Australian Period Drama
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- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsMaureen O'HaraPeter LawfordFinlay CurrieIn turn-of-the-century Australia, two criminals ingratiate themselves with a rancher in order to swindle him. However, the two partners become rivals for the affection of the rancher's beautiful daughter.
- DirectorLeslie NormanStarsPeter FinchDana WilsonElizabeth SellarsAfter Jim Macauley finds his wife with another man, he takes their young daughter and they hit the road. With a young child as his responsibility, he finds he can't be quite the fancy-free wanderer that he had been.
- DirectorJack LeeStarsPeter FinchRonald LewisDavid McCallumTwo brothers join their father in Captain Starlight's bush ranger gang in 19th Century Australia.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsDeborah KerrRobert MitchumPeter UstinovIn Australia's Outback during the early twentieth century, the impoverished Carmody family lives a nomadic life out of their wagon, but the mom and son want to settle, while the dad is against it.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsMick JaggerClarissa Kaye-MasonMark McManusThe impoverished son of Irish immigrants is pushed by wrongful police persecution into becoming Australia's most notorious bushranger.
- DirectorPhilip LeacockStarsBeau BridgesJohn MillsJane MerrowAdam (Beau Bridges) is a young American wrongly accused of being an accomplice to murder while on shore leave in Liverpool. He is sentenced to death by hanging, but the sentence is commuted to twenty years in a convict settlement in Australia. The Governor of the colony, Sir Philip MacDonald (Sir John Mills), has a scheme in mind to settle Australia by allowing convicts to marry and by giving them land, and Adam is the perfect choice to prove his scheme is viable. He is partnered with Bess (Jane Merrow), a young Irish lass, and together they endure the hardships of the Australian outback.
- StarsBarbara LlewellynMark ClarkeAnna HrubyBased on Ethel Turner's classic children's novel, this award-winning miniseries is about a family of seven children set in 1890s Australia.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRachel RobertsAnne-Louise LambertVivean GrayDuring a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.
- StarsSerge LazareffPenne Hackforth-JonesGus MercurioWanted by the law, likeable bushrangers Sam Cash and cigar smoking accomplice Joe Brady are men with purpose and the know how to stay one sneaky step ahead of the authorities.
- DirectorPhilippe MoraStarsDennis HopperJack ThompsonDavid GulpililThe true story of Irish outlaw Daniel Morgan, who is wanted, dead or alive, in Australia during the 1850s.
- DirectorTim BurstallStarsSusannah YorkJohn WatersJohn CastleAn old captain & his young wife share a lot of adventures after they're shipwrecked and captured by Aborigines on an island near Australia.
- DirectorDonald CrombieStarsHelen MorseTakis EmmanuelJack ThompsonSydney, Australia in the mid-1920's. Proud and classy Caddie Marsh is forced to get a job as a barmaid and raise two children on her own after her rich cad husband walks out on her. Despite numerous hardships such as the Great Depression, Caddie still manages to catch the eye of smooth dandy Ted and strikes up a romantic relationship with dashing Greek gentleman Peter.
- DirectorKen HannamStarsSara KestelmanAndrew McFarlaneIngrid MasonTom Cooper, a married man recently returned from WWI, falls in love with an artist visiting his country town, but he has misgivings after meeting her city friends.
- DirectorJohn PowerStarsJohn MeillonRod TaylorJohn EwartAt the beginnings of this centuary a man, his son and a piano player travel around Australia showing the first silent movies (naturally in black and white). But what they really want is stay at one place and open up a cinema.
- DirectorKevin James DobsonStarsGeraldine FitzgeraldRobert HelpmannChristopher PateJamie is a young man growing up in the small Australian town of Bundaberg during the early 1940's. Jamie loves his tranquil life, surrounded by the friendly locals, and being brought up by his warm caring grandmother. But when a local preacher goes nutty, all hell breaks loose for the community, and Jamie leaves Bundaberg for the city.
- DirectorTom CowanStarsJeune PritchardMartin PhelanNell CampbellIn colonial Australia, daughter of a judge helps a group of female convicts living in inhuman conditions escape. Aboriginal girl teaches them how to survive in the forest. One of them gets raped and killed. The group seeks revenge.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsSusannah FowleDorothy BradleyPatricia KennedyOscar-nominated director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Tender Mercies) crafts a tender coming-of-age tale that introduces one of Australian literature's most beloved characters to the screen, Laura Tweedle Rambotham (Susannah Fowle).
- DirectorDonald CrombieStarsMichael CraigRobyn NevinSimon BurkeThe Doolan family are trying to make a go in the freight-hauling business in Queensland, Australia. The problem is that it's the 1920s; the Doolans use horses, and motorized vehicles can do it faster. The proud father, Paddy, has difficulty accepting change.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsTommy LewisFreddy ReynoldsAngela Punch McGregorAfter suffering racist abuse throughout his life - which intensifies following his marriage to a white woman - a half-Aboriginal farmhand finds himself driven to murder.
