Colonial Australia in Film and TV
Blackfellas, Whitefellas, Convicts, Traps, Bushrangers, etc. This is what makes Australian History unique. I haven't seen all of these (Although I would like to), some are very rare to find but would be great to get out.
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- StarsMary LarkinKerry McGuireJon EnglishEighteen-year-old Mary Mulvane gets convicted for trying to get back her father's cow. She has to endure the travel in a prison ship from Ireland and living the life of a convict in Australia.
- DirectorNorman DawnStarsGeorge FisherEva NovakDunstan WebbA convict, wrongfully accused and sent a harsh prison colony, attempts to escape.
- StarsAnthony PerkinsPatrick MacneeSamantha EggarIn 1830's England, a young man from a good but troubled family is unjustly convicted of stealing a watch. He's transported to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) where he suffers under the enmity of Lt. Frere while falling in love with Sylvia, the Warden's daughter. Meanwhile, back in England, an imposter lays claim to the young man's inheritance.
- StarsAngela Punch McGregorRobin StewartBrian HinzlewoodA miniseries about European settlement and exploration of Australia produced and broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- StarsRomola GaraiJack DavenportAlex O'LoughlinA young woman is transported to the New South Wales penal colony in 1788.
- DirectorDavid WaddingtonStarsSean KramerBrett MaxworthyLionel LongA twelve year old boy and a common criminal are being transported in the same ship from England to Australia in the last century. When the ship wrecked they happen to be the only survivors of the catastrophe. Now they have to get along with each other and finally become friends.
- DirectorCarl SchultzStarsPaul GoddardKathryn WalkerJohn WoodIn the 1860s, two friends, Harry and Bluey, steal a thousand head of cattle and trek it across country from Queensland to Adelaide.
- DirectorTim BurstallStarsSusannah YorkJohn WatersJohn CastleAn old captain & his young wife share a lot of adventures after they're shipwrecked and captured by Aborigines on an island near Australia.
- DirectorKen G. HallStarsBert BaileyFred MacDonaldAlfreda BevanA tale of the ups and downs of the Rudd family who live on a ranch in Southwest Queensland.
- DirectorGeorge WhaleyStarsLeo McKernJoan SutherlandGeoffrey RushTired of local corruption and the harshness of his life a bushman demonstrates the true Aussie spirit and decides to run for parliament.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsKirk DouglasTom BurlinsonTerence DonovanIn 1880s Australia, after young Jim Craig's father dies, he takes a job at the Harrison cattle ranch, where he is forced to become a man.
- StarsOliver TobiasJames CondonElizabeth CrosbyLuke Firbeck is determined that his settlement in the outback is going to be his kingdom. He is ruthless. He has a deep attraction for his sister, Jassy.
- StarsBarbara LlewellynMark ClarkeAnna HrubyBased on Ethel Turner's classic children's novel, this award-winning miniseries is about a family of seven children set in 1890s Australia.
- StarsJuliet JordanHarold HopkinsBrenton WhittleThe lavish, passionate story of a beautiful convict girl, Sara Dane who is transported from England to Australia for a crime she did not commit. She struggle for freedom and independence against almost impossible odds.
- DirectorJulian PringleStarsChris HaywoodJacqueline KottSandra McGregorEuropean settlers have difficulty adapting to life in an 1850s Australian township.
- DirectorTim BurstallStarsJohn StantonSigrid ThorntonRobert ColebyA humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.
- DirectorHelen GaynorAlan RosenthalStarsAlison AlexanderBrian AndrewsJohn AndrewsWhen Charles Dickens created the character of Fagin in Oliver Twist, he gave birth to one of the most infamous personas in English literature. Few people know that Dickens' portrait of Fagin was possibly based on the Jewish receiver and fencer of stolen goods, Ikey Solomon. Much as been written about Ikey's exploits, his amazing and daring prison escapes capturing people's imaginations through the generations. The First Fagin recreates the fantastical life of Ikey Solomon, the most famous criminal of his age. From London's dens of vice, to Newgate jail to Australia's prison shores, Ikey takes us on a journey into crime, punishment, adventure and love whilst struggling against the transportation system of 19th century England.
- CreatorAndrew KnightDoug MacLeodStarsMichael VeitchMagda SzubanskiWilliam McInnesIn 1807 the Governor of the colony of New South Wales, William Bligh, struggles in both his professional and personal life.
- DirectorPhilip LeacockStarsBeau BridgesJohn MillsJane MerrowAdam (Beau Bridges) is a young American wrongly accused of being an accomplice to murder while on shore leave in Liverpool. He is sentenced to death by hanging, but the sentence is commuted to twenty years in a convict settlement in Australia. The Governor of the colony, Sir Philip MacDonald (Sir John Mills), has a scheme in mind to settle Australia by allowing convicts to marry and by giving them land, and Adam is the perfect choice to prove his scheme is viable. He is partnered with Bess (Jane Merrow), a young Irish lass, and together they endure the hardships of the Australian outback.
- StarsBen CrossLisa McCuneSonia ToddThis four-hour miniseries tells the story of Ikey Solomon, his wife Hannah and his mistress Mary, who get caught in the criminal world of early 19th-century London and the convict settlement of Van Diemen's Land in Australia.
- StarsJack ThompsonJohn MaynardMichael McKernanTwo 21st Century families from Britain and Ireland are sent to see how they would cope had they been transported to New South Wales 200 years ago when it was a penal colony. Together with an Australian family and Aborginals they learn just how tough you needed to be to survive back then.
- StarsEssie DavisFionnula FlanaganStephen DillaneThe life of an Irish immigrant family in Australia in the second half of the 19th century.
- StarsSigrid ThorntonJohn WatersDarius PerkinsOrphaned after a shipwreck off the Victorian coast of Australia, the beautiful and spirited Philadelphia Gordon finds both love and adventure aboard a paddle-steamer on the Murray River.
- StarsOliver Jackson-CohenSarah SnookLachy HulmeIn 1806, William Thornhill is sentenced to New South Wales for life where he is drawn into a terrifying conflict that will leave a bloody and indelible stain.
- StarsMichael CathcartTony Llewellyn-JonesGeoff MorrellHistorian Michael Cathcart tells the epic story of how the colourful characters of early colonial Australia transformed a penal settlement into a land with rights and opportunity in a mere 40 years. This sweeping two-part dramatised documentary covers formative events in Australia's history, including the Rum Rebellion and early court cases, which established independence and civil rights for all settlers. Rogue Nation explores how a fledgling colony on the wrong side of the globe was rapidly transformed from a place of punishment to a place of opportunity; a confident and prosperous community. It examines the fight for power and control between two powerful interest groups--the wealthy and entrepreneurial landowners and the offspring of convict settlers who took on the governors appointed by the Colonial Office in London. Rogue Nation introduces well known figures including pastoralist John Macarthur, barrister and newspaper proprietor William Wentworth, and Governors William Bligh, Lachlan Macquarie and Ralph Darling. And it shows how a handful of driven, anti-authoritarian and fiercely independent men saw off several British governors, encouraged upheaval and learnt the art of politics - discovering that debates, pressure groups and propaganda could change governments and shape policy. In doing so, they helped to lay the foundations of the prosperous liberal democracy of Australia.