Australian Pastoral

A house. A fire waiting to happen. A legacy that refuses to stay buried.

Told across two timelines, 'Australian Pastoral' is a new drama unfolding between past and present, where memory and reality collide.

In the past, a working-class farmer builds himself into a self-made millionaire, securing his family's future through a booming trucking business. But as bushfires rage across Australia, his young daughter questions the foundations of that middle-class life. Encouraged to “do something,” her political awakening escalates beyond his control as she 'brings the war back home'.

In the present, a biographical writer arrives at the estate to document the father’s legacy but the house is not empty. A visitor returns. 

Inspired by the novel by Philip Roth, 'Australian Pastoral' interrogates legacy and complicity. Shaped by climate grief and the myth of technological progress, it asks: what do we hold onto when everything we’ve built is burning — and what must we destroy to be heard?

Writer: Vivian Nguyen

Director: Krystalla Pearce

Dramaturg: Cathy Hunt

Production Designer: Sam Diamond