Circuit, The (ATOM Study Guide)

The Circuit is a 6-part x 52-minute series set in the western Kimberley region of north Western Australia.

It's a place of two seasons: the wet and the dry. Known for its beauty and hardship, it is a place where people try to integrate and get along, with varying degrees of success. It is a land rich in history for its traditional owners, but it now sits within the confines of white ownership and white law.

Once a month a traveling circus of magistrate, lawyers and court officers set out from Broome, a former pearling centre and now popular resort on the Kimberley coast of far-north Western Australia. The disparate group's journey takes them on a five-day 2000 kilometre round-trip into the red dust and spectacular gorges of the vast Kimberley outback.

The circuit court's mission is to dispense justice to isolated outback communities.

When The Circuit is in session, the court entourage will journey first to King River Junction – known to the locals simply as The Junction. A predominantly black town, troubled in the recent past with riots, it'll never win a Tidy Town competition, but The Junction has other deeper cultural riches that may ultimately be the salvation of its community.

Next stop is Newtown, a relatively young mining town and pastoral centre. It was set up to service the predominantly white population brought up from the city to exploit the rich natural resources of the Kimberley. Dubbed the 'Canberra of the north', this artificial town strives to impose a cultured sensibility on what is essentially a frontier outpost for an uneasy mix of public servants and modern-day cowboys.

The Circuit also visits Jalwarra, a former mission community. Idyllic and remote, the colonial church dominates this community of dilapidated buildings and the occasional humpy. Not that you'd notice the poverty with such a stunning backdrop of pristine beaches and exotic mangroves. Despite an abundance of fish, mangos and what city folk consider exotic luxuries, this community lacks more essential resources, like hope and a sense of a future.

This is the world of The Circuit, where the rich and complicated characters of the Magistrates Court travel thousands of kilometres every week to find heartbreak, laughter and a world that is unknown to most of Australia and the world.