Lights, camera, Rokewood

National TV show rolls into to town to feature great local life

ROKEWOOD will once again be seen on a national stage after the ABC TV show Back Roads visited to film an upcoming episode.

It’s the second time the town has reached beyond the district’s boundaries in recent months after a light-hearted video about keeping fit during lockdown, created by Rokewood Corindhap Football & Netball Club, went viral on social media.

Back Roads features Australian towns and communities that are off the beaten path and seeks to highlight the great things about them.

The footy club’s video was one of the reasons the show’s producers decided to pick Rokewood.

Long time A and B Grade netballer with the ‘Hoppers, Emily Hutchins, said having the town featured across Australia would be good for the club and the region.

“It’s pretty exciting,” she said. “It’s good that people have noticed. The video was just a bit of a fun thing to do for the club and it went a bit viral.

“I hope it will put Rokewood on the map a bit more so people do come visit it to check out a few of the things that are around the town. If you’re not going in that direction you wouldn’t think to stop here.

“Hopefully this gets it on the map a bit more and if you say you played at the club they say, ‘yeah, I know where Rokewood is now.”

Ms Hutchins and her family, notably her father Denis Banks – former ‘Hoppers vice-president and daughter Nell, are featured in the show.

She said Nell rose to the occasion.

“She was excited,” Ms Hutchins said. “She was asking lots of questions and playing the part very well.

“I don’t actually know if I’m in it, I think I’m sort of in the background.”

Shearing icon Trevor Kearns was also filmed while Back Roads was in town.

He agreed that the TV show was a great opportunity to tell people about the Rokewood community.

“It’s a great thing for Rokewood, the community and also the football club,” he said. “It’s going to put Rokewood on the map once everybody sees the show.

“A lot of city folk wouldn’t understand where Rokewood is.”

Mr Kerns was featured in the program, in part, due to his more than 50-year career as a sheerer, during which he’s fleeced more than a million sheep.

He said getting to talk to Back Roads presenter Lisa Millar and the TV crew was a positive experience.

“It was very exciting and the professionalism of the people who did the interview and organisation surprised me,” he said. “It was very good. They made me feel very comfortable and easy to answer the questions.”

That enjoyable time with the visiting production crew was echoed by Ms Hutchins.

“They were really good, really nice, very friendly and lovely,” she said.

Rokewood airing during primetime on the ABC isn’t the only recent occasion a town in the Shire has been broadcast across Australia.

An episode of the SBS program Who Do You Think You Are? featuring comedian Denise Scott was partly filmed in Meredith and broadcast on Tuesday night.

The ABC TV’s Back Roads episode that’s all about Rokewood is set to air on the broadcaster’s main channel on Monday, 22 June at 8pm.