Its the year 2050 and the city of Melbourne has changed beyond all recognition. The City is divided, its buildings torn down and destroyed by decades of armed conflict.


Sniper team by BrokenBodyClock, on Flickr

Beset by the ravages of an out of control climate, Melbourne’s average summer temperatures soared to 50°C (122°F) and a dramatic spike in UV levels have seared the landscape and decimated the population. In 2025 The Australian government introduced subsidized skin darkening drugs designed to increase the body’s production of melanin as a defense against the devastating effects of skin cancer related deaths. By the age of 35, 80% of Australians were being diagnosed with skin cancer and the death rate had risen to over 20,000 per year, mainly those of fair skinned Anglo-Saxon decent.


HAHA sniper by BrokenBodyClock, on Flickr

In the space of decade the colour of the whole Australian population shifted towards a deep dark brown, those that refused to take the drugs for what ever reason continued to suffer from the ravages of the sun and died in their thousands or took to wearing clothing that covered the whole body, leaving only the eyes exposed.


nighttime brewrey by BrokenBodyClock, on Flickr


Ogryn caught in the spotlight by BrokenBodyClock, on Flickr

This caused a radical shift in the politics of the time, the racial prejudices that had been a constant undercurrent throughout Australia’s history, and that had resulted in the the Stolen Generation, Tampa and other atrocities were no longer viable. The anti cancer drugs had forced a desperately needed equality onto the population but which caused fury in the ranks of the hardcore neo-liberals, who saw it as a attack on the fundamentals of Australian culture and its British heritage .


Back alley1 by BrokenBodyClock, on Flickr

Resentment that had been simmering away ever since the Coalition lost to the Australian Labour Party in 2007 exploded into violence in the great Uprising of 2027. The Coalition with the support of the major corporations they represented launched a series of assassinations against key Government figures and moved to occupy the streets of the major urban centres.


command HQ by BrokenBodyClock, on Flickr