Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Daphne Campbell who played the part of `Mary' in the Ealing Studios film `The Overlanders'.

443629 Lance Corporal (LCpl) Campbell, 113 Australian General Hospital, was on leave in Sydney when she was chosen for the part by the director, Harry Watt. She was granted leave without pay in order to participate in the filming. She starred opposite Australian acting legend chips Rafferty in The Overlanders, a classic movie being the first to show Australia's true outback on screen and filmed largely in the Top End and Alice Springs area of the Northern Territory. A Lance-Corporal in the Australian Army Medical Women's Service during World War II, Daphne was picked from obscurity by an Ealing Studios director after a successful screen test in Sydney's Centennial Park. Her fresh face and riding skills won her the part.

Campbell was born in 1923 at Orange in NSW where her parents owned an orchard. She learnt to ride as a girl and then worked as a chemist’s assistant after she finished school.

When the Pacific War broke out in 1941, Campbell joined the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service and was stationed in north Queensland. She was only 18.

There are many stories about how she was cast in the role as Mary Parsons in The Overlanders. It was said that she was first noticed when she returned a film to Film House in Sydney and the receptionist asked if she could ride a horse.

In fact, it was Campbell’s riding ability that featured in the film – whether droving, heading the first stampede, chasing down an aeroplane, leading the herd over a mountain pass, or keeping pace with an army convoy on the North-South Road, Campbell’s skill on horseback was on show.

Much of The Overlanders was shot around Alice Springs, and it was during this time that Campbell met and fell in love with Sam Calder, ex-RAAF flying ace and pilot with Connellan Airways. They married in 1945 and started a family. Calder was the Member for the Northern Territory in the Commonwealth House of Representatives from 1966 to 1980.

Despite the success of The Overlanders, Campbell did not pursue a film career. She and Calder lived and worked on stations surrounding Alice Springs, and they settled in town where Campbell started ‘Daphne’s Garden Centre’. For the next 15 years, she grew plants and provided garden supplies to the town and stations. She was good friends with Miss Olive Pink and she and her daughters often visited Miss Pink in her little hut.

Campbell lived most of her life in Alice Springs. We are sure there are still many people in the Centre who have fond memories of Daphne Campbell.