In many ways, Netflix’s 2024 drama, Territory, appears to be the Australian counterpart of Paramount’s hit series, Yellowstone, given how both explore complex themes of family relationships, power dynamics, land ownership politics, identity, and legacy against the backdrop of a farming lifestyle in an untamed natural landscape. The one major aspect where Territory differs is the way greater emphasis is placed on indigenous communities—in this case, Aboriginal people—and their plight as they get caught up in the mess created by the outsider white settlers who have seized control of the land that originally belonged to them. The first season of Territory, consisting of six episodes, chronicles the struggles the Lawson family goes through to keep their land, as the family members battle their personal demons to cope with changing times and the demands of the situations they are thrust into.
Spoilers Ahead
Death in the Family and Quest for Survival
Located in Northern Australia, or as it’s colloquially known, ‘Top End,’ Marianne Station is the largest cattle station in the entire world, and the Lawson family has owned the station since the late 19th century—and at present, Daniel Lawson, fifth generation of the family, is in charge of maintaining practically everything involving the station. Nature is merciless in this part of the world, as is the power dynamics involving land ownership where owned territories are equated with kingdoms—but it is always more challenging to protect and maintain a kingdom than to conquer one, and Daniel was holding the station, which is sprawled across an area that matches the size of Belgium, together in its dwindling condition. According to succession rules, Daniel’s elder brother, Graham, should have been given the ownership of the station, but family patriarch Colin Lawson favored his dutiful younger son over his alcoholic elder one. Colin harbors a strong disapproval for Graham’s wife, Emily, whose family, the owners of Bethel Creek Station, has been stealing cattle from the Marianne station for a long time. In order to strengthen the station’s financial foundation, mustering or gathering livestock is a necessary process, and Aboriginal musterer Nolan Brannock, owner of Laggan Downs, brings his crew to muster sixty thousand Lawson cattle. However, in the absence of Daniel, a headstrong, irritable Colin rejects the mustering contract, putting the station in peril.
The events of the series get rolling with the death of Daniel Lawson, who falls off his horse near the northern escarpment of Lawson Land, breaks his leg, and gets mauled to death by a pack of dingos. Daniel’s death inevitably raises the question of the future leadership of Marianne Station, and Colin isn’t willing to trust either Graham or Emily for the job. Graham’s son with his first, late wife, Marshall, left home after getting frustrated by family troubles and adopted a nomadic life with two of his rover buddies, Rich and his girlfriend, Sharnie. Marshall’s friends are surprised to learn about his true identity as one of the Lawsons, while the trio head to Marianne Station as Marshall wants to pay a visit to his family during Daniel’s funeral. Graham and Emily’s daughter, Susie, leaves agriculture college to return to her family as well and seems especially interested in running the family business. With Daniel’s demise and Marianne Station being submerged in debt, a number of interested parties, who were patiently waiting for such an opportunity as crocs in the swamp, jumped at the Lawsons like vultures. Rivaling station chief Campbell Miller is eager to buy Marianne Station, as is Sandra Kirby, a billionaire whose family came to wealth thanks to the discovery of a goldmine in their land. Sandra is trying to reshape the locality to suit her own purposes, which is revealed much later in the first season, and she makes it her main objective to take over Marianne Station by any means necessary. During Dan’s funeral, Colin gets involved in a scuffle with Emily’s brother, Hank, after learning about his recent theft of Lawson cattle, and announces Marshall to be the future owner of Marianne Station, much to the dismay of the rest of the family. Graham feels dejected by the continual rejection of his father, while Emily, who had her own ambition regarding the station, now wants her daughter to get a share of ownership as well. Rich seems to have some ulterior motives as he looks to use Marshall’s family name for his profit, and fed up with the familial pressures and bickering, Marshall leaves once again—this time after stealing a bunch of quad bikes along with his friends.
