The Movie Beginnings
While travelling back from a film shoot in Sydney, husband and wife team Shayne and Joanna Cantly drove past Thunderbolt's Rock near Uralla.
"Who is this Thunderbolt fellow?", Joey asked.
A quick Google search, and suddenly we found ourselves wrapped up in a story too incredible to believe!
A young man wrongfully convicted...
Persecuted by the police.....
Driven to a life of bushranging....
But..who never fired a shot to kill...
To lose the love of his life......
Then hunted down and shot dead....
Only to escape to the USA, and make the perfect getaway......
This truly IS the PERFECT movie!!!
But wait....there's more.....
Add to this.....
Government conspiracies....
Police cover-ups.....
A literary scandal.....
Claims of secret documents.....
Mysterious inconsistancies...
Stories of forged evidence....
Death threats.......
And the battle between a Thunderbolt Family Historian and a professional genealogist and author, and you've got a powder keg ready to blow!!
All of the elements for the perfect Australian Bushranger movie had come together.
It's Robin Hood meets Ned Kelly.
But before we could embark on making this into an epic movie, detailed research was required.....a mini documentary...talking to key players with the historical knowledge to help them understand historical fact, and mythical fiction.
Research that would help flesh out the characters.....delve deep into the Bushranging life.
Little did we know that what started out as a 'little ol research documentary", would turn into a modern day Eureka Stockade!!
This 90 minute docu-drama follows their journey...searching for the truth, and talking with the various players involved in this Australian melodrama.
From Northern New South Wales, the New England Ranges to Sydney, Canberra, as well as Calfornia and Canada, we've tracked down leads all over the world.
What are the real facts behind many of the currently held beliefs and stories?
Are there missing and secret police documents?
Is the grave in Uralla empty?
Did the police shoot and kill the wrong man?
Is Captain Thunderbolt's final resting place in Canada?
Is history being changed for all the wrong reasons?
There are always two sides to every story...sometimes even more, and this new docu-drama explores the most popular stories and beliefs, talking to the key people involved in Thunderbolt research, and history.
This movie, seven years in the making, across three continents, gives the viewer the opportunity hear both sides of the story, and allows them to make up their own minds..... and seek the truth behind.......
THE THUNDERBOLT MYSTERY....