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John Rex (George Fisher) has incited his fellow prisoners to a mass breakout from Port Arthur. They storm past the dogs that patrol the narrow isthmus at Eaglehawk Neck, where Rex splits off from the others. He has arranged a boat pick-up, with the help of his wife Sarah Purfoy. The other men follow the notorious prisoner Matt Gabbett (Arthur McLaglen). After nine days with no food, Gabbett reverts to his old habits, taking an axe to a fellow escapee.
Curator’s notes
The cannibalism subplot was one of the most controversial aspects of the film. Gabbett is based on the true story of Alexander Pearce, who escaped from Macquarie Harbour in 1822 with seven other prisoners. Once recaptured, Pearce confessed that he had eaten his companions, but the magistrate in Hobart refused to believe him. A year later, Pearce escaped again and this time he was recaptured with the human remains of another man still in his pockets. He was taken to Hobart and hanged.
In 2008-09, a number of Australian films were made that refer to Pearce – The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce (2008), directed by Michael James Rowland; Dying Breed (2008), directed by Jody Dwyer; and Van Dieman’s Land (2009), directed by Jonathan auf der Heide.
This sequence is perhaps the most spectacular, in terms of natural beauty, in the film, a clear reflection of Norman Dawn’s talent at finding and filming in beautiful, exotic locations. The controversy over Dawn’s version was driven partly by Tasmanian sensitivities about the unwholesome aspect of the island’s history. Marcus Clarke’s book was one thing; a big international motion picture that was intended for a mass audience in America and the UK, was another thing entirely.
In truth, the film does sensationalise the cannibal elements of the story, shifting the focus away from the book’s agenda, which was more about prison reform. Prisoners like Gabbett (played by the brother of well-known British actor Victor McLaglen) were more like an argument for capital punishment. The film tries to balance this horror with sympathy for poor Rufus Dawes, who spends 20 years in the worst penal institutions in the colonies. The book ended with him dying at sea, but Marcus Clarke rewrote this for US publication, to give it a happy ending. The film takes the same path – the final shot has Dawes and Sylvia embracing on a raft drifting towards land.