Nolan and His Roots
Amidst this land dispute and family drama, the most important fact remains that if such a thing exists as a rightful claim to the natural landscape, then after the flora and fauna, it belongs to the indigenous community. The Lawsons acknowledge the ancestral claim of the Traditional Owners but didn’t allow them free access to their land, and it is revealed that a sacred place to the natives is located in the northern escarpment in a plateau-cave-like area—close to where Daniel met his end. After the cancellation of the Lawson contract, Nolan feels pressurized, and his dream of opening a station of his own seems like a wishful fantasy. Nolan’s mixed heritage has resulted in his Aboriginal community—the Traditional Owners of the land—denouncing him, and he lacks the societal position and power to match up with the ‘whitefellas’ either. Sandra offers Nolan the chance to fulfill his dreams of building a station in exchange for his coastline land area, where Sandra plans to build a port. One of Nolan’s community members, Keeley, assigns him the responsibility of training a teenager named Dezi to make him a stockman, and the young lad is torn between following in Nolan’s footsteps and adhering to the heritage of the land like the chief of their community, Uncle Bryce, advises him to. After locking horns with the members of his community multiple times, Nolan agrees to Sandra’s offer, and it is revealed that Sandra has managed to convince Keeley to allow making roads over the lands of the Traditional Owners in exchange for an upliftment of their community. As has been the case around the world, neo-colonialism propagates with consumerism and corporations taking advantage of the victims of colonization. Bryce gets his hands on Dan’s saddle after his horse is discovered by a wandering loner named Elton, who lies about finding the horse near Hodge Land. Eventually, Nolan gets the saddle, which he considers bringing to Graham.
Emily’s Significance and Marshall’s Return
Emily offers to bring Marshall back to the family for Colin’s sake, and in exchange, she demands Susie have an equal position in the ownership of Marianne Station. Secretively, Colin sends two thugs, the MacKenzie brothers, to force Marshall to return to his family, as Colin doesn’t trust Emily’s words. Emily is secretly involved in an affair with Campbell Miller, who used to be her first boyfriend, and Miller plans to buy Marianne Station and rule over it along with winning Emily back. On the other hand, Sandra, who is aware of Emily’s ambitions, proposes that she join Sandra’s company and offers to buy out the debts of Marianne Station in exchange for having a stake in its ownership. Emily refuses the offer, and along with her brother, Hank, manages to locate Marshall as Hank forces the MacKenzie brothers to return empty-handed. Emily is unable to convince Marshall to return to his family. Alternatively, she visits her other family—her brother—and connects to the Hodge family roots.
Marshall has been dealing with his own problem as he and Sharnie have fallen for each other, much to Rich’s dismay, who already hates his guts thanks to the disparity in their backgrounds. As Miller secretly steals some of the Lawson cattle, Rich plans to steal from him in turn with Sharnie and Marshall’s help and sell the cattle using Marshall’s name to avoid suspicion. After having a falling out with Rich, Marshall is forced to leave, but when Rich’s plan goes awry as the buyer sells them out to Miller’s men, Marshall returns to save his friends. Rich asks Marshall to flee with Sharnie while he secretly makes a deal with Miller. Marshall and Sharnie discover the sacred site, which turns out to be a ritual site of some sort, as skulls and bones of a family are found inside. Miller’s men end up finding Marshall and Sharnie, and a gunfight ensues, prompting a desperate Marshall to call Emily for help. Sharnie gets shot and falls from a great height, while an injured Marshall blames himself, believing that she has met her end. Emily rescues Marshall, and after learning Miller was behind the attack, warns him—further instructing him to keep Sharnie out of Marshall’s life. Emily manages to bring Marshall back to family, and this time, guilt-stricken Marshall decides to stay.
On the other hand, Susie and Sandra’s son Lachie fall for each other, and Susie shows her skills as an expert stockwoman and makes long-term plans for Marianne Station, impressing Colin in the process, who realizes that the younger generation must hold the reins and even approves of Susie’s relationship with Lachie. However, their relationship hits a rough patch after Sandra manipulates her son to remind Susie of the differences in their families, prompting her to leave Lachie as a result.
Meanwhile, Graham steps up to stand for elections to become the next President of the Cattlemen’s Federation following former President Daniel’s demise and earns his father’s confidence for a change. However, Sandra triggers his alcoholic tendencies, which results in a drunk Graham going missing during the presidential election and Miller winning the position. Colin beats his son in anger, further sending Graham to the absolute depths of his despair and hopelessness. After learning from Nolan that Dany’s saddle has been recovered from Hodge Land, a drunk Graham almost ends up killing Hank by shooting at him, which results in his incarceration. Emily, who was a steady presence by his side for so long, abandons him this time around.
Did Colin Learn The Truth About Daniel’s Death?
