First television mini-series made by the South Australian Film Corporation.
Juliet Jordan replaced Nina Landis in the lead actress central character role of Sara Dane. Landis withdrew from the role late during pre-production.
The ship cost $20,000 (Australian dollars) to build and was built on the tray of a semi-trailer so it could be moved around from one location to another. The ship set was just a skeleton shell of a convict ship which presided at Maslin Beach with a sea view of the Southern Ocean.
The ship set was moved to the bizarre location of a rubbish dump at Maslin Beach because of its great filming position with the Southern Ocean. Shooting was undertaken for a week and by the time filming was completed there, the amount of garbage had grown and there was a noticeable stench.
First of an unofficial trilogy of colonial Australian convict television mini-series produced by the South Australian Film Corporation. The other two subsequent TV mini-series productions were Under Capricorn (1983) and For the Term of His Natural Life (1983).