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The Australasian Cinematograph Company was formed in 1907 by George Cornwell, a motor mechanic, and his brother Arthur, with a group of Melbourne businessmen and capital of £1500. Their only film was this story of rebellion on the Ballarat goldfields. A writer in the Bulletin, 31 October 1907, was greatly taken by it: 'However short of the possible the Eureka scenes might be, they stirred me to the core... What tremendous possibilities there are in the biograph!'
The first screening was at the Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, on 19 October 1907, and it ran there for two weeks. Public reaction does not seem to have been enough to interest the Cornwells in further production, and the company was wound up in March 1908. Pike & Cooper: 5-6.
Eureka Stockade (George & Arthur Cornwell, 1907) Australian Cinematograph Company, screened Atheneum Theatre, Melbourne, 19 October, 1907 (Reade 1975: 275)
Garry Gillard | New: 26 December, 2012 | Now: 5 August, 2020