All the then-known prints of this film had been cut up into two-reel comedies. These and the residual nitrate materials were "rescued" by members of the Sydney University Film Group in 1953, re-edited into a single apparently complete version, and presented in a revival season in September 1954 in the Union Hall at Sydney University. Some of the original cast were on stage for the presentation. The existing film known as "The Kid Stakes" is the re-edit done by John Jackson Morris, a member of the Group, in 1954. A new negative was made which--with great difficulty--the National Library of Australia was persuaded to buy at cost. (there was no National Film and Sound Archive in Australia until 1983). In frustration, the student Group had paid for a fresh 16mm print to be taken to London by Mary Field, the children's film advocate who was visiting Australia at the time; that print is now in the National Film Archive in Britain. The film has since become highly regarded as a "dinki-di" Aussie comedy and a valuable record of the city of Sydney in locations and cultures of the day (1927), also a gloss to the extensive body of work (including political drawing) by the artist Syd Nicholls.
The last Australian silent feature film.
The final Billy goat race was filmed in Rockhampton, Queensland, over 600 miles from Sydney, as New South Wales had banned the practice a year before.
Fatty Finn's full name was Hubert 'Fatty' Finn.
Syd Nicholls: The "Fatty Finn" creator as himself, seen at the start of the film, drawing a picture of Fatty Finn which comes to life on the screen.
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