- StarsMary LarkinKerry McGuireJon EnglishEighteen-year-old Mary Mulvane gets convicted for trying to get back her father's cow. She has to endure the travel in a prison ship from Ireland and living the life of a convict in Australia.
- StarsLiddy ClarkNoni HazlehurstBarbara WyndonThe story of a strong-minded young woman growing up in the 1930s - a time when Australia was just emerging from the Depression years and news of dark events in Europe were mere echoes from a different world.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsJudy DavisSam NeillWendy HughesA proud young woman in early 20th century Australia must choose between marriage and independence.
- StarsRobyn NevinJacki WeaverDavid CameronThe story of actor Neil Atkins, a man torn between his aspirations and the women in his life.
- DirectorJohn HoneyStarsMawuyul YanthalawuyAnna RalphPhillip HintonAboriginal woman Manganinnie survives a Black Line raid which claims the life of her husband, Meenopeekameena.
- StarsWendy HughesSam NeillBarry QuinBased on the novel by Martin Boyd (1946) this miniseries tells the story of many generations of a family who migrate from England to Australia and eventually back to England, suffering poverty and becoming social climbers. The family's social ambitions lead to conflicts between Lucinda and her parents over the attentions of Tony Duff. She therefore marries wealthy Englishman Hugo Brayford and moves to England with him. A series of failures and adulterous episodes in England lead to her experience of "geographical schizophrenia" and personality disintegration.
- DirectorIgor AuzinsStarsAngela Punch McGregorArthur DignamMartin VaughanJeannie Gunn faced being the only civilised woman in an uncivilised land. A story of personal triumph about one woman who reached out in a hard, hostile, prejudiced world and managed to find love.
- DirectorKevin James DobsonStarsDavid AtkinsJacki WeaverAlan CassellWormy and diminutive, yet cunning and determined small-time hoodlum Squizzy Taylor rises to prominence and popularity in Melbourne, Australia in the 1920's. Squizzy romances brash moll Dolly and works for bookie Henry Stokes before branching out on his own while being hounded by the police and courted by the press the whole time.
- StarsJuliet JordanHarold HopkinsBrenton WhittleThe lavish, passionate story of a beautiful convict girl, Sara Dane who is transported from England to Australia for a crime she did not commit. She struggle for freedom and independence against almost impossible odds.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsKirk DouglasTom BurlinsonTerence DonovanIn 1880s Australia, after young Jim Craig's father dies, he takes a job at the Harrison cattle ranch, where he is forced to become a man.
- StarsScott McGregorScott BurgessSigrid ThorntonTwo young men from the country join the army and leave for World War I.
- StarsAnthony PerkinsPatrick MacneeSamantha EggarIn 1830's England, a young man from a good but troubled family is unjustly convicted of stealing a watch. He's transported to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) where he suffers under the enmity of Lt. Frere while falling in love with Sylvia, the Warden's daughter. Meanwhile, back in England, an imposter lays claim to the young man's inheritance.
- StarsLisa HarrowJohn HallamPeter CousensIn 1831, young Irishman Charles Adare (Peter Cousens) arrives in New South Wales, Australia, eager to make his fortune and make it fast. But what he finds are secrets that won't stay buried.
- DirectorSimon WincerStarsTom BurlinsonJudy MorrisMartin VaughanThe true story of a New Zealand racehorse that became a champion, with the help of a local stable-boy.
- DirectorDonald CrombieStarsLiddy ClarkJohn StantonVal LehmanNotorious Australian flop set in the Roaring 20s Sydney follows Kitty O'Rourke who, after her thug husband ends up in jail, becomes a tough gangster on her own, befriends a crooked cop called The Bagman and takes on the competition.
- DirectorCarl SchultzStarsWendy HughesRobyn NevinNicholas GledhillHis mother dead, PS lives in Sydney with working-class Aunt Lila and Uncle George. When he's six or eight, his posh Aunt Vanessa descends from England. Named a co-guardian by PS's feckless, absent father, she asserts her rights and convinces Lila to have PS live with her weekdays. PS is happy at Lila's, playing with children, running about, speaking up. At Vanessa's, there's a regimen of private school, round vowels, piano and riding lessons, and lonely indoor play with fancy toys. He's miserable and when he objects, she sues for complete custody. Will anyone listen to him? And will he take on Vanessa's challenges to find out who he is and to love someone?
