A Romance of Burke and Wills Expedition of 1860
Directed byCharles Byers Coates
Written byA.C. Tinsdale[1]
Edmund Duggan
Produced byA.C. Tinsdale
StarringCharles Clarke
CinematographyFranklyn Barrett
A. O. Segerberg
Walter Sully
Production
companies
Distributed byKookaburra Films
Release date
7 September 1918
Running time
6 reels[2]
CountryAustralia
LanguagesSilent film
English intertitles
Budgetover £2,000[3]

A Romance of Burke and Wills Expedition of 1860 is a 1918 Australian silent film. The plot is fictional and is loosely based around the Burke and Wills expedition.

Plot

Robert O'Hara Burke leads an expedition from Melbourne to the north of Australia, including William John Wills, John King, Gray, Dandells and Brahe. Although he reaches the Gulf of Carpentaria along with Wills and King when they return to their base at Cooper Creek they discover their comrades have left without them. Burke and Wills both die but King is rescued by aborigines and survives.[4] A fictitious romance was added to the story.[5]

Chapter headings included:

  • a love romance
  • a minuet of 1857
  • expedition leaves Melbourne
  • scenes along the route
  • customs and habits of natives
  • gorgeous desert sunsets
  • historic landmarks
  • there is no death.[6]

Cast

  • Charles Clarke as Robert O'Hara Burke
  • George Patterson as William John Wills
  • Chris Olsen as John King
  • G. Gould as W. Grey
  • Bias Kotes as William Brahe
  • David Edelsten as Mayor of Melbourne
  • Vera Chamberlain as Mina Doyle
  • Ona Landers as Stella McDonald
  • Madame Carbasse as Mrs Doyle
  • Melville Stevenson as Dost Mahommed
  • Astor Lewis as Bridget
  • Yvonne Blight as maid
  • Dorothy Beer and Evelyn Hooper as Mina's sisters
  • Clayre St Start and Ida Hooper

Production

The film was completed in November 1917 and originally ran for three reels. Director Charles Coates then spent another month in central Australia shooting additional footage. Filming took over 12 months all up and involved more than 300 people. Reportedly shooting some scenes involved a risk to the cinematographer's life.[3]

The cast included Madam Carbasse, the French mother of Louise Lovely.

Reportedly the film was based on a script by Edmund Duggan. The National Film and Sound Archive recently obtained a copy of this script.[7][8]

Release

The movie was previewed to the trade in May 1918 and submitted for censorship in June 1918.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Untitled". Sunday Times. Perth: National Library of Australia. 31 July 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "A ROMANCE OF BURKE AND WILLS". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 14 September 1918. p. 11. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 "BURKE AND WILLS". The Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 14 September 1918. p. 10. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "BURKE AND WILLS EXPEDITION". The Barrier Miner. Broken Hill, NSW: National Library of Australia. 24 September 1918. p. 2. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  5. ↑ "Advertising". The Mirror. Perth: National Library of Australia. 13 August 1921. p. 4 Section: SECOND SECTION. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "Advertising". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 6 August 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  7. ↑ National Film and Sound Archive (Australia). (2009), "APPENDIX 6: KEY ACQUISITION GEMS AND HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2008-09", Annual report, Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament), Acton, A.C.T: National Film & Sound Archive (2008/2009, PP no. 371 of 2009), ISSN 1837-2260, nla.obj-1189945882, retrieved 22 October 2023 – via Trove
  8. ↑ Report on script at Antiques Reporter
  9. ↑ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 82
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