The Thorn Birds

All of the Cleary men are home at Drogheda on Sunday, September 3, when the Prime Minister announces that Australia has declared war on Germany. Father Watty Thomas has just said Mass, and as the radio plays the Prime Minister’s somber words, the family listens in silence. Jack, Hughie, Jims, and Patsy all immediately want to enlist. However, Bob acts as the voice of reason. He reminds everyone that wool is essential to the war effort, used not only for uniforms but for packing munitions, while beef cattle, hides, tallow, glue, and lanolin from Drogheda are just as necessary. Without workers, the station would collapse, and food and materials would suffer.

After a long discussion, Bob agrees to a compromise: if Meggie is willing to return to full-time stockwork, and if at least two stockmen stay on, then two of the brothers will be allowed to enlist later if the war worsens. Jack and Hughie try to volunteer first, but Bob points out that as the least experienced stockmen, Jims and Patsy are the logical choices. Though they are only 16, the twins insist they will look old enough to pass as 17 by the time they need to enlist. Meanwhile, Meggie accepts her role without protest, understanding that her work on Drogheda is as much a part of the war effort as any uniformed service. She is grateful that Dane is still years away from being touched by war.

Time passes, and by 1941 the twins are fighting in Egypt, assigned to the Ninth Australian Division. When they come home on leave before deployment overseas, everyone is publicly astonished at how tall and strong they have grown, while privately shocked at how aged they seem. Their faces, hardened by desert sun and hardship, no longer carry a boyish look. At gatherings, Jims talks at length about the strange customs, foods, and places of North Africa, painting vivid pictures of Cairo, Tobruk, and the endless deserts. However, when asked about actual combat, he falls silent. No one presses them, sensing that whatever he and Patsy have seen cannot be spoken aloud.

Meanwhile, far away in Rome, Ralph struggles with a different kind of war. He debates Cardinal Vittorio, arguing that the Pope is too biased toward Germany because of his hatred of Communism. After the conversation, restless and unable to pray, Ralph wanders into the darkened St. Peter’s Basilica. There, he discovers a young German soldier hiding in fear beneath the towering Pietà. The boy, who introduces himself as Rainer Moerling Hartheim, confesses that he is terrified he will be accused of having Jewish blood. He is an orphan, proud of his German nationality but fearful of a system that would destroy him if anyone were to question his ancestry. Ralph listens with compassion and promises to pray for him daily by name.

While Ralph is making quiet bargains in Rome, Jims and Patsy are shipped from the deserts of North Africa to the jungles of New Guinea. They are bitterly disappointed. Having fought Rommel’s Afrika Korps, they find little satisfaction in fighting the Japanese. The New Guinea climate is crushing—relentless humidity, tropical diseases, and rain so constant that boots rot and skin breaks down. They land near Lae in September 1943, and though they hope for action, the major battles are already over. Still, they are proud to serve, and they’re proud to represent Australia even in a conflict that seems so different from what they expected when they first enlisted.

Two weeks after landing, the fighting is finished, and the Ninth Division enjoys a rare day off. The sun shines unexpectedly in a clear blue sky, the grass dries underfoot, and the jungle seems for once beautiful instead of oppressive. Jims and Patsy wander together through the fields outside the town, breathing in air that reminds them achingly of Drogheda. It is a perfect afternoon, filled with birdsong and light. Suddenly, a flash of familiar green and yellow catches Patsy’s eye—a parakeet, like the ones from home. Laughing, thrilled, he takes off after it, waving his hat and calling to his brother. For a few glorious moments, it feels as though they are boys again, running through the paddocks at Drogheda.

A sudden burst of machine gun fire shatters the illusion. Jims watches in horror as Patsy spins under the impact, his shorts turning crimson from waist to knees. For a moment, Patsy remains standing before collapsing into the tall grass. Jims sprints forward but forces himself to drop and crawl under the renewed spray of bullets. When he reaches his brother’s side, he finds Patsy still conscious, faintly whispering that he is all right. Soldiers pour into the clearing, engaging the hidden gunner, while others work to carry Patsy away on a stretcher. The sight of his brother’s bloodstained body burns itself into Jims’s memory as he clutches Patsy’s hand, swearing not to let him die.

