A whoosh of mountainous wind eddies around QPAC’s Glasshouse Theatre via surround sound, accompanied by the taunting crack of clapping sticks.

As the curtain rises, a large twisted snow gum is revealed sprawled across the stage, with a tiny shack nestled beneath its leaves.

Warriors flood the stage, stamping and chanting, brandishing spears; women whirl in diaphanous scribbly-gum-patterned gowns to the clapping pulse – the heartbeat of Australia.

It makes for an overwhelming opening to the world premiere of The Drover’s Wife – The Opera, Leah Purcell’s retelling of Henry Lawson’s 1892 short story set to music by composer George Palmer.

Nina Korbe and Marcus Corowa in The Drover’s Wife – The Opera. Photo © David Kelly

At its heart is a love story: that of drover’s wife Molly Johnson – played magnificently by soprano Nina Korbe – and escaped Aboriginal convict Yadaka (tenor Marcus Corowa).

While her husband is away droving sheep, the heavily pregnant Molly sends her children to town before she gives birth. It’s not long before she is plagued by dangerous, unwanted male visitors, including Yadaka, who later befriends her eldest son Danny (played convincingly by Nick Smith) and teaches him how to become a decent man. Throughout multiple tragedies, Molly and Danny wrestle with their identity, feeling the call of the Dreamtime and a desire to return to Country.

Designer Isabel Hudson’s snow gum tree is a dynamic presence on stage: scrambled over, danced upon and gruesomely used for lynching. She describes it as “a brushstroke of landscape allowing imagination to fill it and place us there … with an organic tree shape to hug and hold Molly”.

A rip in the backdrop reveals Craig Wilkinson’s video imagery of a night sky and wild tundra, opening and closing like an eye. A wooden block and a real fire with a billy evoke the harsh life of the Snowy Mountains in the 19th century. Tess Schofield’s costumes are equally earthy and rugged, with dirty long dresses and oilskins; you can almost smell Molly’s husband’s prized but stinking boots, a symbol of “a proper man”.

The ancestors from the spirit world wear silvery gossamer silks marked with scribbly-gum patterns described by Schofield as “an abstract bloodline traversing generations and whispering Molly back to her heritage”. The silvery outfits worn by Molly’s parents also help clearly delineate memory from the present.

The Drover’s Wife – The Opera. Photo © David Kelly

The virtuosity of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra perfectly complements an outstanding ensemble of Opera Australia performers, with Palmer’s emotive score swelling and fading as each trauma unfolds. His use of woodwinds during scene transitions is especially effective, with a single sorrowful clarinet note magnifying the emotional devastation.

Korbe’s powerful, honeyed voice is showcased in Sleep Now, as the clarinet mournfully cries over her loss. The Dreamingand Full Moon – duets between Yadaka and Molly – are outstanding, with Corowa’s smooth tenor accompanied by an ethereal harp. Smith brings a delicate innocence to Danny, with his wide-eyed desire to become a man like Yadaka rather than his dreadful father.

New Zealand-born bass Jud Arthur, playing the drover’s despicable friend, oozes misogynistic entitlement and testosterone.

Wiradjuri singer and composer Shauntai Abdul-Rahman, as Black Mary, and Indigenous contemporary dance performer Jeanette Fabila, as the mystical Ginny May, are portrayed as powerful women with gentle souls reaching out to Molly through the liminal Dreamtime of the ancestors. Both command the stage with quiet authority. Glimpses of mostly lost Indigenous languages are woven through the libretto, reflecting Purcell’s proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri heritage.

The scenes and language can be confronting. There are content warnings for a slew of triggers, including racism, cultural sensitivities and violence. Purcell’s libretto and Palmer’s vibrant score purposefully expose Australia’s raw colonial history but ultimately deliver a lesson in hope.

The Drover’s Wife lingers long after its final note – a searing and deeply Australian work of truth-telling, grief and hard-won resilience.

The Drover’s Wife – The Opera is at the QPAC until 22 May, and will also be performed at the Sydney Opera House from 7 – 15 August.