Classic Find

One of the hazards of attending an 'elite' private school in the 70s was the pressure to join the 'cadet' unit. My school prided itself on having one of the largest (if not the largest) 'volunteer' cadet units in the country. There were other schools who had bigger units, but attendance at those was compulsory.

The pressure was on second year students to join to maintain the school's prestigious quasi-military status. This was done by dividing the year into small sections, and having teachers and / or student NCOs haranguing them to join. Peer pressure won out, and most did, including me. Being interested in technology, rather than trekking through mud, I joined the school's Air Cadets in preference to the larger army unit.

In 1971, I was in third year high school (year nine in modern terminology), and the second of my three year term in the Air Cadets. Every year, the cadet units would go on camp, and this particular year we were accommodated at Williamtown air base north of Newcastle, NSW.

Williamtown housed and trained a lot of air-force apprentices, and the school cadets were a constant amusement to them, as we marched everywhere. They called us 'ants.' We were housed in decrepit barracks, long abandoned by the regular air force, learnt essential life skills such as how to make bed rolls, and had magnificent nightly rumbles while our reservist teachers got pissed in the officers' mess.

The base had a picture theatre, and one night we were rounded up to go to the movies. We took up the front of the theatre; the apprentices were stationed at the rear. When the national anthem started, 'God Save the Queen' in those days, a chorus erupted from behind, "Stand up, ants!" When it concluded we got the "Sit down, ants!" command. It was bisare! The movie started.

The film was "Wake in Fright." An Australian movie, at a time when the local film industry hardly existed. I thought how strange it was to hear Australian voices. As the story unfolded, I was transfixed.

To those who haven't seen it, it's about a teacher who was forced to do a three (?) year stint in the outback to repay his teacher's training bond. The bond used to be the Education department's device to force graduate teachers to teach anywhere in the state. Teachers' training was free as long as you complied. If you didn't, then you had to pay a large amount of money for breaking the contract.

The film starts at an outback school on the last day of term. The teacher is planning to go to Sydney to meet his girlfriend. The trip requires an overnight stop over in a regional centre, where, in the biggest two up game you've ever seen, he blows all his money on one throw on the chance that he would be able to pay his bond back to the Education department.

The story unfolds as he is taken into the local community. With only a dollar to his name, he descends into a world of crass male mate-ship, booze and violence.

It's not a pretty film as it turns a mirror on the ugly side of the Australian psyche. It has some horrifying scenes of kangaroo shooting. The film was directed by a Canadian, probably the reason why it exists in all its gory detail. I doubt if an Australian director would have got away with it.

As a sixteen year old, I was blown away when I saw it.

Like many tech heads, I'm not an arts buff by any stretch of the imagination, but in my opinion, 'Wake in Fright' is the best Australian film ever made. It's the only film I've ever recorded from TV and kept. I've still got it, complete with adds and Bill Collins' comments.

I've always wondered what happened to it. I hadn't been replayed on TV for years. Now it seems they've found it.

It amazes me that a movie like this can get lost, then saved on the brink of destruction. How many others are in the same predicament?

Anyway, the good news is that the negative's been found, and it's likely to be available for viewing once again. If it comes on close to you, go and see it.