AllMovie

Director Andrew Taylor's dramatized documentary Kabbarli chronicles the life of Daisy Bates, a legendary Australian woman who survived for nearly 50 years in the harsh South Australian desert. Bates', an eccentric widow who insisted on carrying a black parasol with her at all times, viewed Aboriginals as a dying race whose passing would be made more comfortable with her help. Despite living with the tribe for such an extended amount of time, Bates was well-known for slandering Aboriginals as cannibals in various newspaper articles. Until her own death in 1951, Bates lived in a tent and made what money she had through her ill-reputed journalistic endeavors. Though the part of Daisy was at one point considered as a project for Katharine Hepburn, the role eventually went to actress Lynne Murphy.