To conclude this year marking our 70-year existence, let’s watch a 1956 Australian film classic about an imaginative young boy who lives in the fictional small town of Murrumbilla in the Australian outback.

Listen to an older generation of Australian accents; watch two-up games and immerse yourself in a 1950s country sensibility.

Smiley has an alcoholic drover father and an overworked mother. He saves up for a new bike by working odd jobs and slowly raises the money for his dream. In doing so, he unknowingly helps a dodgy publican called Rankin to sell opium to the local Aboriginal people living nearby. Smiley’s adventures are just beginning.

Smiley, and the 1958 Smiley Gets A Gun were released in the UK and US and went onto become international successes at a time when few Australian films were being made.

One item of trivia: young Colin Petersen went on to become drummer for the Bee Gees.

Australia, 1956, USA/Britain, 93 min. Dir: Anthony Kimmins. Dist: Roadshow

This event is produced by the Ballarat Film Society - entry by membership (available at the door)