Stan

Jun 7, 2023

View +17 Photos Not since the hilariously bizarre series finale of Home and Away has there been so much attention to the use of Blayney shire as a backdrop for local film and television productions. With the SBS drama While the Men are Away due to be screened later in the year, Stan's latest exclusive offering Ten Pound Poms has hit the internet, and they've done a great job of dressing up our most favourite village. You couldn't really say that the producers have transformed Carcoar, because to be fair, apart from a few appalling 1970s homes along the Belubula River on the western side of the bridge, the village is intact. With the help of a few well placed trucks, a covering over what looks like a 1980s Datsun and some stick on signs outside the shops, turning Carcoar into a 1950s town is not a difficult job. Not only is Carcoar front and centre but the exterior of the Neville Hotel gets a run, as does Abercrombie House in Bathurst. There are also some glorious shots of the hills around the shire, all taken when the sun is low in what's called the golden hour, a favourite time for Instagramers. Being a local, the mind does tend to play tricks when you see Carcoar on the screen being portrayed as a coastal town only 60-odd miles from Sydney. The Wollongong suburb of Balgownie once housed a number of immigrants in the 1950s and with the location of this camp called Galgownie, you can understand the mental confusion when they run from the camp onto the beach. For anyone outside of Blayney, they won't have that problem, but once you change your mindset and keep reminding yourself that Carcoar isn't Carcoar, the use of the village by the producers is effective. Despite that, those of us that know and love the village well will notice a few modern artefacts lingering in the background. READ ALSO: There's one moment when a Blayney Shire Council funding sign is seen in the background, there are a few TV aerials here and there, and the Carcoar bus shelter makes a few appearances, but again, you'll only notice these things if you can't help but look in the background. The plot itself covers a number of social issues of the time, including abortion availability, race relations between white Australians and Indigenous Australians with actor David Field being the main protagonist. The main male character Terry suffers from PTSD or as they called it then, "shell shock", after World War II and his subsequent dependence on alcohol strains the marital relationship. There's a character who has had her child taken away from her, and my favourite, which is a young boy clearly on the autism spectrum exploring the Australian bush. Share