April 22, 2018
Australian actor Travis Fimmel will be another of the special guests at Wooroolin’s Anzac Day ceremony on Wednesday.
Travis, best-known for his starring role as Ragnar Lothbrok in the historical TV drama Vikings, has been cast as Long Tan veteran Lieutenant Colonel Harry Smith in a movie, “Danger Close”, about the famous battle.
The feature film has begun production in Queensland and parts of the action will be shot in and around the Wooroolin wetlands and a nearby paulownia plantation.
The real-life Harry Smith, now 84, and a number of other Long Tan veterans will also be coming to Wooroolin on Wednesday as special guests for the Anzac Day commemoration.
The battle of Long Tan – between a small group of Australian troops and a much larger contingent of Viet Cong – was fought in August 1966 in a rubber plantation only kilometres from the Australia base at Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy province. It resulted in 18 Australians killed and 24 wounded; VC casualties have been estimated at 245 killed and 350 wounded.
It is Australia’s best-known battle of the Vietnam War.
Shooting of “Danger Close” is expected to begin within three weeks.
Wooroolin’s Anzac Day commemoration service will be held at the Wooroolin Memorial Hall on the Bunya Highway at 11:15am.
The service will be preceded by a parade along Wooroolin’s CBD at 11:00am, and be followed by a Wooroolin Lions barbecue.
- External link: Danger Close
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Danger Close Trailer
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From the Danger Close Instagram page:
1. Assembling some of the props
2. Scouting film locations at Wooroolin
3. Model of the paulownia forest location
