Australian Western in the Fifties: Kangaroo Hopalong Cassidy on Tour and Whiplash looks at
Australian Westerns from three points of view-film personal appearance and television at the
beginning middle and end of the 1950s the American Western's golden age. It looks at three
significant but forgotten cases: (1) Kangaroo: The Australian Story the first Technicolor film
made in Australia produced by the Hollywood movie studio 20th Century Fox directed by the
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Lewis Milestone starring Maureen O'Hara Peter Lawford and
Richard Boone. (2) The successful goodwill tour of Australia by the Hollywood actor William
Boyd who played the film radio and television cowboy Hopalong Cassidy. (3) The
British-American produced black-and-white TV series Whiplash made in Australia and starring
the Hollywood actor Peter Graves. The American filmmakers' ignorance of Australia meant they
learned the hard waythere was more to Australian Westerns than simply replacing the prairie
with the bush bison with kangaroos and Native Americans with Aboriginals. Indeed the
depiction of place and the presentation of Aboriginal culture are two of the most intriguing
aspects of Australian Westerns. In retelling the filmmakers' stories a unique picture of the
Australian film and television industry and everyday life during the 1950s is revealed.
