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John
Macadam tries to sustain public interest by staging a musical play about the expedition. Julia demands the lead role and grows a beard to prove she can play Burke. The play opens around the time Burke and Wills die in the desert. John King survives the expedition and is found by a search party
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Philip Dalkin first wrote the story as a stage play, which Bob Weis read in 1978. He enjoyed it and at one stage thought of making it as a television miniseries before deciding on turning it into a feature film. It was shot over six weeks in and around
Melbourne on a budget of $ 1.7 million.
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In 1860, Robert O'Hara Burke and
William John Wills are chosen to explore the Australian continent from south to north and back again. Just before the expedition departs, Burke proposes to young actress Julia Matthews, who has trouble remembering who he is.
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