Alone Across Australia

Alone Across Australia is a documentary that last fifty two minutes. It is referring about the adventurer Jon Muir  and his adventure: Crossing Australia alone and unsupported. This journey took place in 2001.

    Alone Across Australia
    Official film poster
    Directed byIan Darling
    Jon Muir
    Produced byIan Darling
    Jon Muir
    StarringJon Muir
    Music byKim Green
    Edited bySally Fryer
    Release date
    • April 2004 (2004-04) (Full Frame Film Festival)
    Running time
    		52 minutes
    CountryAustralia
    LanguageEnglish

    The motion picture introduces Jon Muir and his exploits all over the world, mainly focusing on his journey throughout the Australian continent, from Porte Augusta in South Australia to Burketown in Queensland.

    Alone Across Australia was released in 2003. The documentary includes three executive producers, Philippa Bateman, Mitchell Block and James Hersov of Shark Island Production ltd, Australia.[1] But, Jon Muir and Ian Darling are the writers.

    The editor of the documentary is Sally Fryer and Kim Green supervised the music.[2] It was broadcast in April 2004 at the Full Frame Festival.[3]

    Background

    Jon Muir was born in 1961 and grew up in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia/ [4] He is recognized as one of the most famous Australian Adventurers.

    Muir went to Fig Tree High School.[5] Where he started  becoming interested in rock-climbing and Mountaineering. He dropped out of High School at 16 years, two years before graduation, to be a professional rock-climber.[6]

    Jon Muir married his first wife Brigitte Muir (French 2016), but got divorced in 2002. He then began dating his current wife Suzy Muir. The couple currently reside on a 60-hectare property near The Grampians National Park in Western Victoria (French 2016).

    Muir is known for his International and Australian exploits;

    International Achievements

    Internationally; he climbed and explored New Zealand and European Alpes.  

    Jon Muir explored both poles during expeditions without animal or technological  support (Huntsdale 2017).

    He walked through the South Pole in 1999  and through the North Pole in 2002 (Huntsdale 2017). He also traversed 6000 km in a kayak in the ocean  (Huntsdale 2017).

    Jon Muir participated to the Australian Bicentennial Everest Expedition in 1984 aiming the reaching of mount Everest, but it was unsuccessful. In 1988, Muir tried again to reach the summit without Sherpa Support. He became the first man to climb Mount Everest unsupported. After that, he became a tour guide on the Mountain (Huntsdale 2017)..  

    Australian Achievements

    His achievement on the Australian continent mainly consist of trekking across in extreme conditions over long distance. Firstly, Muir completed the first trek barefoot across dry Lake Eyre (Huntsdale 2017).

    Secondly, He walked from The Spencer Gulf, South Australia to the center of Australia unsupported, it was journey of 17 000 kilometers (Huntsdale 2017). Finally, in 2001, he was the first man to walk 25,000 km across the Australian Continent from Port Augusta to Burketown (Huntsdale 2017).

    Content

    ‘Alone Across Australia’ shows the journey of Jon Muir from Port Augusta, South Australia  to Burketown Queensland. Seraphine, his Jack Russel accompanied him during his journey as he walked 2500 kilometres which is 1600 miles, unsupported (Harvey 2004).

    During his trek, he had a cart attached to him to hold contain the equipment. Namely, he had fifty-five maps and a compass for direction.[7] Regarding resources, he brought rice and muesli and a gun for defend himself.[8]  

    He walked without any localization tools or mobile phone(Muir & Darling 2003). During the trek, he will not have the opportunity to get more supplies (Muir & Darling 2003). For him, the only option during the crossing in to hunt, gather and finding water in the Australian Outback. He established a goal of  20 km a day and by starting to walk as soon as the sun is up.

    The documentary is divided in main parts showing Muir crossing the different natural conditions of the Australian Outback during his journey (Muir & Darling 2003). The first part included his crossing of the salt lakes. Secondly, the crossing of the deserts. And finally, the crossing of the rivers north.

    The Salt Lakes

    The first natural obstacle that Jon Muir display in the motion picture is his crossing of the Salt Lakes, South Australia.  Firstly, this step is portrayed as complex as the availability of drinkable water has decreased, and the Muir's process of desalinization takes time (Muir & Darling 2003). It is shown in that section, the water crisis undergone by him. Secondly, the second half this section is dedicated to the immobilization of Muir by the rain for a couples of days. It was the heaviest rain events underwent by Australia in 14 years (Muir & Darling 2003). At the end of this part, Muir realized that he was two weeks behind the schedule he had planned (Muir & Darling 2003).

