australian television information archive

The Drover’s Connection

Alex teases Tess about her new venture, a hemp crop, as Meg serves up another in a recent succession of gourmet meals.

Meanwhile Becky gets a visit from her brother Sean, who is escaping another of their father’s benders. Becky is secretly thrilled, seeing her chance to stop Sean going down the same path as Mark, her jailbird older brother.

Through The Looking Glass

Tess and Alex’s relationship is put to the test when a baby is abandoned on his doorstep.

Meanshile, Drovers Run has a vermin problem. Meg discovers a potential rabbit infestation in the kitchen vegetable garden—and rabbit habits seem to be contagious. Claire can’t get Peter Johnson out of her mind, and is worried that, having made the first romantic move towards her, he’s got cold feet.

Desperate Measures

Becky is thrown from her horse and injured when someone takes a shot at her.

Claire’s relationship with Peter is deepening. They are spending virtually twenty-four hours a day together as they seek out horses for training, and the time spent together only confirms how much they are starting to feel for each other.

Tess finds a surprising ally in Nick when she wants to save some wild brumbies.

Liz Ryan takes Jodi under her wing as she begins preparing her for the Miss Gungellan pagent.

The Bore War

It’s a dry spell and the women are suffering the consequences of water shortages—shared baths, stained washing and unflushed toilets. Meg’s vegie garden is the first victim to succumb. Claire cleans out an old bore to water her stock, but the newly discovered water soon dries up when Nick irrigates his barley crop at Wilgul. He and Claire are sharing the same artesian basin and there is not enough water for both of them. Initial attempts to resolve the situation amicably fail, so a water licencing representative is called in to adjudicate on who is entitled to the water.

Hello Stranger

Meg’s world is thrown into turmoil at the sudden return of her first love, the man she gave her heart to and the man she’s told everyone, Jodi included, walked out on her. Kevin didn’t walk out on Meg, he asked her to go with him and she refused. Jodi finds her dad simply delightful. As Meg and Kevin spend time together Meg remembers all the reasons she fell in love with Kevin in the first place.

Harry is determined to force Nick to do things on his own—or force him to come to him and ask for help.

Story gallery

A Dry Spell

As final preparations for the Miss Gungellan ball continue, Meg is faced with a difficult decision: to stay at the place she loves or to leave with the man she loves. Jodi is desperate to go with her father and is over the moon when Meg decides to take a chance for once in her life.

All the women at Drovers enjoy the opportunity to dress up for the biggest event on the Gungellan social calendar. Jodi is voted Miss Gungellan, but to everybody’s surprise and Liz’s horror, she gives up the crown in order to go off up north with her father and Meg. Only trouble is, Meg is having second thoughts. And so too is Kevin.

Story gallery

Three’s A Crowd

Claire and Peter’s growing peronal and professional relationships is leaving Tess feeling more and more isolated from her sister. She works hard to bring Nick and Alex back together, an effort which causes more trouble for the Ryan family when she lets a divisive Ryan family secret out of the bag.

Harry meanwhile yearns to know all about Peter Johnson who seems to settling in at Drovers Run. His background check turns up a surprise but unable to inform Claire himself, he leaves the task to Becky who must know decide what to do with the information.

The Bridle Waltz

Claire and Peter appear to move one step closer to marriage when Peter organizes a romantic dinner for her, presenting her with a ruby pendant and declaring he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. With Claire and Peter seemingly destined to be married and about to start their new life together, Tess is feeling like a third wheel and makes plans for her own future, agreeing to join her friends in the city, helping to run their new business.

Liz Ryan tries to reconnect her family but her efforts are fruitless.

Becky meanwhile struggles to deal with the information given to her by Harry. To help make her decision, Becky plays detective and manages to put a telephone call through that varifies what she vainly hoped was not true, that Peter is in fact married. She struggles with the problem of telling Claire, knowing it will destroy Claire’s life, but untimately reveals the secret.

To Have And To Hold

Claire’s relationships are fragmented… Becky and she barely speaking, and Tess is now living in Melbourne. When Peter arrives, unsuspecting, she asks him straight out whether he is married, and on learning that he is, she sends him packing, telling him the relationship is over.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Claire is taking the loss of both Peter and Tess badly. Unable to raise energy or enthusiasm for anything, including the imminent birth of Blaze’s foal, she nonetheless refuses to accept she is suffering from emotional stress. Things reach crisis point when she decides to cancel her contract with Australian Bloodlines and sell Drovers Run. She offers it to Harry who agrees to buy.

Tess meanwhile is being kept busy by the success of the café in Melbourne and is unaware of recent events back at Drovers, and Simon is trying to see that things stay that way.

Despite being cautioned against it, Nick starts riding again, but getting back in the saddle proves to be the easy part. Alex returns to Killarney.