As it turns out, Emily had learned about Daniel planning to sell Marianne Station to Sandra and throw Emily and Graham under the bus. When Emily confronted Daniel about this, he mocked her family heritage and threatened to put her and Graham in an even more miserable position in front of Colin, and in the heat of the moment, Emily had decided to fire her gun to scare Daniel’s horse. Daniel took a nasty fall, which broke his leg, and Emily left him there to die. Elton had witnessed everything, and as Emily meets him, he threatens Emily to keep Sandra and him away from his vicinity and the holy place or else he will end up exposing her.
Graham hits rock bottom while serving jail time, as his cellmate, a morbid alcoholic, almost manages to convince him to drink sanitizer to satiate his thirst. But in the end, Graham manages to stay sober, and Sandra bails him out to manipulate him against his family. Graham learns about Daniel’s plan of selling the station to Sandra, which imbues him with a newfound confidence, and he stands up to his father by beating him and revealing the truth to him. Graham takes charge of mustering without contractors and brings the family together, and for the first time, the Lawson family seems more united than ever. Mustering without a contractor entails risks, but the reward is lucrative enough to reinstate the station to its former glory. Trouble arises when Campbell Miller continues to prove to be a pesky nuisance, as he uses his political connections to halt the cattle shipment process, and a heated exchange follows between him and Colin regarding the issue. With situations already tense, Marshall loses his cool when a desperate Lachie continues to try to reconcile with Susie at the same time, and a fight breaks out between Marshall and Lachie. All this ends up triggering one of the bulls inside the pen, whose goring results in Susie’s death.
Marshall goes through a guilt trip as a result, and Sharnie, who has recovered from her injuries, rescues him from a bar fight. A troubled Emily decides to leave the station and returns to her brother, while Colin decides to teach Miller a lesson by using his connection with the Chief Minister to investigate Miller for cross-branding. As Miller becomes desperate to teach the Lawsons a lesson, Rich offers his assistance and burns feed for Lawson cattle, amping up their rivalry further. Lachie realizes that his mother plans to use Susie’s death to put the Lawsons in a vice grip, and he exposes her plan of using the Marianne Station to dump radioactive waste to Hank and Emily. On the other hand, Bryce learns that Sandra’s road will cross through the community’s sacred site, and he convinces Keeley to negotiate with Sandra to come up with a different plan. Sandra’s refusal ends up turning the Traditional Owners against her, who further learn from Dezi’s information that Sandra’s mining crew is trying to blow up the sacred site. Emily returns to her family to warn everyone about Sandra’s plan, and Bryce convinces Colin to give away the land of the Traditional Owners back to them, and by having the original claim, they can put Sandra off the property. On the other hand, Sandra joins hands with Miller to form a resistance against the combined might of the Lawsons and Traditional Owners. While going to protect the sacred place, Emily, who has reconciled with Graham, confesses to unwittingly causing Daniel’s death. The Lawsons, Nolan, and the Traditional Owners manage to fend off Miller’s men, but they fail to stop Miller from detonating the sacred place. A furious Nolan injures Miller but decides to spare his life at the end. Realizing how deep in trouble she is, Sandra leaves the country, and needless to say, her partnership with the natives is wrecked—saving their land in the process.Â
Rich abducts Marshall and, by using him as a hostage, tries to force Colin into giving away his family riches. At this point, as Marshall is forced to open a small locker, something inside it creeps him out enough for him to refuse to comply with Rich’s orders—and till the very end of the first season, the content of the locker remains a mystery. Anyway, Colin and Marshall manage to overpower Rich, and Sharnie arrives just in time to stop Marshall from taking Rich’s life. However, Colin is not so forgiving, and he shoots Rich to death, much to Sharnie’s horror and disgust. Sharnie leaves Marshall, and a heartbroken Marshall once again leaves his family—for good this time.
Colin decides to hand over the house keys to Emily, which conveys the fact that after losing so much, he is finally prepared to trust his elder son and his wife. However, Elton arrives with Daniel’s horse and the bullet casings that were recovered from the spot, and even though he doesn’t directly mention Emily’s role in Daniel’s death, his facial expression conveys everything to Colin. Elton had warned Emily to keep Sandra away, but Emily failed to do so, which resulted in the destruction of the sacred site. Now Elton’s intel has brought the family dynamics back to square one, as Emily and Graham have to face Colin’s wrath, who is undoubtedly livid after learning the truth of the death of his favorite son. The first season ends in a cliffhanger, and if the series gets a continuation, the family feud will reach a new height with Lawsons more divided than ever.
