Ealing Studios present
Their first Australian Production
The OVERLANDERS sound RCA system - logo
Copyright MCMXLVI by Ealing Studios Limited, London, W. 5. England. with Chips Rafferty John Nugent Hayward Daphne Campbell John Fernside
Jean Blue Peter Pagan Helen Grieve Frank Ransome Stan Tolhurst Marshall Crosby
This film is based on fact, but the characters are fictitious; any similarity to any name or individual is coincidental.
Production Supervisor Jack Rix
Photography by Technical Supervisor Osmond Borradaile A.S.C. Eric Williams
Supervising Editor Leslie A. Norman Editor Unit Manager E. M. Inman Hunter Arch Spiers
Recordist Camera Operator Beresford Hallett Carl Kayser
Research Dora Birtles
Music Composed by John Ireland
Played by The Philharmonia Orchestra
Conducted by Ernest Irving
Filmed in Australia with the full co-operation of the Commonwealth Government and of the Federal and State Departments
Produced by Michael Balcon
Australian Associate Ralph Smart
Written and Directed by Harry Watt
Ealing Studios - logo
Opening voice over narration over image of Japanese soldier reaching out for map of Australia:
In 1942 the Japanese were driving invincibly southward from Singapore. It seemed inevitable that next into their hands would fall the Northern Territory of Australia, largest undeveloped region in the world, with a million head of cattle and a population of only five thousand whites.
Space, scorched earth and space, was Australia's final weapon, but first the vast herds of the north must be saved, and so across Australia moved a mass migration unique in history. From small beginnings the mobs of cattle poured south in an almost unending flood. This is the story of one mob, and of the people who drove it across a continent ...
(In the new modern manner, cast credits ran at the end):
Dan McAlpine Chips Rafferty Bill Parsons John Nugent Hayward Mary Parsons Daphne Campbell Mrs. Parsons Jean Blue Helen Parsons Helen Grieve Corky John Fernside Sailor ("Sinbad") Peter Pagan Charlie Frank Ransome Manager Stan Tolhurst Minister Marshall Crosby Police Sergeant John Fegan Aborigine Jacky Clyde Combo Aborigine Nipper Henry Murdoch