Story gallery

Wildfire

Becky’s troublesome odler brother Mark returns to the district, determined to drag brother Sean into his life of illegality. Mark assaults Nick, and while everyone is busy searching for him, Mark goes over to Killarney where he talks a reluctant Sean into helping him steal Alex’s prize horse.

Meg finds that she has competition for Terry’s affections and Terry finds himself under scrutiny by the law.

Hounded

Frank Da Costa, the new cop in town, has it in for Terry. When Terry unwittingly on-sells stolen goods to Tess, he sets up an explosive confrontation that will unearth the dark secret at the heart of Frank’s animosity.

Brick’s new job complicates things with Becky.

Steer Trek

With the drought continuing, and no money to buy feed or truck in water, Claire, Tess, and Nick join forces. Like the drovers of old, they take their amalgamated herds out on the Gungellan track. Meg is quietly delighted when the Ryans send Terry along to help and sees a chance to win him back from Jane. The attraction between Nick and Tess grows.

Back on Drovers, Becky, who has been left in charge by Claire, tries to keep Jodi from taking advantage of the situation.

Brave J

Tess motivates Claire into rekindling her dreams of becoming a stock horse trainer and breeder. Drovers Run needs the money and with Peter safely out of the way there is slim chance of crossing paths with him again. There’s no reason why the dream can’t be pursued.

You Can Leave Your Hat On

When Jodi’s cooking gives five young men food poisoning, the women of Drovers must convince the Killarney men to put on a strip show.

Claire and Alex’s business partnership gets off to a rocky start, whilst Nick and Tess form a partnership of their own.

Stripped Bare

Drovers Run is cleared out by burglers as Jodi and Craig take advantage of everybody else’s absence from the farm to enjoy a secret rendezvous in the spa. When Wilgul is burgled, Tess and Nick set a trap to catch the thieves.

Blame It On The Moonlight

Claire is irritated over Tess’s three homestay guests: they’re starting to shear today, and the last thing she needs are tourists, getting in the way.

Jodi is surprised by Alberto’s return from Italy.

Made To Be Broken

Claire and Alex are finding potential clients are being put off by rumours circulated by Peter Johnson that ten years ago Alex was responsible for crippling a boy, Stefan Van Amstel, when he deliberately ran his car off the road. The incident was hushed up by Harry’s blood money.

Best Of Enemies

Tess meets Sandra Kinsela at the cattle sale yards and likes her instantly, only to discover Claire dislikes her intensely. Their childhood dispute is renewed when a herd of calves is stolen from Drovers and Claire is convinced Sandra is responsible.

Jodi worries about being perceived as a failure when she is fired from her job.

Note: new presentation for the credits. Opening production credits are split around the opening theme segment while the end credits move from a crawl to a series of static screens

Wind Change

Sexual tension is mounting between Nick and Tess. Tess is ready to take a step forward but is interrupted when Alex’s chopper flies over Killarney and dusts with chemicals, which threatens the freshly sewn organic wheat crop at Wilgul. Attempts to smooth things over with Harry appear to work but it is Liz’s opposition to Tess’s growing involvment with her son, and willingness to share her thoughts with Tess, that causes a new rift to form.

Jodi and Alberto are forced to move back to Drover’s Run when they are kicked out of their apartment in town after being unable to pay the rent. Meg is happy to have her daughter back but it may be too much of a good thing.

Becky continues to wait to hear from Brick.

Story gallery

No More Mr Nice Guy

On the eve of the Gungellan Show, Claire is presented with repossession papers for Drovers Run, a result of her defaulting on her contract with Australian Bloodlines.

Nick and Tess become estranged after Tess walked out on him. Tess tries to explain her actions the previous night but Nick has no time for excuses. Concerned she may have missed her chance, Tess may be right with Nick's physiotherapist Sally Clements' arrival on the scene, much to Liz's delight.

Eagerly awaiting his arrival, Becky is crushed when Brick doesn’t return as promised.

Claire is shattered when she discovers she is pregnant.

Notes: The first appearance of Doris Younane as Moira, she becomes a regular character in later seasons. Reece Horner (he orders sausages from Terry) returns in series 4 as reoccuring character Nat, a farmhand at Killarny

Story gallery

Future Perfect

Peter offers to stop Australian Bloodline’s from repossessing Drovers if Claire will agree to marry him. After ultimately rejecting Peter’s offer, Claire takes him on in the Stockman’s Challenge but is seriously injured in a fall. The accident reveals her pregnancy but Claire tells Peter that he is not the baby’s father and Alex steps forward to claim paternity.

Alberto, who is ready to settle down, suggests to Jodi that she do some traveling without him.

Nick gives Tess one more chance with a take it or leave it offer, when she hesitates, he accuses her of not knowing what she wants.

Brick’s failure to arrive worries Becky who leaves to go in search of him.

Tess tells Liz Ryan what she thinks of her and her manipulation of Nick’s life.

Story gallery