 The MacMahon brothers, James and Charles MacMahon, had enjoyed success producing a version of the novel on stage, and allocated a considerable budget for the movie, including a shooting schedule of eight weeks and location work in Port Arthur.The scene involving the burning of a sailing ship was staged with a model ship in a tank.Based on a popular stage adaptation of the novel, the movie was a big success at the box office, running for eight weeks in Sydney at Queens Hall in 1908.