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Botany Bay
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Title:
Botany Bay
NFSA ID
1065443
Year
1953
Botany Bay (John Farrow, USA, 1953): Directed by John Farrow (1904–1963), b. Sydney, NSW
John Farrow directed an impressive 50 films; however, Botany Bay was only the second (besides The Sea Chase, 1955) to have a connection to his native Australia.
Included in the film’s cast were 2 kangaroos and 4 koalas flown to America for filming, one of which features in this poster.
It’s jarring now to see the story of ‘Australia’s first settlers’ imagined as a ‘lusty’ and romantic adventure story. The pink hue is eye-catching and reflective of Australia’s warm and arid climate.
Farrow received an Academy Award for co-writing Best Picture winner Around the World in 80 Days (1956) and was nominated for directing Wake Island (1942).
As one of the few high-profile Australians working in Hollywood in the 1940s, Farrow accepted the Oscar awarded to the Cinesound Review newsreel Kokoda Front Line! (1942) on behalf of Ken G Hall and Damien Parer.
Notes by Michelle Davenport
Director
John Farrow
Cast
Alan Ladd, James Mason, Patricia Medina
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.