''Stockade'' is a 1971 Australian musical film directed by Hans Pomeranz and Ross McGregor and starring

Rod Mullinar Rodney Mullinar (born 1942) is a British Australian actor, noted for his roles on Australian television. Biography Early life Mullinar born in Hereford, Hertfordshire, emigrated to Australia in 1966, at the urging of an Australian friend in ...

. It is about the

Eureka Stockade The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, Australia, during the Victorian gold rush. It culminated in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, wh ...

Cast

* Michelle Fawdon as Elizabeth Green *

Peter Lalor Peter Fintan Lalor ( ); 5 February 1827 – 9 February 1889) was an Irish-Australian rebel and, later, politician, who rose to fame for his leading role in the Eureka Rebellion, an event identified with the "birth of democracy" in Austra ...

*Graham Corry as George Black *Sue Hollywood as Ma Bentley *Charles Thorne as Captain Thomas *Norman Willison as Johnny *

Max Cullen Maxwell Phillip Cullen (born 29 April 1940) is an Australian stage and screen actor. He has appeared in many Australian films and television series but is best known for his role in the film '' Spider and Rose'' and the television series '' The ...

Raffaello Carboni Raffaello Carboni (15 December 1817 – 24 October 1875) was an Italian writer, composer and interpreter who wrote a book on the Eureka Stockade which he witnessed while living in Australia. Although only a spectator at the Eureka Rebellion he ...

*Michael Rolfe as Captain Wise *George Clay as Edward Thoren

Production

The film was based on a musical play by Kenneth Cook which had been commissioned by the New South Wales Drama foundation and first performed in March 1971 at the Independent Theatre in Sydney. Most of the original cast returned and the play's director Ross McGregor was director of acting. Shooting took place in May 1971 immediately after the end of the play's Sydney season. The shoot only took two weeks in at the Australiana Pioneer Village, Wilberforce, near Sydney. $15,000 of the budget came from the

Australian Council for the Arts Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announc ...

and $16,000 from the

Australian Film Development Corporation The Australian Film Development Corporation was an organisation created and funded by the Australian Government in the 1970s, intended to allow filmmakers in the Australian film industry to create movies for everyone to see. In 1975 it was repla ...

.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p261

Release

In December 1971 the MP for Ballarat, Dudley Erwin, criticised the use of government money to make ''Stockade''as it contained brothel scenes, and asked for it to be withdrawn from circulation. The movie struggled to get distribution. Hans Pomeranz and Kenneth Cook complained that the NSW government refused to enforce the

Film Quota Act The Film Quota Act, full title the New South Wales Cinematograph Films (Australian Quota) Act was an act of legislation passed in September 1935 that came into force on 1 January 1936. Under the Act it was compulsory that in the first year of opera ...

but at the same time prevented public screenings in unlicensed halls, stopping Australian producers from finding alternatives to screen their films. Hans Pomeranz issued a formal demand to

Eric Willis Sir Eric Archibald Willis (15 January 1922 – 10 May 1999) was an Australian politician, Cabinet Minister and the 34th Premier of New South Wales, serving from 23 January 1976 to 14 May 1976. Born in Murwillumbah in 1922, Willis was educated ...

, chief secretary of the NSW government for an inquiry into the New South Wales industry. He was ultimately unsuccessful. Pomeranz and Cook eventually distributed the film themselves. Commercial reception was poor but the film was widely screened in schools and on television.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0131030
''Stockade''
at Oz Movies 1971 films 1970s Western (genre) musical films British Empire war films Films about rebellions Australian films based on actual events Films set in Victoria (state) Films based on works by Australian writers Films set in colonial Australia Australian Western (genre) musical films Films set in 1854 Films about mining 1970s English-language films Cultural depictions of the Eureka Rebellion English-language Western (genre) musical films 1971 musical films