 It was the fourth Australian feature ever made and is considered a lost film.The 1908 film was the first screen adaptation of Clarke's novel, which was also later filmed in 1911, as a silent film known as "The Life of Rufus Dawes", 1927, again as a silent film, and the most expensive produced in Australia till that time and 1983, as a television mini-series.The film's plot was a collection of highlights from the novel, such as 
The movie kept the tragic ending of the novel, with Rufus Dawes and Sylvia perishing in a storm after Reverend North had helped Dawes escape.