Australia on Film: A Cinematic Journey
With its rugged good looks and effortless quirks, Australia was always destined for the screen. The country’s pristine beaches, scorching deserts, and eclectic cities have set the scene for a string of soaps, TV series, and films, ranging from homegrown cult hits to Hollywood blockbusters.
Melbourne: Silver-Screen Suburbs
The world’s first full-length feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, was shot in Melbourne in 1906. Today, the city remains home to Australia’s longest-running TV series, Neighbours, which began in 1985. The soap’s world-famous Ramsay Street is actually Pin Oak Court, an unassuming cul-de-sac in suburban Vermont South, serving as a pit stop on backpacker rite of passage Neighbours Tours.
Moreover, Melbourne is the location for the Netflix boxed set Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, featuring 1920s private detective Phryne Fisher wearing some of the most beautiful frocks on-screen. You can explore the locations with the Big Bus, including Phryne’s historic home, Wardlow, in Parkville.
Country Victoria: Fantastic Settings
Evocative beach scenes blend into fantasy in Where the Wild Things Are, the 2009 Spike Jonze film that makes great use of Victoria’s misty light in locations such as Gembrook (terminus of the Puffing Billy steam train), the wind-whipped coastline of Flinders, and the rock-climbing mecca of Mt Arapiles.
A 70km drive northwest of central Melbourne leads to the ancient volcanic boulders of Hanging Rock, the haunting setting of Peter Weir’s film Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). Fauna including wallabies, koalas, kookaburras, and wedge-tailed eagles create an untamed backdrop for this true story of missing schoolgirls. Foxtel revisited this eerie tale in a television series starring Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones) released in May 2018. Other filming locations for the miniseries include Werribee Mansion and Como House.
Sydney: Drag Queens and Beach Scenes
It’s from Sydney that two drag queens and a transsexual set off on a dazzling road trip in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). Their starting point is the Imperial Hotel in inner-city Erskineville, a queer icon that has bounced back after some troubled years to reopen just in time for Sydney’s 2018 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Furthermore, Sydney sequins give way to surf on reality TV series Bondi Rescue, filmed on the legendary Bondi Beach. From mid-January to February, the famous surf strip hosts Bondi OpenAir Cinema, showcasing a season of mainstream and classic films alongside live music performances.
Moreover, the tranquil suburb of Palm Beach stands in for fictional ‘Summer Bay’ in Home & Away, Australia’s second-longest running television series. Fans can embark on a Home and Away tour of the neighborhood (with viator.com).
Back in the city centre, Sydney’s Manhattan-esque central business district serves as a futuristic backdrop in the sci-fi action film The Matrix (1999), including the fountain at Martin Place. Additionally, sprawling Centennial Park moonlights as Gatsby’s Estate in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby (2013). The park itself draws cinephiles each summer for Moonlight Cinema, held from mid-December to late March.
Outback NSW: Max Madness
A short 1160km drive west of Sydney leads to the rough-and-tumble mining town Broken Hill, whose garishly hued Palace Hotel is also featured in Priscilla. More than half of the film was shot in and around the town, including the Mundi Mundi Plains, an epic rust-hued expanse located 29km to the north.
The Plains were also used in the post-apocalyptic Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), a fact not lost on the nearby mining town of Silverton, which boasts its own dedicated Mad Max 2 Museum.
Gold Coast: Superheroes and ABBA Fans
Another Game of Thrones star, Jason Momoa (aka Khal Drogo), has been on location in the Gold Coast for the upcoming DC superhero flick Aquaman, scheduled for release in December 2018. The Gold Coast also played its part as the pastel-hued kitsch of ‘Porpoise Spit’ in the cult classic Muriel’s Wedding (1994).
Great Barrier Reef: Pirates and Battlefields
It’s Hamilton Island that doubles as ‘Hibiscus Island’ in Muriel’s Wedding, where the dowdy Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette) and hedonistic Rhonda Epinstalk (Rachel Griffiths) compete with their lip-sync version of ABBA’s ‘Waterloo.’
This well-developed island acts as a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and stands in for the Bahamas in the Hollywood adventure-romance Fool’s Gold (2008) starring Matthew McConaughey. The same film featured North Queensland’s resort town of Port Douglas as Key West. Known for its stunning shoreline along Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas also hosted the shooting of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 in 2015. It makes a great base for exploring Daintree National Park, where the thick jungle set the stage for much of the American war epic The Thin Red Line (1998).
Outback Oz: Red Dirt and Dogs
Meanwhile, in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, it’s in Uluru’s shadow that Meryl Streep portrays real-life Lindy Chamberlain in Evil Angels (A Cry in the Dark) (1988), depicting a woman wrongfully accused of murdering her infant. The soaring sandstone formation was initially set to appear in Priscilla, but the refusal of a shooting permit led to its substitution with the breathtaking red wonder of Kings Canyon, nestled between Uluru and Alice Springs.
Additionally, the area served as a backdrop in Tracks, a 2013 film based on Robyn Davidson’s epic 2700km solo desert journey in 1977 with her dog and four camels. It was filmed in South Australia and the Northern Territory, including Kings Creek Station west of Alice Springs. The heartwarming family favorite Red Dog was shot in the Pilbara, where the red dirt emerges as a character in its own right.
The Top End: Crocs and Canoes
A sun-scorched wonderland of wilderness, rugged characters, and ancient customs, no place embodies the essence of Australia quite like the Northern Territory. Archetypal Aussie ocker Paul Hogan plays on numerous stereotypes in the global box-office hit Crocodile Dundee (1986). Part of the film was shot in the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, known for its 10,000 resident crocodiles. Furthermore, the acclaimed 2006 film Ten Canoes, based on an ancient Yolngu narrative, was the first feature film shot entirely in an Aboriginal language and filmed in Arnhem Land, to the east of Kakadu National Park.
Tassie: Stunning Natural Scenery
The 2016 box-office smash Lion, which received six Oscar nominations, showcases the beauty of Tasmania (Tassie) in various standout locations, including the lookout over Hobart from Kunyani/Mount Wellington and the Bruny Island Neck isthmus. Additionally, while The Light Between Oceans was filmed in historic Stanley in northwest Tasmania, locals mingled with award-winning actors Rachael Weisz and Michael Fassbender on set, with many growing full beards to fit the post-WWI setting.
