The Cobber

When the deadly spectre of the Spanish Flu epidemic returns to their thriving Melbourne grocery, English immigrants Ida and George have to make a life-changing choice between business and family, wealth and health, hopes and fears.

‘Spanish Flu’ was probably the greatest natural disaster of modern times, killing up to one hundred million people at the end of the First World War. Like the rest of the world, they thought it had gone, never to return.

Its 1926, the colourful locals have warmed to ‘The Cobber’ and his young family, but now Ida needs urgent medical treatment in Sydney, forcing the likeable ex. soldier to entrust the business to his idealistic sibling, a socially awkward bachelor who infuriates women and alienates his customers. 

Set in 1920s Australia, The Cobber tells the true story of an English couple striving for a better life, the complex relationship between two brothers, and how Spanish Flu destroys their dreams of a prosperous new life Down Under.