Local Legend on the Silver Screen

HAILING from Murrurundi was a bushranger responsible for Australia’s largest gold robbery and last week the story of Ben Hall premiered on the silver screen.

Scone Films presented the new release The Legend of Ben Hall on Friday night to an audience which included Ben Hall’s great, great, grand-niece Glenda Stace and seven other relatives.

Relatives of Ben Hall: Glenda Stace, Janet Butters, Matilda Miller and Cheryl Ham.

Ms Stace shared some of their family history with the audience and said the film was not only incredibly accurate in its portrayal, but most importantly entertaining.

“There has been a lot written and a lot has not been true and I think it’s good that a young Australian has made the effort to make it as truthful as he can get onto the screen for Australian people,” Ms Stace said.

“I was actually quite shocked over the years at how little people know about Ben Hall, everyone knows about Ned Kelly who murdered people, but not so many know about Ben, so it is great to see young keen people on the film be so passionate about telling the story,” she said.

“It was a very hard life in those days and the police were as bad if not worse than some of the bush rangers and the Irish were badly victimised, I actually believe the son Ben junior was largely victimised and scapegoated because of his father’s crimes and his father was such a slippery character he was caught a few times but they could never pin anything on him and I think his dad would have made a few enemies and we’ve wondered more and more as we’ve read stuff that might have been the case that if you can’t get the harder one, you get the one that is easier to get,” she said.

“Ben senior took some of the children, including Ben junior out to the Lachlan around about 1850, they were into horse and cattle raising and stealing, so we figure that is the main reason they went out that way taking various cattle that they had whether legal or illegal,” she laughed.

A scene from the movie the Legend of Ben Hall.

“But the story is about a man who genuinely wanted to make a good life for his family and you see him gradually realising it is just not going to happen,” she said.

‘The film was originally going to be a half hour documentary and they were raising money though crowd funding but they raised much more than they expected and it became a two and a half hour film, but it is amazing that it at no point gets boring, it is shot so brilliantly,” she said.

“Matthew Holmes the director, is looking to do another two movies on bush rangers and I really hope he does because I’d love to see those too,” Glenda Stace said.

Ms Stace has lived in Murrurundi for eight years and said she was surprised to learn the property they purchased had originally be part of a 2.5 acre block her great, great, grandfather Hall had owned.

“It is interesting the little co-incidences we come across and when we finalised the contract it was on the same date that Eliza Hall had died,” said Ms Stace.

“I had always liked Murrurundi and it is nice to hear the stories of our family’s past,” Glenda Stace said.