There is a chromolithographic farm scene on the back featuring magpies.
The dynamic Australian film director, producer and exhibitor , Beaumont Smith, bought the film rights to all the works of Banjo Paterson and spent two years writing a script .
Information supplied says the copyright was held by the book publishers Angus & Robertson in entirety , but they passed some of the money on to Paterson.
Loosely based on the Banjo Paterson poem of the same name, the film starred Cyril Mackay as Jim Conroy, Stella Southern as Kitty Carewe, Tal Ordell as Stingey Smith, Hedda Barr as Helen Ross, John Cosgrove as Saltbush Bill, Robert MacKinnon as Dick Smith, John Faulkner as John Carewe, Charles Beetham as Bill Conroy, Dunstan Webb as Ryan, Nan Taylor as Mrs Potts, James Coleman as Trooper Scott, and Con Berthal as cook.
Smith, who started off as an Adelaide journalist , was described as the most prolific and popular filmmaker of the silent movie era, incorporated characters from various Paterson works, including squatter’s daughter, Kitty Carewe, and swagman, Saltbush Bill.
The character of Helen Ross, however, was Smith’s original invention. Smith later claimed the price of the film rights was the highest ever that had been paid in Australian cinema, with the exception of The Sentimental Bloke (1919).
Smith made a pile of money when he took a group of midget overseas, went to Hollywood , spent time in New Zealand, renowned for making some quick movies on tiny budgets, including some based on Henry Lawson short stories .
