The distinctive landscape of this area will feature in the 50 minute-long film The Legend of Ben Hall after residents offered the film’s director use of their land.
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Director Matthew Holmes appealed to the general public for shooting location ideas and in particular properties that would be interested in being part of the film.
Holmes said he received some good responses and can now confirm that a series of shots will be filmed in the Lachlan area.
“We’ve had a couple of good responses,” he said. “So we’ll do 10 days of filming here [in Victoria] then after a week break we’ll head up to Jugiong and then continue north up to near Forbes for two or three days.”
Specifically some scenic shots will be filmed on Hugh and Lyn Ellis’ property near Eugowra with Jason and Belinda Smith’s horses used in the footage.
Holmes said he also plans to film at Weddin Mountain and Ben Hall’s cave, where the bushranger reportedly hid.
“We want to film in the Weddin Mountains and get some good shots of Ben Hall overlooking the Lachlan,” he said.
“We just want to capture the very distinctive look of the area with some wide shots and get the look of the mountains and the flat Lachlan plains so we can tell the Ben Hall story properly.”
It is understood filming of the movie has begun, with the 25 strong cast and crew expected to roll into Forbes around September 10.
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A Eugowra property will be immortalised on film when it becomes one of the shooting locations for the movie The Legend of Ben Hall.
Hugh and Lyn Ellis’ property Kiembah will be used by the film’s director Matthew Holmes for a day when the crew travel to the Lachlan area on September 10.
Mr Ellis said he emailed Holmes photographs of the 2500 acre farm and received a quick response back.
“We emailed him [Holmes] some photos of our property and he said it would be an ideal place to film,” he said.
The Ellis’ property is in the middle of Ben Hall country, close to Escort Rock where Hall and his gang executed Australia’s biggest gold robbery.
Mr Ellis said the area is an ideal shooting location for this type of period film.
“This particular property is only six or seven kilometres from Escort Rock and is very picturesque,” Mr Ellis said.
“It’s ideal for that sort of filming.
“You can almost picture Ben Hall riding through the country past the rocky outcrops and valleys.”
The film crew hopes to shoot scenes of three horsemen, Ben Hall and two other members of the bushranger gang, at the Ellis’ property.
The horses that will be used are also from Eugowra, donated from residents Jason and Belinda Smith.
Once the film has been made it will premiere in Forbes next year at the 150th anniversary of Ben Hall’s death.