- StarsSigrid ThorntonJohn WatersDarius PerkinsOrphaned after a shipwreck off the Victorian coast of Australia, the beautiful and spirited Philadelphia Gordon finds both love and adventure aboard a paddle-steamer on the Murray River.
- StarsJack ThompsonGreta ScacchiWarren MitchellAustralian dockyard workers go on strike. Immigrant Italian workers are brought in as scab labour. In the midst of all this, an Italian woman meets & falls in love with one of the Australians.
- DirectorLex MarinosStarsWendy HughesGary SweetRichard MoirSister Honour Langtree (Wendy Hughes), is in charge of a military hospital for psychiatric patients. She however transgresses boundaries by developing a sexual attraction for a new patient.
- StarsBill KerrDorothy AlisonDale RandallFour part biopic about classic Australian author A.B. Facey (1894-1982). Born in a large impoverished family, uneducated and illiterate, he had to fend for himself since he was eight, and as a recruit in WWI, he was sent to Gallipoli.
- DirectorGraeme CliffordStarsJack ThompsonNigel HaversGreta ScacchiA story based on true events about two explorers on a doomed journey trying to cross Australia on foot in the 19 century.
- DirectorDenny LawrenceStarsBrett ClimoRobert ColebyNed LanderDuring the 1860s, Dave Powers, apprentice to a horse trainer, volunteers to ride Archer to the Melbourne Cup race. Their start is 600 miles from Melbourne, and the journey is anything but easy. Of course, the pair have numerous adventures along the way, and in the end Archer competes in the Melbourne Cup race.
- StarsAndrew ClarkePaul HoganJon BlakeThe lives of a dozen Australian soldiers who served in the ANZACs. Fighting first at Gallipoli in 1915, then on the Western Front for the remainder of WWI, it's the story of the hardships, camaraderie and casualties of war.
- DirectorTim BurstallStarsColin FrielsJudy DavisJohn WaltonA mild-mannered English conscientious objector moves to what he feels will be the relative calm of Australia after World War I, but gets caught in the middle of violent battles between the rising trade unions and fascist groups.
- StarsBryan BrownNoni HazlehurstRebecca SmartMacauley is a swagman who finds himself in charge of his young daughter, Buster. The pair hike across the harsh outback landscape, in an attempt to repair their relationship and find a home.
- StarsAnne PhelanMartyn SandersonKaarin FairfaxIt is the early '50s and the Darcy family continues their struggle to build a better life despite the forces lined up against them in this sequel to the popular made-for-TV film Harp in the South. Father Hughie (Martyn_Sanderson); his wife, Mumma (Anne Plelan); and their younger daughter, Dolour (Kaarin_Fairfax), are broken people after Roie (Anna Hruby)the oldest daughter dies giving birth to a baby boy. Charlie(Shane Feeney-Connor), Roie's husband takes to the drink to forget his loss remembering only Roie and forgetting about his children. Dolour no longer a child fights for the strength to keep this family together in this hard bitten Irish-emigrate community of Surry Hills, but as bad times, illness, and romantic discord make their presence known, the Darcy's find that what they need most to survive is one another.
- DirectorSimon WincerStarsPeter PhelpsNick WatersJohn LarkingIn 1917 when the British forces are bogged down in front of the Turkish and German lines in Palestine they rely on the Australian light horse regiment to break the deadlock.
- DirectorTim BurstallStarsJohn StantonSigrid ThorntonRobert ColebyA humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.
- DirectorClytie JessopStarsLee RemickMiranda OttoMark LeeAfter the start of WW2, a mother takes her children from Sydney to the countryside.
- DirectorGeoff BurrowesStarsTom BurlinsonSigrid ThorntonBrian DennehyYoung Jim Craig returns to his home in the Australian high country. He finds that things are not as he left them - his girlfriend, Jessica, is being pursued by another man, and her father, Harrison, doesn't want him back into her life.
- DirectorFrank CvitanovichStarsDennis WatermanChris HaywoodDominique SweeneyThe story of the Australian Rugby League's first visit to England.
- StarsHugo WeavingVictoria LongleySteve Jacobs"Dirtwater Dynasty" is the story of embittered rivalry, triumph and despair. The life of Richard Eastwick is told in a story spanning three generations and eight decades. Born in the London slums in 1878, he comes to Australia at age 20, with nothing but a handful of courage and a dream. He acquires land, marries and raises a family, wins loyal friends and makes bitter enemies, and builds a land and cattle ranching empire. Both world wars and the economic depression take their toll on his family. But his dream to create a dynasty gives him a reason to continue.
- DirectorSimon WincerStarsTom SelleckLaura San GiacomoAlan RickmanSharpshooter Matt Quigley is hired from Wyoming by an Australian rancher paying a very high price. But when Quigley arrives Down Under, all is not as it seems.