The fairy tale from which extracts were recited in the film was The Hobyahs by James H. Fassett and Robert D. San Souci.
The film was inspired by a newspaper article about the Bolte Government of Victoria's 1950s rabbit muster.
For this film, in 1989, then young actress Rebecca Smart won the Best Actress award at the Salso Maggiore Film and Television Festival.
The film's script written by Ann Turner in 1984 won the Monte Miller Award award at the AWGIE (Australian Writers' Guild) Awards for Best Unproduced Screenplay.
The age of the Celia Carmichael character portrayed by actress Rebecca Smart was nine years. Smart was twelve years old when the movie was filmed in 1988.