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"Bush Christmas"
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This film was released c.1948, although the Newnes segment, at least, was taken c.1943. The
plot involves a group of children tracking down three horse thieves. Towards the end of the
film, the horse thieves, followed by the children, ride into a "deserted town", the scene of
the final showdown between the two groups.
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Actors Chips Rafferty and John Fernside played two of the thieves, but neither actor came to
Newnes; local stand-ins were used in a brief scene where the three villains are seen walking
down the street. However, the third adult actor, Stan Tolhurst, as well as the children, all
appear in scenes taken at Newnes.
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Most of the external scenes of the "deserted town" were taken at Newnes along the Wolgan Road
between what are now the old and new sites of the Newnes Hotel. Indeed, the hotel (on its old
site, of course) is seen several times. However, these have been intercut with scenes
involving an old, empty butcher's shop, said to have been located near Mona Vale.
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Besides the hotel, there are close-ups of three buildings. Today, there are some stone ruins
nearly opposite the present site of the pub; these being the cellars of the middle shop of a
group of three buildings that were still standing when the film was made. In the film, one of
the thieves takes up a position in the right-hand shop, while the children first call at the
left-hand shop. When the children ride on, they stop (and one child dismounts and pushes in
the door) at what was once the billiard hall, next to the hotel. This structure was still
standing into the late 1970s.
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So far, this film has not been released on either DVD or video. However, ABC TV has, in
recent years, been showing it regularly on Christmas Day.
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"The Glenrowan Affair"
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Tracking down this film has been rather complicated.
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There was a story circulating, that scenes for a film about the bushranger Ned Kelly,
entitled "A Message to Kelly", had been filmed at Newnes, but that the film had "never been
released". Now that ScreenSound Australia has released the film "The Glenrowan Affair", the
mystery can at last be resolved.
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It would appear that filming for "A Message to Kelly" commenced near Benalla in Victoria,
but that this work was suspended. The director, Rupert Kathner, subsequently finished the
film as "The Glenrowan Affair". This was released in 1951.
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One interesting aspect of the finished film was that it was advertised as having been
"entirely filmed in Kelly country" and the DVD also mentions this. In fact, although Kathner
may have used Benalla footage from the original "A Message to Kelly", "The Glenrowan Affair"
was finished in and around Sydney. The several railway scenes were all taken on the Richmond
to Kurrajong railway. The "Glenrowan Hotel" was adapted from an old miners cottage at Newnes
(and burnt for the climax of the film). One end of the Newnes Hotel appears very briefly as
the Jerilderie bank.
<-- Some of the cast and crew outside the "Jerilderie Hotel" (actually the Newnes pub) during
a spell in filming. Kathner sits in his director's chair.
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The film itself is not a very remarkable one, but it does have curiosity value for it's
Newnes connection. And as a link with "Bush Christmas", both John Fernside and Stan Tolhurst
also appear in "The Glenrowan Affair".
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ScreenSound Australia (The National Film and Sound Archive) has released the film "The
Glenrowan Affair" on DVD - Catalogue number: 55DVD 805. This DVD also has a demonstration
trailer for "A Message for Kelly".
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