    Deserts

    Jon Muir achieved his second natural challenges: The deserts. This latter includes among others, the Tirari and Simpson desert(Muir & Darling 2003). During this crossing Muir had to pass through the longest dingo fence in Australia (Muir & Darling 2003). It is in this section also that Muir encountered the first people of his way, the documentary includes all of their interview and their testimony that Muir refused any support (Muir & Darling 2003). Firstly, he met Malcom and Colleen Michelle at Muloorina station, followed by John Hammond, at Mungerannie and finally a group of bikers at Adria Downs station, but only Bob Crombie was interviewed (Muir & Darling 2003).  This part also display some events that Muir went through. First, the couple days off that Jon Muir Took camping in order to rest and gain strength and be able to finish the walk (Muir & Darling 2003).  Secondly, it presents the night where him and Seraphine were attack by Five Dingos. He had to shot one ultimately (Muir & Darling 2003). And Finally, he visited the remains of the Annandale Station (Muir & Darling 2003)..

    North rivers

    This is the last section of the documentary. It displays the last couples of days of the trek that cross the North Rivers. Jon Muir has abandoned his cart and have to reach Burketown only with a back pack. At the beginning, it is shown that Jon Muir had lost his sleeping back and in order to be able to sleep in the cold, he has to go back to where he left his cart and get it which delayed him (Muir & Darling 2003).

    The Interview of Ben Knight at Linda Downs station and Keith Chapman at Riversleigh Station are showing (Muir & Darling 2003). It is during this section that the death of Seraphine, the Jack Russell is displayed. It ate a passion bait for dingos (Muir & Darling 2003). After seeing the scenes of Muir crying and burying his dog, the final days of weeks are shown. He had to finish it alone.

    As the motion picture is self-recorded, each sequence is a testimony of how Muir is emotionally and physically handling the trek (Muir & Darling 2003). It includes interviews from people Muir met, showing their reactions and testimonies of how he refused any help (Muir & Darling 2003). It also shows the different survival methods used by Jon Muir, inspired by Aboriginal Knowledge of hunting and gathering. It displays his shelter and defence methods against Australian wildlife (Muir & Darling 2003). One of the struggles’ Jon Muir underwent was his quest for water (Muir & Darling 2003).The last 100 km of Muir's Trek was not recorded as his camera died (Muir & Darling 2003), but he arrived safely, without Seraphine who died along the way into Burketown. The film's conclusion shows Muir's 25 kilogram weight-loss and troubles with mal-nutrition (Muir & Darling 2003).

    Production And Soundtrack

    The documentary includes mostly recorded sequences from Jon Muir himself with his camera during the crossing from South-Australia to Queensland. It also included sequences of his previous attempts and previous achievements around the world. Sequences are followed by interviews of experts and Muir's friends filmed during the previous and following years.

    The soundtrack for the documentary was supervised by Kim Green.[9] Muir also provided narration over the course of the film, the reasons behind his adventures, and why this crossing of Australia.

    Interviews from the people he met along his journey were also recorded by Muir himself.

    The documentary was edited by Sally Fryer and completed in 2003.[10]

    Broadcast and Streaming

    The documentary was broadcast at The 2004 Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, one year after its release date in 2003. It was also broadcast to 12 different festivals such as The Down Under Film Festival in 2005 and London Australian Film Festival in 2005.[11]

    Australian Sales are owed by Ian Darling while International sales are owned by Direct Cinema.[12]

    The documentary was made available online on the streaming platform: DocPlay, Amazon Prime.[13]

    Awards and Nominations

    Jon muir has earned personally  the Order of Australia for services to mountaineering and the Australian Geographic Society's Adventurer of the Year in 2002 (French 2016).

    Alone Across Australia has been nominated in fourteen international festivals:

    • Down Under Film Festival (2005)
    • London Australian Film Festival (2005)
    • Heartland Film Festival (2005)
    • Columbus International Film & Video Festival (2005)
    • San Francisco Documentary Film Festival (2004)
    • Taos Mountain Film Festival (2004)
    • Mezinárodn˘ Festival Horsk˘ch Filmov (2004)
    • Kendal Mountain Film Festival (2004)
    • Trento International Festival Of Mountain and Exploration Films (2004)
    • International Festival of Mountain and Adventure Films (2004)
    • Heartland Film Festival (2004)
    • Graz Mountain Film Festival (2004)
    • Dundee Mountain Film Festival (2004)
    • Banff Festival of Mountain Films (2004)

    References
    • The Australian Museum. (2019, May 28). Jon Muir OAM.
    • Alone Across Australia (2003) - The Screen Guide - Screen Australia. (2018). SCREEN AUSTRALIA.
    • Alone Across Australia. (2004, September 8). The Sydney Morning Herald.
    • French, R. (2016, July 6). The last of the great adventurers: True Grit: Jon Muir's wild, adventurous life. THE AUSTRALIAN.
    • Harvey, D. (2004, Jun). Film reviews: San Francisco doc fest: "alone across australia". Variety, 395, 38.
    • Huntsdale, J. (2017, October 31). Jon Muir honoured with Australian Geographic Society Lifetime of Adventure award. ABC News.
    • Muir, J., Darling., I (Director). (2003). Alone Across Australia (motion picture). Australia:Shark Island Production ltd
    • Alone Across Australia at the National Film and Sound Archive
    • Official Website for the film
    • Alone Across Australia at IMDb
    • Jon Muir's website
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