The story
I picked up Siân Rees' book about five years ago in the Hyde Park Barracks Museum shop, in Sydney. A day later I had read it cover to cover. It read like a novel - a great bawdy romp with a gripping narrative and characters that leapt off the page.
'...it's rare to find a story that ticks all the boxes, a tale that has all the ingredients of a rip-roaring yarn and has something intelligent to say about a nation's history'
I have been making docu-dramas for some years now and it's rare to find a story that ticks all the boxes, a tale that has all the ingredients of a rip-roaring yarn and has something intelligent to say about a nation's history. I knew it would make a wonderful film.
The problem was how to make it relevant to a modern audience. Australians used to shun their convict past, but today many embrace it. That seemed to me to be the key. There is a thirst there not just for cultural identity but also for a more deep-seated understanding of one's own roots and what it can tell us about ourselves.
Published: 2006-02-01