At the field hospital, a medic delivers the verdict. Patsy has been incredibly lucky—none of the bullets struck his stomach or bladder, and his vital organs are intact. However, the damage to the nerves in his lower pelvis is severe. The medic explains awkwardly that while Patsy will recover and walk again, he may never regain full sensation in the genital area. Jims listens in silent horror, struggling to process the cruel irony that his brother survived so much only to face such a loss. But when Jims passes on the news, Patsy shrugs. He was never eager to marry, he says lightly, and he is simply glad to be alive.

Patsy is flown out of New Guinea, and Mrs. Smith and Fiona hurry to Sydney to meet him. Fiona can only stay briefly, but Mrs. Smith remains at his side, fussing and caring for him with all the fierce devotion she gave him as a child. After three months in the Prince of Wales military hospital, Patsy is well enough to return to Drogheda. Meggie drives down in the Rolls, and together with Mrs. Smith, they tuck him in with blankets and pillows for the long drive home. Though weakened, Patsy is alive and whole enough to reclaim a place at Drogheda.

Back at Drogheda, Meggie continues to work the paddocks while Bob, Jack, and Hughie labor to keep the station running. Meggie feels exhausted, robbed of time with her children, but never complains. She convinces herself it is selfish to wish to be with Dane and Justine when her work is needed for the war effort. Meanwhile, Justine and Dane continue to grow, and Mrs. Smith and the maids watch over them. Justine, now a serious and sharp little girl, devotes herself fiercely to Dane’s care. At four, she promises Meggie that she will always look after him, and Meggie sees that Justine’s bond with Dane may eventually eclipse Meggie’s own.

As the war drags on, the drought continues, killing the grass and baking the ground into cracked wasteland. Hand-feeding cattle is the only way to survive, and the few remaining sheep refuse to eat anything but native scrub. Meggie learns to set rabbit traps to combat the growing plague. Every day brings more death, more dust, more disappointment, but the Clearys endure, grimly determined to keep Drogheda alive. The war in Europe and the Pacific grows fiercer, but for the people of Drogheda, the enemy is just as much the land itself.

In New Guinea, Jims fights on alone, but news from North Africa brings new hope. The Battle of El Alamein turns the tide against Rommel, and the Allies advance. Although Jims misses Patsy desperately, he finds strength in remembering their bond, and the thought of home sustains him. Back at Drogheda, Fiona wears a brooch with two gold stars, one for each son. Meanwhile, Meggie dreams of the day when her brother will come home for good.

At last, the news arrives that the Ninth Australian Division will return to Australia to fight the Japanese closer to home. There is joy and relief on Drogheda, but the celebrations are cut short when it is announced that only the Sixth and Seventh Divisions will come first. The Ninth is ordered to stay behind, fighting desperate rearguard actions to cover the withdrawal. When Jims finally returns home on leave, Patsy is waiting for him. Though damaged, Patsy has never looked better to his brother, and the two are inseparable once again, clinging to each other as if to ward off the horrors they have faced.

Jims and Patsy ride the paddocks together, rediscovering the peace they once knew. They take Dane along on their rides, laughing and roughhousing with him, easing the pain of years lost to war. Justine sulks at being left out, but the boys find it hard to relate to her sharp, aloof manner. They eat enormous meals, talk late into the night, and avoid every attempt to draw them into speaking about what they have seen. Only with Bob, Jack, and Hughie do they unburden themselves, sharing memories too raw and terrible for the women to hear.

Drogheda holds parties for Jims and Patsy, and though the women and girls of Gilly flock to their sides, the twins shy away from attention. War has taught them to distrust celebration. They are different now, tied more tightly to their land and their brothers than to any future dream. When it is time to return to training for the Pacific campaign, they leave Drogheda with pressed blades of grass and crushed rose petals tucked inside their wallets, determined to carry a piece of home with them wherever they go.