From a great period of Aussie film making as far as I'm concerned and like many of them it shines a light on past periods of Australian social history within the story. In my period of "Australian " reading about 30-40 years ago I read a few of Sumner Locke Elliott's books, they were all good, but I don't think this was one of them. Water Under the Bridge was another good piece of cinema. He went to the US and did a lot of writing for TV later on.
