Film still from John Heyer’s The Back of Beyond

The Realist Film Unit was formed in 1945 and produced social realist documentaries that highlighted workers’ rights and social issues. From 1948, the Shell Film Unit began making trade and educational films and, in 1954, produced John Heyer’s seminal documentary The Back of Beyond.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

On display until

16 February 2031

ACMI: Gallery 1

Credits

creator

Maker not documented

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1954

Appears in

Group of items

Documenting Australia

Explore

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

P180639

Curatorial section

The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Minds → MM-03. Documentary 2 → MM-03-C01

Object Types

2D Object

Exhibition Prop

Photographic print/Pictorial

Materials

Graphic

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/107540--graphic-the-mail-truck-inthe-back-of-beyond-1954/ |title=Film still from John Heyer’s The Back of Beyond |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=12 December 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Australia, 1954

Courtesy Shell Film Unit