The Dirtwater Dynasty

A very compelling saga spanning three generations of one family on both sides of the world. All characters were portrayed well adding to the emotional value. It also explained some of the usually unmentioned treatment of prisoners of war at the hands of the Japanese.

To everyone (including my Mum) who SO desperately wanted to see this released on DVD: the 3-disc box set came out on 16th June 2005.

Dirtwater Dynasty" is the story of embittered rivalry, triumph and despair. The life of Richard Eastwick is told in a story spanning three generations and eight decades. Born in the London slums in 1878, he comes to Australia at age 20, with nothing but a handful of courage and a dream. He acquires land, marries and raises a family, wins loyal friends and makes bitter enemies, and builds a land and cattle ranching empire. Both world wars and the economic depression take their toll on his family. But his dream to create a dynasty gives him a reason to continue. Released: Friday, 17 June 2005 Actors: Hugo Weaving Ernie Dingo Peter Phelps Bruce Spence Aust/Foreign: Australian Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 16:9 Enhanced Transfer Format: Widescreen Category: TV Series Region: 4 Year: 1988 Distributor: Roadshow Rating: M15+ Languages: English Subtitles: English - HI Running Time: 450 mins

It's PAL, so US fans might have trouble. The RRP is AUS$44.95 and should be available from anywhere you'd normally buy DVDs.

Watched this back when it first aired and I've never forgotten it. Absolutely ecstatic to find this available to purchase (only on SD) for a very good price! I know there are a lot of folk in the UK looking for this without the dvd restrictions.

Just read the last post on here and the person who posted it was saying how much they would love to own the DVD. Well, I got it,3 disc boxset,off ebay and it came from Australia,costing me a mere £21. So I just thought I would share this info with you as I had previously tried for years to get hold of this fantastic little known miniseries without success.Remembered watching it when it originally aired on BBC in 88/89 and since then it has always stuck in the back of my mind as aone of those "Must own" series. But now you know from someone who physically has it, it IS available on DVD. If ebay don't have it for sale,a trawl through the net may be in order but to be honest I would have paid twice as much to get hold of this. If I had any gripe with the series it was probably the absolute bad luck that befalls Mr Eastwick throughout his life seems to be never-ending.As smart as the ending is,I couldn't help but feel gutted for him at the way events had panned out and hoped it would give a happy ending.You will just have to watch all 8 hours of it if you have never seen it before to find out what happens. Like the previous entry said,have a box of hankies ready.I hope this helps any prospective owners out.

I am so glad to see that The Dirtwater Dynasty has been released on DVD. This is the sad part - it is only out in PAL format, and I have NTSC. I don't suppose someone has been so nice as to dub it into the NTSC format? This is such a great mini-series, and a terrible loss to folks in the U.S. who won't get to watch it. It would be so nice if one of the independent networks would pick it up. After all, we can purchase "A Town Like Alice", which is another good one. Hugo Weaving is strong in his portrayal, that it is a shame it isn't better known outside of Australia. Oh well, I have waited a long time to purchase this mini-series. I guess a few more years won't make that big a difference. Something this powerful never leaves your mind, and the music you can never forget.