her new position as a doctor for the Royal Flying Doctors Service. Much to (nearly) everyone's surprise, she's a woman, and the patients around the district do not exactly welcome the new "Doc" with open arms - she's a woman doing "a man's job" and therefore regarded with much suspicion. All new doctors are viewed with great suspicion, but with her being a woman, she gets it even worse than usual. With Tom busy in the operating theatre, she flies out with nurse Kate and temp pilot Ray to see a man whose leg has been crushed - two days ago (it's a big station). The weather deteriorates, the man hasn't looked after his airstrip and it makes it unsafe to take off. As he can survive with an operation, they go back to the house and Chris performs the operation... an amputation. The other part of the plot centres around a man who's wife left him ("shot through" as they say), and who has two older and two younger sons. One of the older ones lives in the City, where he's gone to study, so the other one is left to look after his younger brothers. The father has given up, drinks too much and has landed himself with some sort of ulcer - it's him that's under the knife keeping Tom busy.

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