Atmosphere and authenticity – filming in a heritage location
The series ‘Ten Pounds Poms’ at Carcoar village, with 1950s cars. (Source: Stan Australia, ‘The Locations’, YouTube).
Heritage places bring atmosphere, depth and authenticity to film and television, offering settings that no studio set or computer-generated imagery can replicate.
Films and television productions often benefit from being shot in locations that genuinely reflect their period setting. Heritage places provide atmosphere and authenticity, especially when paired with production and costume design that typify the period being portrayed. Some locations even become inseparable from the stories they host: Summer Bay (Home and Away, Seven Network, 1988-present) wouldn’t be the same without Palm Beach and Barrenjoey Headland (NSW State Heritage Register, 00979) as its backdrop. While Crocodile Dundee (1986) is forever linked to Kakadu National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site ID: 147).
For period pieces, filming in heritage locations adds character, depth and visual impact. The settings, landscapes, buildings and detailing of heritage places can convey the past more convincingly than constructed sets or computer-generated imagery (CGI). Filming can also bring new use to a heritage place and an opportunity to communicate its value to different audiences and generations.
From time to time, GML has been engaged to assist with heritage approvals for filming at heritage places across NSW, most recently for the Stan Australia/BBC television production Ten Pound Poms.
Ten Pound Poms tells the story of families escaping the economic hardships of postwar Britain by migrating to Australia during the 1950s. Under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme—popularly known as the ‘Ten Pound Pom’ scheme—Britons could travel to Australia for 10 pounds, provided they remained for two years.
Ten Pounds Poms at Newington Armory. (Source: Stan Australia, YouTube).
The production was filmed at locations across Sydney and NSW. For series two, GML assisted with heritage approvals for filming at Newington Armory (NSW State Heritage Register, 01850). This included working with the production team to identify locations, assessing risks to heritage fabric during filming, and delivering heritage inductions to the production crew.
Carcoar village in the Central West (Carcoar Heritage Conservation Area #C2, Blayney LEP 2012) is a rare and intact example of a nineteenth-century township. With the addition of 1950s vehicles, Carcoar village was used as a key filming location, as was a nearby farm. Scheyville National Park (NSW State Heritage Register, 01817) was used as the migrant hostel in the series, having formerly hosted post-World War Two migrants.
In an era where CGI and AI are rapidly advancing, the authenticity and richness that heritage places bring to film and television and audiences across Australia and increasingly internationally, creates not only curiosity but a distinctive sense of place linked to our natural and cultural heritage.
