02/09/2026
🎬 ROYAL HOTEL HARRISVILLE ON THE SILVER SCREEN 🎬
Last night, 1 September, we had the absolute privilege of attending the screening in Boonah of the newly recreated The Moth of Moonbi — a remarkable piece of Queensland film history with very special connections to Harrisville.
Originally made in 1926, The Moth of Moonbi was the directorial debut of pioneering Australian filmmaker Charles Chauvel, who grew up here in the Fassifern Valley.
Sadly, much of the original film was lost after prints were destroyed by fire in 1940. Now, 100 years after the film was made, Andrew Best, together with Charles Chauvel’s grandson Ric Chauvel Carlsson and an incredibly dedicated team, has brought the missing parts of this historic story back to life.
And we are incredibly proud that the Royal Hotel Harrisville played a small part in that journey.
When locations were needed to recreate some of the missing scenes, the Royal opened its doors to the production team and became part of the film set — allowing scenes to once again be created right here in the district where Charles Chauvel began his extraordinary filmmaking story.
Watching the finished recreation on the big screen last night was something very special.
The work that has gone into respecting the original film while bringing its missing story back to life is simply fantastic.
For us, there is also something pretty wonderful about a historic Harrisville pub helping preserve the work of one of Harrisville and the Fassifern Valley’s great storytellers.
🎥 From Harrisville in 1926… to Harrisville in 2026.
We are enormously proud that the Royal Hotel Harrisville has been able to play its own small part in keeping this remarkable piece of Queensland history alive.
Proud to be part of Queensland film history. ❤️🎬
