[Hexagon Productions Pty. Ltd]

Painted canvas backdrop used in the 1976 Australian film Eliza Fraser, depicting Aboriginals attaching a shipwreck survivor

[Melbourne: Hexagon Productions Pty. Ltd., 1976]
180cm x 200cm. Painted canvas.

The large budget 1976 Australian film Eliza Fraser was directed by Tim Burstall and starred Susannah York, Trevor Howard and Noel Ferrier. The screenplay was written by David Williamson, and it was filmed in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. the film is loosely based on the story of Eilza Fraser, one of the survivors of the Stirling Castle, shipwrecked on Swaines Reef, near present-day Rockhampton, Queensland, in May 1836 - without doubt one of the best known stories of nineteenth century Australia, and one that has captured the imagination of writers and artists such as Patrick White, Michael Ondaatje, Andre Brink, and Sidney Nolan.

The notoriety of Eliza Fraser's story, in which she is supposed to have been held captive by Aboriginals and trated as a slave until her rescue by an ex-convict, John Graham, was fuelled by sensationalised contemporary account published in London a short time after her return to England. Mrs. Fraser's own willingness to promote her story as a sideshow celebrity in London's Hyde Park does place in doubt the authenticity of some parts of her account, but in essence it remains a true story of a woman's harrowing fight for survival in what was for her an alien environment. The heavily pregant Eliza was a passenger on her husband's ship, the Stirling Castle, when it ran aground on Swaines Reef on 25 May, 1836. The passengers and crew were forced to abandon the vessel and sought rescuse in two of the ship's boats. Eliza gave birth in an open boat, but her child died within a short time. Having been separated form the ship's larger and more seaworthy longboat, the smaller boat, with Eliza, her husband and several other survivors on board, reach K'gari (later name Fraser Island). Over a number of weeks Eliza had to witness the death of husband and fellow passender, and was apparently subjected to inhumane treatment by the K'gari (Gari) peeople.

The film's director, Tim Burstall, regarded Eliza's story as fertile territory for a bawdy parody in the style of an eighteenth century English novel, remarking in an interview that "She was essentially a con woman, and I thought the possiblities for satire were great." After her rescue in the film, Eliza returns to England and makes a living from presenting her story at sideshows and fairgrounds. The large, dramatic canvas backdrop oferred here - created by the props department of the Eliza Fraser production - was used in one such scene in the film. It can be seen in the image of the film still uploaded here (a printed copy of which accompanies the canvas).

The canvas with old folds and surface wear.

Provenance:
Dennis Nicholson, production cameraman.
Sold Douglas Stewart Fine Books, 2017.
Private Collection, Brisbane.

*This lot is sold on a GST free basis.