The Intruders (1969 film)

The Intruders (also known as Skippy and the Intruders) is a 1969 Australian film directed by Lee Robinson. It is a spin-off of the popular Skippy the Bush Kangaroo TV series.

A gang of criminals led by Meredith is looking for sunken treasure off Mallacoota, pretending to be diving for abalone. Sonny, son of Matt Hammond, the Chief Ranger of Waratah National Park, investigates with their family friend, Clancy. Sonny and Clancy are kidnapped. Skippy comes to the rescue. After a speedboat chase and a fight in the sand dunes, Meredith is captured.

Filming began in October 1968 using the same crew and locations as the TV series. Additional location shooting was done at Mallacoota in Victoria, some 470 km south of the fictional Waratah National Park (Ku-ring-gai Chase) and in Sydney.

The film failed to match the popularity of the TV series and was not a box office success. John McCallum later claimed they:

Got the money back on the film but we thought it would be a bigger success in the cinema. If they could see it for nothing at home, the Mums and Dads weren't too keen to take the kids and pay at the cinema. We sold it to the Children's Film Foundation in England and they did well with it. They cut it down to a 60-minute version and played in Saturday mornings in the cinemas.