As much as Australia is a romance, a western, and a war movie, intermixed within it all is an almost mystical fable. As the narrator of the movie, Nullah's voice opens the movie telling us that the most important lesson of all is "tell'm story." Throughout the movie, song repeatedly enters as if a force of magic. When a cattle stampede threatens to end the entire story barely a third of the way in, Nullah brings the herd to a stop with a song. When the group faces an uncharted desert between them and the water they need to survive, Nullah's grandfather leads them to the other side with his songs—one for every rock and plant and tree, all linked together, and able to guide you anywhere. When Nullah is taken away from Lady Ashley, he tells her, "I will sing you to me." And she responds, "And I will hear you."

In Australia, it is as if song is an almost spiritual thread that connects all. In song is a cry for peace instead of chaos, love instead of hate, and unity instead of division. In music is knowledge of the hope that lies past despair, the water that lies beyond thirst, and the company that exists even in a vast and empty desert. In the movie, the only song Nullah sings with words is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," and in it is both that cry and that hope. In many ways, the use of song in Australia is reminiscent of the recent human slavery "rockumentary" Call + Response, a standard documentary that sets itself apart by bringing to life the tragedy it depicts through music performed as both a cry of its victims and response to that cry. In Call + Response and Australia, music becomes an emotional expression, a gesture of understanding, and a recognition of the human connection that exists between us all. And as Australia comes to close, it is as if its story is offered to us as the same

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