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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.
A scene from "Bush Christmas". --->
After finding no one home at the Grocer's and having demolished the front door of the billiard hall, the children gather
outside the Newnes pub to plan their next move. If only they had called in at the pub (it was a still active and fully
licenced building at Newnes when the film was made.) But children were never allowed into pubs in those days. (At Newnes?
Never! Ha! Ha!)
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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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Some years ago, there was a story circulating, that scenes for a film about the bushranger Ned Kelly, entitled "A Message
to Kelly", contained scenes 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 a film, "A Message to Kelly" was 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 first
released in 1951, and ScreenSound Australia now have it on DVD.
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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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The ScreenSound Australia (The National Film and Sound Archive) DVD release of this film has catalogue number: 55DVD 805.
The DVD also has a demonstration trailer for "A Message for Kelly".
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