On Location: Cloudstreet

Tim Winton’s much-loved Australian novel Cloudstreet has been adapted for the small screen two decades after
it was first published. Laine Lister visited the West Australian set to document the ride.

When the screen rights to Cloudstreet returned to Australian ownership, Tim Winton devotees celebrated the great coup; the quintessential Australian story was finally coming home.

Years earlier, Hollywood producers had snapped up the Cloudscreet screen rights after hearing of its broad commercial appeal. The novel has been translated into 25 languages and gained literary acclaim through the Miles Franklin and NBC Awards. It has even found its way into the hearts and imaginations of thousands of Aussie kids after it was added to the senior secondary English curricula in many states.

Despite this, the story sat idle in the US until a holding deal matured. It was then that Australian patriot Des Monahan of Screentime swooped in and brought it home.