Dust in the Sun is a 1958 Eastmancolor Australian mystery film adapted from the 1955 novel Justin Bayard by Jon Cleary[2] and produced by the team of Lee Robinson and Chips Rafferty.

The film stars British actress Jill Adams, Ken Wayne and an Indigenous Australian actor Robert Tudawali as Emu Foot.

Justin Bayard, a Northern Territory policeman, is escorting an Aboriginal warrior, Emu Foot, to Alice Springs to be tried for a tribal killing.

Julie, the bored wife of the station owner Tad Kirkbridge, sets Emu Foot free and is later murdered.

"[5] The script was written by Bill Lipscomb, a very experienced screenwriter who had done a number of Australian-themed movies and was friendly with Robinson.

[5] Cleary had little to do with the film even though director Lee Robinson had worked for him in the Army; as late as 2006 he claimed he had never seen it.

According to Tingwell, Rafferty decided against playing the lead when Robinson wanted to increase the emphasis on the romantic subplot involving Bayard as he thought he was too old.

Robinson was originally reluctant to work with Wayne and instead cast New Zealand actor Walter Brown.

[9] (In August 1956 it was reported American star John Ericson was sought to play the lead role.

His contract was negotiated by Southern International, Actors Equity and the Department of Native Affairs.

[15] Jill Adams flew out of Sydney on 13 September 1956 for seven weeks of filming near Alice Springs.

[9][16] Shooting took place in the studio at Bondi and on location near Alice Springs in October and November 1956.

[17] Three weeks into filming Robinson and Rafferty decided to fire Brown because he seemed "too soft".

[5]On 23 August 1958 Lee Robinson announced Dust in the Sun and The Stowaway were going to be released by Universal in Australia.

Robinson said, "I consider this deal is a relevant comment on recent statements that the Australian film industry is failing for lack of support.

[20][21] The Bulletin called it "the worst film shown" at the festival with "a cheap, improbable story... crudely acted and edited, lapsing at times into absurd cliches.

Kinematograph Weekly said "The picture is very "paper back" and, despite its "A" certificate, "Boys' Own Paper" so far as its story goes, but nevertheless finds a valid excuse to introduce typical Australian types and explore superb scenery.

Jill Adams wins little sympathy, but is easy on the eyes as Julie, Ken Wayne sits a horse well as Justin, and Robert Tudawali cuts a striking figure as the ebony Emu Foot, and the rest show willing.

To return to its terrain, & equals anything furnished by American " oaters and definitely tips the scales in the opus's favour.

The Sydney Sun Herald said "Southern International wastes rich material" with the film "for the human drama is awkwardly handled, taken at a lead-heavy pace and acted, with three exceptions, by a wincingly stagy group."

"[24] It was shown in Melbourne in February 1961 on a double bill with The Leech Woman; The Age critic Colin Bennett called Dust in the Sun "barely competent technically and dreadfully leaden in its pace... Mr Robinson appears unable to win any sort of vitality or spontaneous response from his cast...

"[28] According to Raffety's biographer "with television making serious inroads into movie attendances world wide and no Chips Rafferty to exploit for distribution, Dust in the Sun was just another badly made independent cheapie, and gathered its own dust on the shelf for some four years.

It never holds up to it from that point on... [because] performances are all ... You know, there was a hell of a problem in the fifties to get a group of actors together who could act for a film...

It's a little bit progressive but not exactly PC – Tudawli's character has a chain around his neck for a lot of the film and is talked about as if he's a dog.