Journey Among Women

Journey Among Women is a 1977 Australian film directed by Tom Cowan.

In colonial Australia, refined Elizabeth Harrington, daughter of the judge advocate and engaged to Captain McEwan, decides to help female convicts who are living in appalling conditions. The women manage to escape and Elizabeth goes with them. An aboriginal girl, Kameragul, shows them how to survive in the bush but Elizabeth almost dies of malnutrition. A convict, Emily, nurses her back to health.

Months pass, and Emily is raped and killed by two men. Elizabeth leads the other convicts in a revenge attack against the men. Captain McEwan leads an attack on the women, in which he is killed. Elizabeth returns to her old life.

The film was an original idea of Cowan's:

Cowan wrote the screenplay with producer John Wiley and playwright Dorothy Hewett. Funding came from private investment, the Australian Film Commission and a $25,000 grant from the Experimental Film Fund.[3]

The film was shot over six weeks in 1976 near Berowra, north of Sydney, on 16mm.[1] Shooting was a turbulent experience, in part because everyone was living together on location and there were fierce arguments between Cowan and the cast over the direction the film was taking.[3]

Post-production took eighteen months and the film was blown up from 16mm to 35mm.[3] Four minutes were taking out of the film after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.[2]

The film was a success at the box office, in part because of its nudity and lesbian scenes.[1]

Tom Cowan won a special award for "creativity" at the 1977 AFI awards.[5]