''Bordertown'' is a 1995 Australian TV miniseries, set in 1952 in a refugee camp located in a dusty, remote Australian town called Baringa (apparently inspired by a real migrant camp near the town of

Bonegilla, Victoria Bonegilla is a bounded rural locality of the City of Wodonga local government area in north-east Victoria, Australia, east of Wodonga, and around north-east of Melbourne. At the , Bonegilla and the surrounding area had a population of 610 ...

). The story depicts a year in the lives of the camp residents, displaced persons from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

who are learning English and awaiting jobs and new lives in Australia.Ina Bertrand, "Borders and Boundaries: History and Television in a Post-Modern World" in The series starred

Hugo Weaving Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is an English actor. Born in Colonial Nigeria to English parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career. He is the recipient of six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts ...

as an English teacher, and also featured Cate Blanchett in a smaller role as an

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino. Varied use and interpretation of the term ...

Italian migrant.Holly Ordway
"Bordertown" (review)
''

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

'', October 7, 2002.

Reception

The series was somewhat controversial for its depiction of life in the migrant camps, and its ratings were not high. Commenting on the 2002 video release of the series, ''Video Store'' magazine noted the "inconsistent tone" of the episodes but thought that ultimately the viewer would become "accustomed to, and fond of, these characters and their microcosm in the middle of nowhere". ''

'' noted the series' "original setting and generally solid acting" but found the show only "mildly interesting." The miniseries received the

AWGIE Award The AWGIE Awards is an annual awards ceremony conducted by the Australian Writers' Guild, for excellence in screen, television, stage and radio writing. The awards began in 1967. The awards are judged by over 50 writers, most of whom are previou ...

for Mini-Series Original in 1996.

Cast

* Cate Blanchett as Bianca * Mitchell Butel as Nino Della Vergine *

Linda Cropper Linda Cropper (born 1 January 1958) is an Australian actress, primarily known for her role as Geraldine Proudman in the TV series ''Offspring'' and as Dame Nellie Melba in the television series '' Melba''. An shortened edited version of the te ...

as Bev Stafford *Petru Gheorghiu as Dante *Joe Petruzzi as Joe Della Vergine *

as Kenneth Pearson *

Suzanne Gullabovska Suzanne may refer to: People * Suzanne (given name), a feminine given name (including a list of people with the name) * S. U. Zanne, pen name of August Vandekerkhove (1838–1923), Belgian writer and inventor * Suzanne, pen name of Renée Ménd ...

as Immigrant Girl (Sophia)

Music

Guy Gross Guy Gross is an Australian film and television composer. He is known most for writing the award-winning music for the Australian science fiction series ''Farscape'' and the international hit film ''The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert ...

References

External links

* 1990s Australian television miniseries 1995 Australian television series debuts 1995 Australian television series endings Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Television shows set in Australia {{Australia-tv-prog-stub