Outback House

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Outback House
Genre Historical reality television
Country of origin Flag of Australia Australia
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 8
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Ivo Burum
Running time 60 min.
Broadcast
Original channel ABC TV
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
Original run June 12, 2005 – July 31, 2005
External links
Official website
IMDb profile

Outback House was an Australian historical reality TV series that originally aired on ABC TV in 2005. The series was based on several series produced by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and PBS in the United States, in which the concept was to have a modern day family living in a facsimile of an historical dwelling with their staff, making do with only the technology and materials of the time. Outback House was set in 1861 Outback Australia, on a sheep station called Oxley Downs in New South Wales.

Contents

[edit] Production

The series was conceived as an Australian version of the successful House series, produced by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, and later adapted by American public broadcaster PBS. The series produced by 2005 were: The 1900 House (UK, 1999), The Edwardian Country House (UK, 2002), Frontier House (US, 2002) and Colonial House (US, 2004).

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation advertised for twenty people to participate in the series filming for three months, portraying the inhabitants of an 1860s Australian sheep station. In the make-believe world of the series, the family running the station were "squatters", who had taken over an abandoned property. In addition, the participants included the considerable number of staff required on an outback sheep farm: overseers, shepherds, governesses, stationhands, cooks and maids.[1]

The "Oxley Downs" sheep station was constructed from scratch at a secret location in northern New South Wales (later revealed to be just outside Dubbo), after the series location scouts had been unable to find an existing property in authentic condition. The year 1861 was chosen as the setting for the series, as Australia's land ownership laws were about to change dramatically, and the incentive to turn a profit was higher at that time, given that squatters had to fend off challengers for their land if they were not making money on the property.[1]One of the show's producers mentioned on an ABC message board that the location had three requirements: it had to be big; it had to be distinctively Australian in appearance, with nothing of 2005 visible; and it had to be secluded to allow the filming to be conducted in secret.[2] After filming was completed, the Oxley Downs property was retained as a tourist attraction.[3]

[edit] Cast

[edit] The Squatters

  • Paul Allcorn
  • Julianne Allcorn
  • Persephone, Pierette and Portia Allcorn

[edit] The Overseers

  • Glen Sheluchin
  • Peter Gordon

[edit] The Shepherds

  • Bernie Kennedy
  • Dan Hatch

[edit] The Governesses

  • Genevieve Yates
  • Fiona Schubert

[edit] The Stationhands

  • Adam Carter
  • Russell Wulf
  • Mal Burns

[edit] The Cooks

  • Carolina Francese
  • Brigid Dwyer

[edit] The Maids

  • Claire Williams
  • Danielle Schaefer

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Kermond, Clare: Out of the past, The Age, June 9, 2005.
  2. ^ Where is Oxley Downs?, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 23 June 2005.
  3. ^ Oxley Downs Open Weekend, Dubbo Tourism.

[edit] External links