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25/12/2005: "FILM SHOWS ....continued"

This independent REX cinema at North Mackay, Queensland was one of our many venues. Aquarius - People and Wildlife of the Sea was the original title, later Queensland Seafari proved an extremely popular name change for the tropical north screenings.

The film ran three nights in this 500 seat theatre. Jocelyn Edwards (pictured) was the star of the film and also sold the tickets! Not your normal movie situation.

At the sugar township of Ingham (North of Townsville) we turned away 350 people when the show was booked for a single one night showing.

Return shows the following year were in the larger city luxury cinemas - where the same film established a local box office record for a 16mm travelling film at many towns.

We used Japanese Eiki brand xenon projectors for decades. This is the first machine an EX-1500

Film shows helped maintain the underwater lifestyle and in the early days supported time invested in Fathom magazine. (See details below).

Film shows were very popular in the era when television ran few documentaries.

But we were slack and did not care about all the easy money - preferring a good lifestyle instead, believing it would always be easy like this - it wasn't.