General News
9 October, 2025
Hunt for Dressmaker scoreboard kicks off
One day you’re the star of the show, appearing front and centre in an international feature film, the next you’re languishing in a skip-bin or being traded for small change on an episode of Pawn Stars.
Such is the life of a prop: the additions such as furniture, costumes and other decorative objects that set the scene and give personality to filming locations.
With the 10-year anniversary of The Dressmaker’s world premier approaching, Wimmera Mallee News is on the hunt for one such piece.
Remember the scoreboard from the famous footy showdown between Dungatar and Winyerp when Kate Winslet posed provocatively on the boundary in jaw-dropping red and then jet-black, throwing the visitors off their game?
“We made the scoreboard from scratch,” The Dressmaker’s props master, Jane Murphy, said.
“The scenic artists did a really lovely job using Masonite for the scoreboard and tin for the numbers.
“They also made the shed that the scoreboard sat on to cover the brand-new clubrooms at Jung Recreation Reserve.”
The footy shoot featuring by Liam Hemsworth as the Dungatar hero took place in 30°C-plus heat in the second week of December 2014.
Because the scenes were being shot out of sequence, the film’s continuity supervisor kept careful note of the game’s score in an Excel spreadsheet to ensure that any time the scoreboard could be glimpsed in the background, it was always up to date.
“I can’t tell you where the scoreboard ended up, unfortunately,” Murphy said way back in 2015.
“Often set dressings will be given to a prop store so that they don’t go to waste, but as this was so specifically ‘branded’ to The Dressmaker it probably ended up in the timber recycling skip.”
But did it?
The fate of this scoreboard has never been reported definitively but at WMN we’re optimistic.
Surely it was souvenired rather than trashed at the end of filming.
Is it even now occupying pride of place in a man-cave somewhere in the Wimmera?
Let us know.
If you were one of the extras from Horsham, Dimboola, Murtoa, Minyip and surrounds who showed up for the shoot at Jung, what do you recall?
Perhaps you even took to the field as one of the Dungatar or Winyerp players?
We’re preparing a look-back at The Dressmaker’s time in the Wimmera to be published in the Wimmera Mail-Times next Friday, just in time for the 10-year anniversary on Saturday October 18, so we'd love you to share with us your own experiences not only at the recreation reserve and/or cemetery at Jung but also at Longerenong Homestead (where Gertrude's wedding reception took place), Sailors’ Home Hall at Murra Warra and Murtoa Hall.
And how will you mark the first decade: a quiet re-screening at home, a dress-up get-together with friends on Saturday night or a pilgrimage to some of the still-famous sites (including the silo at Jung) maybe?
Email rosalea.ryan@wmnews.com.au.