From Acorn TV:
After a 10-year drought, tensions reach a breaking point in the small Australian farming town of Paringa when a mysterious disease begins to ravage the local sheep. Tough-minded veterinarian Kate McDonald (Rachel Ward, The Thorn Birds) struggles to save her community with the help of a feisty new assistant (Victoria Thaine, The Caterpillar Wish).
From IMDB:
Rain Shadow was shot in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia and is set in the fictional district of Paringa, a dry land farming area in a rain shadow. It tells the story of two characters who become the means of each other’s future. It stars Rachel Ward as district vet Kate McDonald and Victoria Thaine as new veterinary assistant Jill Blake
From Acorn TV you can stream 6 episodes, each episode lasting about 50 minutes, of this Australian production.
A rain shadow is an area of land that lies behind a mountain which gets almost no rainfall. This side of a mountainous area is away from the wind. Even this film from 2007 speaks several times of climate change.
Life in this remote part of South Australia in a rain shadow is harsh and difficult. Survival of a farm is precarious at best and an awful lot of hard work. As a consequence the inhabitants of Paringa are a tough group of people who interact at times begrudgingly. In this story the farmers that we meet raise sheep, many of whom are infected with Johne’s disease.
Johne’s disease is a contagious, chronic, and usually fatal infection that affects primarily the small intestine of ruminants. Johne’s disease is caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis , a hardy bacterium related to the agents of leprosy and TB.
Of the several themes in this story, including Kate’s hidden sorrow and farm foreclosures, the Johne’s disease is prominent. Jill’s ethical struggle is whether to notify the authorities about the problem, which would lower the property and sale values of the sheep farms.
As a welcome relief from crime stories, this very human drama is well worth seeing. If you liked “A Place To Call Home”, then these 6 episodes are a must see.