As an Australian who knows the country and sheep stations well, I found this TV series IMPOSSIBLE to watch.
1) The landscape is not Australian. Australia is flat, scrubby, has red soil and certainly does not have North American tree species growing in the wild. The grass is usually spinifex, a really distinctive species which I am sure the director knew nothing about.
2) The architecture was in keeping with Southern California, not Australia. Station homesteads in Australia are always of a single story and built with corrugated iron, mud brick (maybe) and bush timber poles.
3) Australians drive on the left hand side of the road.
4) The flocks of sheep are anywhere between 2,000 and 10,000 head, comprised entirely of merinos, and are herded with dogs. The dogs are of quite specific breeds - kelpies and border collies - and are quite valuable. You don't shoot them because they fight.
5) In the 1920s, fences were of timber poles with 6 - 8 plain wires topped by a single strand of barbed wire. Gates were generally made of the same materials and known as "cocky" gates.
6) Australians speak with Australian accents, not American ones. Sure, Irish immigrants might have Irish accents (but I did not notice too much of that) but their children will certainly speak with Australian or New Zealand accents (as the case may be).
7) New Zealanders who have lived on farms will certainly have some idea about the handling and shearing of sheep.
1) The landscape is not Australian. Australia is flat, scrubby, has red soil and certainly does not have North American tree species growing in the wild. The grass is usually spinifex, a really distinctive species which I am sure the director knew nothing about.
2) The architecture was in keeping with Southern California, not Australia. Station homesteads in Australia are always of a single story and built with corrugated iron, mud brick (maybe) and bush timber poles.
3) Australians drive on the left hand side of the road.
4) The flocks of sheep are anywhere between 2,000 and 10,000 head, comprised entirely of merinos, and are herded with dogs. The dogs are of quite specific breeds - kelpies and border collies - and are quite valuable. You don't shoot them because they fight.
5) In the 1920s, fences were of timber poles with 6 - 8 plain wires topped by a single strand of barbed wire. Gates were generally made of the same materials and known as "cocky" gates.
6) Australians speak with Australian accents, not American ones. Sure, Irish immigrants might have Irish accents (but I did not notice too much of that) but their children will certainly speak with Australian or New Zealand accents (as the case may be).
7) New Zealanders who have lived on farms will certainly have some idea about the handling and shearing of sheep.