The Victorian Government is backing a new television mini-series based on national sporting icon Evonne Goolagong Cawley AC MBE – the first Aboriginal woman to play professional tennis. Titled Goolagong, the mini-series is being filmed in locations across metropolitan and regional Victoria.
The three-part event mini-series is based on the inspiring true-life story of world champion tennis player Evonne Goolagong, one of Australia’s most loved female sporting heroes.
The journey will take us from the tiny NSW regional town of Barellan, where an eager eight-year-old Aboriginal kid first peered through the cyclone wire fence of a tennis court to the centre courts of the world, where Evonne would reach the world number one ranking and endear herself to millions around the globe.
The production will inject over $9 million into the Victorian economy and create an estimated 1300 jobs for Victorian screen workers, including 100 crew, 1200 cast and extras, and seven skills development opportunities for emerging First Peoples screen creatives and workers.
Set to broadcast on the ABC and produced by leading Victorian production company Werner Film Productions, part of BBC Studios, Goolagong has been developed with the support and participation of Evonne Goolagong Cawley. Evonne and her husband Roger Cawley are associate producers of the series.
Esteemed Indigenous screen leaders including Director Wayne Blair, writer Steven McGregor, and co-producer Danielle Maclean, join producer Joanna Werner and writer Megan Simpson Huberman to bring this long-awaited dramatic portrait of Evonne Goolagong Cawley to the screen.
Rising star Lila McGuire plays Evonne Goolagong Cawley with Marton Csokas as her coach Vic Edward, Felix Mallard as her husband Roger Cawley, and Luke Carroll as her father Kenny Goolagong.
Goolagong includes dramatic tennis matches from 1970 through to 1980, which are being filmed at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club and Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club, along with a purpose-built set of Wimbledon’s Centre Court, which is currently under construction.
The production is also filming on location in Kyneton, Seaford, Seymour, Sunshine, Tallarook and Woodend. Post-production and visual effects work will also take place in Victoria.
Goolagong has received support from the Victorian Government’s Victorian Production Fund and Victorian Screen Rebate and will premiere on ABC in 2026. The series is being sold globally by BBC Studios. For more information visit https://vicscreen.vic.gov.au/