No Sugar

Jimmy is released from jail and waits at the Chief Protector Neville’s office. He asks Neville for a train voucher so he can travel home and is told that he will have to ask inside. When Jimmy complains, Neville tells him that it is easier to catch flies with sugar than with vinegar. He goes inside and leaves Jimmy without a way to go home. 

Inside the office, Neville and the constable read newspapers and magazines, discussing trivial matters while Jimmy waits outside in the cold. Jimmy comes in and tells Miss Dunn that he needs a voucher. She tells Neville this several times and Neville says Jimmy will just have to wait. Finally, he is annoyed enough to give Jimmy the travel voucher. In a show of defiance, Jimmy then says he’s going to wait around and take a later train. The racist attitude of the white men is escalating: the constable answers the phone by saying, “Niggers Department.” 

Elsewhere at the Police Station, Gran and Milly discover that the rations have been cut even further. The sergeant tells them that meat is no longer included because of the depression. They ask for more blankets and tell him that Cissie is sick, but he is unmoved. 

Jimmy has returned. Back in camp, he, Sam, and Joe come up with a plan to address the dwindling rations. They will go to Skinny Martin’s farm and steal one of his sheep, which they say are still fat. Scene 8 is short but demonstrates that their hunger is extreme enough to resort to a crime in order to feed himself. 

In the Chief Protector’s Office, Neville reads a list of arrest warrants to his secretary, who records them. The warrants are all for Aboriginal men. When Sergeant Carrol enters the office, Neville tells him that a sweeping change is coming. All of the Aboriginal people in the Government Wells Reserve Camp are to be transferred to the Moore Settlement. He claims that a medical examination revealed that there was a massive outbreak of scabies at Government Well. The move will allegedly serve as quarantine. 

However, as the scene progresses, it is obvious that a scabies epidemic is not the problem. Complaints from white people about having to live so near to the aborigines in Government Wells are the real motive. Sergeant Carrol accepts the job of transferring the natives. Neville tells him the move is temporary—once the scabies outbreak is under control, the Aborigines may return—but other instructions reveal that their return is unlikely. For instance, the Aborigines will not be allowed to take their dogs, and Carrol is asked to “attend to” any dogs that do happen to make it to the Moore Settlement. 

The scene ends with Neville telling Carrol to keep the information confidential. 

Sergeant Carrol serves a warrant to the Millimurra-Munday family, ordering them to relocate. Jimmy is furious and accuses them of being racists. He believes that they are being moved because white people don’t want to be near them, and also because the move will reflect favorably on the people who are involved in an upcoming election. 

There are two options for the travelers: they can go by train or by road. Because Gran is so frail, the sergeant attempts to put her on a train, but she refuses. She is proud and wants to travel with her family on the road. Jimmy, however, is forced to take the train because of his heart condition. Despite Neville’s instructions regarding dogs, the Sergeant gives in and lets their dogs go with them, after Gran protests.