Bush Christmas (1947 film)

Plot

In the Australian countryside, five children are best friends, including a set of siblings, an English war evacuee, and aboriginal Neza. They boast to three strangers, Long Bill (Chips Rafferty), Jim (John Fernside) and Blue (Stan Tolhurst), about the mare belonging to the father of one of them. The next day the mare has gone. Suspecting the three men of stealing it, the children set off to recover it.

They discover the horse thieves and harass them by stealing their food and shoes. They get trapped when the thieves trap them in an old ghost town, but are rescued in time.

Cast

Production

Children's Entertainment Films had been set up by Mary Field for the Rank Organisation to make films to be screened to children in cinema clubs throughout England on Saturday mornings.

Bush Christmas was originally planned as a serial, but it was then decided to turn it into a feature.

Several cast members from The Overlanders appear, including Chips Rafferty, John Fernside and Helen Grieve. Grieve was the first choice for her role. Michael and Nick Yardley were brothers who had worked in radio. Neza Saunders came from a mission station near Rockhampton and was discovered by Chips Rafferty. Morris Unicomb was a veteran of stage and radio.

The film was entirely shot on location in the Blue Mountains and the Burragorang Valley.

Post production was completed in Sydney by June 1947.

Release

Reviews were positive. The film was very popular in Britain and Australia and was seen in 41 countries. Variety said it did "solid biz" in Australia.

It was serialised in children's magazines and a novelisation of the script was published. The movie was also adapted for radio with a young John Meillon.

Ralph Smart announced plans to make further children's films in Australia, including a serial about a family living in the outback, but these did not come to fruition.

Helen Grieve retired from acting to study science. Child actor Nick Yardley later had his face smashed by a boomerang.