Cirrus@Austlit

'It is July and Richmond are teetering on a spot in the top eight in the Australian Football League (AFL), a sport that is akin to a religion in Melbourne. It’s an average high of 13 degrees and the chilly southerly wind whips my face every time I venture outdoors. In a city like Melbourne football is the glue that binds people together during its coldest months; it’s an irrefutable salvation against the oppressive weather. I check social media and see some friends partying in heatwave-ridden Europe. I begin to wonder what it must be like to have the most desirable weather at the same time as having the greatest antidote to winter – football. Such a quintessentially paradoxical hypothetical could only be considered in a city like Melbourne where the yearning to leave is most immense during winter. Such is the dilemma of Doug (John Flaus) and Aub (Bob Carl), who are the main characters in John Ruane’s gritty social-realist film titled Queensland from 1976. They are two hard-edged men that work in factories, drink at the pub and walk around the streets of Melbourne telling bad jokes and forgettable stories.'  (Introduction)