Chips Rafferty in Forty Thousand Horsemen

Filmed partially in the Cronulla sandhills near Sydney during the Second World War, Forty Thousand Horsemen (Charles Chauvel, Australia, 1940) celebrates the Australian Light Horse of the First World War.

John Goffage, renamed 'Chips Rafferty' by Director Charles Chauvel for this, his first major role, played the lean and laconic bushman character. The role echoed earlier depictions of diggers on local screens but would see him establish it as an Australian cinematic archetype.

Rafferty had limited acting experience - he had been a shearer, miner, drover and pearl diver. Stills show his natural range, from this comic scene in a cabaret where he begins mirroring the alluring movements of the dancing girl, to poignantly reflective moments.