Tell Them They're Dreaming - They Should've Lost Their Home

I used to have sympathy for the Kerrigan’s plight. But after multiple viewings the humour and irony loses it effect and as a consequence the family are portrayed as naïve idiots who should know better.

Here are 4 reasons why the family should lose their house:

Sitch and co depict Daryl as an idiot. Of course land values at Coolaroo are not increasing. They live next to an airport with the runway a stone’s throw from their fence. There are huge electrical pylons adjacent to their property. The backyard is mostly landfill and the soil contains traces of lead. We may laugh at Daryl’s misplaced over capitalising but he is stupid to think that his property is of any value. Consider the evaluations he provides to items he finds on the trading post. He knows the true value of jousting sticks or an OH projector yet can’t see the true worth of his property. He also doesn’t have the foresight to see that living next to an industrial hub may have future consequences.

Daryl is portrayed as an Aussie battler yet he displays a wealth that most people would envy. He has several cars, a tow truck, a boat, and even a holiday house. Though we never see him work we do see him purchase an eclectic range of trading post goods. He claims “money can’t buy what I’ve got” but he still flaunts his assets to others in the neighbourhood. Whether it’s a fake chimney or a radar detector or a Holden Commodore, Daryl is a cashed-up self-employed individual who places value on his commodities. He is so blinded by what he owns that he can’t see that his home is just another possession.

The holiday house in Bonnie Doon is Daryl’s home away from home. Here he still acts as the patriarch instilling his virtues to his family. This proves that his concept of home can easily be transported to different locations. His heavily laden sentimentality on his Coolaroo property is just as misplaced as the praise he gives to any number of his wife’s artistic endeavours. If he can enjoy the serenity at Bonnie Doon and how the place brings family together why can’t this be created somewhere else?

Finally, Daryl declaring “I’m really starting to understand how the aborigines feel” is truly offensive. The colonisation of Australia subsequently removed aborigines from their land. For Daryl to say “This country’s got to stop stealing other people’s land” is right but it doesn’t apply to him. Daryl’s government were happy to purchase his property with an amount that was worth a lot more than the true value of his home. Sadly, Indigenous Australians were not as fortunate.

The constitutional ‘fair go’ is interesting as Daryl clearly breaks this principle. He flaunts council regulations with extensions to his house. Though he initially condemns his son’s aggression with a rifle, Daryl condones the assault just because of the weapon’s purchase price. Daryl also willfully vandalises property. He steals the expensive gate and later appropriates the stolen item as a prominent fixture to his own house.

If Daryl truly believes in ‘fair go’ he definitely doesn’t show it with his unlawful acts.

“It's a shame you want to spit on a family who embody the country's core values because you feel they're not smart enough for your intellect”

Geez, is this patronizing tone the way you respond to your teenage students when one of them disagrees with your point of view? Tsk tsk tsk.