Film

Abstract

It is a testimonial to the powerful appeal of cinema that less than twelve months after the first public screenings of 'moving pictures', in Paris in December 1895, such pictures were being both shot and exhibited in Australia. In this country, story films developed particularly quickly, and bushranger stories proved especially attractive. Thus, 'The Story of the Kelly Gang' (1906) was followed by the first film version of 'Robbery Under Arms' (1907), and in short order by films on other bushrangers, both real and fictional, including New England's own Captain Thunderbolt, otherwise known as Fred Ward. Bush or outback settings therefore appear in many of the early films made in Australia, and not only for bushranger stories. However, the bush settings used for shooting were in suitably 'authentic' settings close to Sydney or Melbourne, even when dealing with historical figures or events known to have had specific locations. The 1907 version of the Thunderbolt story, 'Thunderbolt', was shot around Lithgow and the Blue Mountains, and certainly not in the vicinity of Ward's bushranging activities. For the first twenty or 30 years of film-making in New South Wales, bush-located narratives were shot in such easily accessible places, and only rarely further afield. Any number of variables influence where (and how) a film is produced (or at least where it is shot). Of some importance to films in general, but especially to the films I call New England films, are concerns about authenticity and verisimilitude.