Biography

Lee Robinson (22 February 1923 – 22 September 2003) was an Australian producer, director and screenwriter who was Australia's most prolific filmmaker of the 1950s. Robinson was born in Petersham, New South Wales and left school aged 12. He worked at the Daily Telegraph has a copy boy, and wrote short stories prior to the war. He first entered film as a member of the Australian Army History Unit where he filmed Australian troops in Rabaul and East Timor. His commanding officer in the History Unit was Jon Cleary.After the war he was going to work for the ABC as a scriptwriter when he received an offer to join the Australian Information Service film unit (later Film Australia) where he directed a film on Albert Namatjira called Namatjira the Painter (1946). Robinson made several films in the Northern Territory such as Outback Patrol, The Pearlers and Crocodile Hunters as well as a short film with actors in a studio called Double Trouble (1951). The high quality and Australian subject matter of these films led them to be released theatrically as support for main features.Robinson was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 1985 Australia Day Honours for "service to the Australian film and television industry".