Back of Beyond

[Keith Webb]

After a bit of a lull the Last Mail From Birdsville site is back and has a fair bit of new content including a short piece I cut on the unveiling of the fourth and final Tom Kruse bust in his South Australian birthplace Waterloo. Just go to the photo and video links. There's also a short amateur piece of the Leyland Badger being tow-started by a C60L.

For those unfamiliar with the story it revolves around a movie made in outback Australia in 1953 (released in 1954) by the Shell Film Unit called the Back of Beyond. I saw it as a child and was influenced by one of it's stars, a cab 12 F60L used in the mail run from Maree to Birdsville. It was the toughest mail run in the world, traversing Australia's baking outback deserts in temperatures up to the mid 50sC.

In 1999 the Leyland Badger mail truck, the other vehicular star of the original movie was being restored for a recreation of the mail run, and not only that but with the then 85 year old star of the original film as one of the chief restorers. And Tom Kruse was not only the star but actually was the contractor for the mail run. The Back of Beyond was the most internationally awarded Australian movie until 'Crocodile Dundee' came along.

I was involved in the making of that story and the resulting film was called 'Last Mail from Birdsville' which went to air both nationally on the Seven network and Foxtel's History Channel.

There is a fair bit of CMP action in both the original and our film.

This isn't meant to be a sales pitch but the PAL only double set DVD can be ordered through the Royal Flying Doctor Service (a charity here). And for the record my co-producers and I do have an interest in the sales.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Keith

Is there any possibility of the North American compatible version being done, I know that sales would be small in terms normal CD market sales, but we live in hope.

Failing that who owns the rights for TV, maybe we could stir up some interest with the Boston Public Television station, WGBH which is one of the larger originators of public television programing.