For the Term of His Natural Life is a 1927 Australian film based on the 1874 novel by Marcus Clarke, directed, produced and co-written by Norman Dawn.
Thinking that his father killed Bellasis, Richard wants to protect his mother's reputation and gives his name as Rufus Dawes.
The convict ship that brings Dawes to Van Diemen's Land also carries the new governor Vickers and his wife and his daughter Sylvia.
They fail when Dawes overhears their plans and manages to warn an officer, while being brought to a quarantine room for the sick.
A few years later, Frere comes to visit Vickers and shows interest in Sylvia, who has grown to be a beautiful young woman.
A smaller boat is supposed to carry Frere, Mrs Vickers and Sylvia, but is taken by John Rex, who maroons the three on the abandoned shore.
John Rex has been captured and Sarah Purfoy begs Frere to save his life by saying that he left them food and weapons.
The next day, Cranky Brown, a young convict, is sentenced to a flogging, despite the protests of the reverend North.
He returns to England, where Lady Devine first accepts him as her son, but begins to become suspicious when he starts spending the family fortune.
[3] Norman Dawn was in Australia to make a series of scenic shorts and was offered the job by William Gibson of Australasian.
[9] During pre-production, questions were asked in the Commonwealth Parliament whether the film should be exported because it depicted Australia's convict past.
[8] Hollywood was making an increasing number of films on location around this time such as Chang, The Trail of '98 and The Covered Wagon, and For the Term of His Natural Life was grouped with these.
[10] Gibson claimed he tested Australian actors to play the leads but was unable to find people of sufficient quality.
[8] Accordingly, four main roles were given to Americans, Eva Novak, George Fisher, Steve Murphy and Katherine Dawn, who arrived in Australia in August 1926.
[12] According to the Hobart Mercury, "he said the cliffs at the Gate, and the general appearance, were not such as he had visualised for his picture...In regard to the scene where Rufus Dawes is chained to Grummett Rock, this could be got close to his base of operations."
The prison escape scene was shot on the banks of the Parramatta River near Ryde at a cost of £1,200 for one day's shooting.
[16] The movie was an enormous success at the Australian box office but did poorly overseas, in part due to the emergence of talking films in 1928.