Mount Thomas

Mount Thomas is the fictional setting for the Australian police drama television series Blue Heelers, which ran from 1994 to 2006.

Mount Thomas is located in the state of Victoria in a very rough northern triangle with the real towns of Echuca, Swan Hill and Benalla nearby. In episode 56, the population is given on a "Welcome to Mt. Thomas" sign as 7805, although this undoubtedly grew as the series continued - large enough for a police force of six officers, a court house, a railway station and yards, hospital, primary and secondary schools, the obligatory football and cricket clubs and a swimming pool - but still small enough that most members of the community are known to everyone else.

It is also large enough to have its own town council, a newspaper (The Gazette) and at least seven pubs, one of which is "The Imperial" (the copper's pub) plus "The Railway", "The Federal", "The Steam Packet", "Customs House" and "The Commercial", which is The Imperial's main rival. There is also another pub down the street from the court house, and from a distance appears to be called "The Main Street Hotel". Over the years The Imperial has played home to several police characters, new to town with nowhere else to live but a rental room at the hotel. Mount Thomas also has at least one motel and a caravan park. There is also a local radio station, 3TM, mentioned in episode 4 which plays predominately country music.

Dozens of real-life, national business chains have branches or stores in Mount Thomas, and can be seen across a wide number of episodes. Throughout the series it is remarked by various characters that the town has been in trouble commercially, or will be in trouble in the future due to lack of employment. However, the sheer number of these actual businesses seen tends to imply that the town is thriving and in an excellent economic position. There are Coles, Safeway and IGA supermarkets; a Fosseys store and a Target Country. Mount Thomas has branches for the Commonwealth, ANZ and Bendigo Banks, a BP and at least two Caltex service stations. There are both Mazda and Holden dealerships, an ABC Shop, a Hog's Breath Cafe, CSR Gyprock, Beaurepaires and Bridgestone Tyre Centre. Several real-life real estate firms are seen, including L.J. Hooker, The Professionals and Elders. Amcal chemists and Tonks Brothers Hardware are in multiple locations. There is a Retravision store, and Mount Thomas even appears to have its own homemaker centre, housing Mitre 10, Capt'n Snooze, Forty Winks, Super Cheap Auto and Barbecues Galore, to name a few.

Mount Thomas is close to a national park and is largely surrounded by open farmland. There is a river nearby, and also a lake, Lake Widgeree. The town comes within the police district of St. David's, and the Mount Thomas police also patrol the (also fictional) smaller settlement of Widgeree. The police ultimately report to the (real) state capital of Melbourne.

No explanation is given for the town's name until the third season, where it is revealed that the town was settled by a person called Colonel Thomas. The town is presumably named in his honour.

Mount Thomas is sometimes jokingly referred to as the 'Crime Capital of Australia' due to the constant stream of murders, thefts, kidnappings, explosions, shootings and assaults which happened on Blue Heelers on a weekly basis.

Described by character, Roz Patterson (Ann Burbrook), as 'the place where elephants go to die'.^[1]

St Davids

Mount Thomas and the smaller settlement of Widgeree are in the St Davids police district, based in the (fictional) larger town of St Davids, which has a population of just over 68 000. Inspector Ted Faulkner and then Inspector Russell Falcon-Price are based there, as is Inspector Monica Draper of ESD. CIB command is also located in St Davids, with a Detective Sergeant responsible for the Mount Thomas detective, however after the first season this was very rarely mentioned or explored. Radio station 3SD and the local Prime regional television station are also located there. A regional Crime Scene/Forensic department is also based in St Davids, but any greater, or more specialised unit, such as Homicide, Special Operations Group and Accident Investigation Squad respond from Melbourne.

Real locations used

The majority of exterior scenes were filmed in Wyndham, Williamstown and from time-to-time at Castlemaine, all in the state of Victoria. Castlemaine, in the Victorian Goldfields region 90 minutes north of Melbourne, played Mount Thomas in the major aerial shots of the town.

To contain production costs location scenes needed to be shot close to the South Melbourne studios of Channel Seven, so coastal Williamstown (20 mins south west of the city) - noted for its Victorian and Federation architecture - was chosen. The railway yards of adjacent Newport were the location for the Mount Thomas rail yards, and the scene of numerous crimes. The nearby basalt plains around Werribee were suitable to represent farming and bush country.

The shots looking north were filmed from the Burke & Wills monument towards the former Castlemaine Gaol (now closed). The southern shots were filmed at the Castlemaine Gaol looking over the Castlemaine Railway Station (Melbourne-Bendigo line) towards the Post Office clock tower.

Coincidentally the exterior of "The Imperial Hotel" is a former local pub called "The Imperial Hotel" (which was marked up with beer signage for cut away scenes). Today it is a decaying second hand clothes and antiques store - and the interior has no resemblance to Chris Riley's pub. Even more strangely, "The Imperial" is right next door to the real Castlemaine Police Station (although this has never been featured in the show) and also across the road from the Castlemaine Courthouse.

The first Mount Thomas Police Station was actually the former Williamstown Police Station where the majority of the Mount Thomas street scenes were filmed. Early in the series the building was sold and converted to a residence and was specially decorated for filming.

References