Justin Bayard is a 1955 novel by Australian author Jon Cleary about a policeman working in the Kimberley region. It was Cleary's sixth novel. Justin Bayard is a mounted policeman in the Kimberley escorting an aboriginal warrior, Emu Foot, back to headquarters at Fitzroy Crossing for murdering another aboriginal. Emu Foot is being pursued by warriors from the Kapunda tribe seeking revenge. Bayard is attacked by Kapundas and is badly injured, despite killing several of them. He takes refuge at an isolated cattle homestead Kootapatamba, owned by Tad Kirkbridge. Bayard soon realises he has walked into a tense domestic situation: Kirkbridge is unhappily married to the neurotic Julie, who is cheating on him with their neighbour, Crispin, and encouraging him to sell Kootapatamba.
Adaptations (1)
Justin Bayard was adapted into a 1958 film.
Dust in the Sun1958 · film · 98 min · dir. Lee Robinson · IMDb ↗IMDb7.6A Northern Territory policeman, is given the job of taking an Aboriginal prisoner Emu Foot, to Alice Springs to be tried for a tribal killing. Bayard is wounded during a revenge attack by tribesmen, and Emu Foot helps him get to a remote cattle station. But there Bayard gets involved in a domestic crisis involving Julie Kirkbride, the neurotic, bored wife of the station owner, and is tempted by the head stockman's daughter Chris Palady.
