For the Term of His Natural Life

For the Term of His Natural Life is a 1908 Australian silent film based on the 1874 novel by the same name by Marcus Clarke. The film is an adaptation of MacMahon's stage adaptation of the novel. It was the fourth Australian feature ever made and is considered a lost film. The 1908 film was the first screen adaptation of Clarke's novel, which was also later filmed in 1911, as a silent film known as "The Life of Rufus Dawes", 1927, again as a silent film (the most expensive produced in Australia to that time) and 1983, as a television mini-series. Synopsis The film's plot was a collection of highlights from the novel, such as "The Convict Mutiny in the 'Malabar'", "The Burning of the 'Hydaspes'", "The Murder on Hampstead Heath", "The Solitary of Grummet Island", and "The Life and Death Struggle Between Gabbett and his Famished Escapees". The movie kept the tragic ending of the novel, with Rufus Dawes and Sylvia perishing in a storm after Reverend North had helped Dawes escape.