Tourism a spin-off from mini-series

Press, 10 February 1988, Page 19

Tourism a spin-off from mini-series

The popularity of Australian mini-series, several of which have been shown by Television New Zealand during January, has had an interesting spin-off for the burgeoning Australian tourism industry. Holidaymakers, many of them from New Zealand, are setting out to visit places where the series were shot or which are associated with the storylines. “Visiting movie locales has been a tradition since movie-making began, but with Australia producing high quality television series which attract large viewing audiences, we’ve noticed increasing interest in visiting places mentioned or seen on the small screen,” says Greig McAllan, of the Australian Tourist Commission’s New Zealand office. ”

Amongst the best known locales is the ghost town (it still has a few inhabitants and, in Aussie style, a thriving pub full of Outback character) of Silverton, close to Broken Hill in the far western reaches of New South Wales. Many of the most dramatic scenes of “A Town Like Alice” were shot in and around Silverton, as have been many other mini-series and movies. “A Fortunate Life” is another mini-series to have roused tourist interest. It is based on Bert Facey’s bestselling autobiography, the story of one man’s efforts to overcome terrible hardship. The Albert Facey Homestead still stands not far from Narrogin on the Great Southern Highway, an easy drive from Perth.

“Eureka stockade” is a dramatised account of happenings at the time of the 1854 rebellion by miners against the British Government’s taxation policies on the goldfields. It was the only armed insurrection by freemen in Australia’s history. Screening of the miniseries, which stars Bryan Brown, is the more appropriate, Mr McAllan points out, because descendants of those involved in the Eureka Stockade have arranged a unique gettogether as a bicentennial celebration. The Eureka Stockade site is in Ballarat, a Victorian city well known to many New Zealanders for Sovereign Hill, an authentically recreated gold mining town. Coach tours to Sovereign Hill also stop at the stockade memorial.