Vale Jill Robb

The Australian film and television industry has farewelled one of its greats, with Jill Robb passing away last month.

Jill’s career spanned several decades and saw her work in a variety of significant roles. She began her career in 1958 as a stand-in for English actress Jill Adams on Dust in the Sun before becoming an award-winning producer and then an industry executive.

She was the first marketing and distribution manager at the South Australian Film Corp, the inaugural CEO of the Victorian Film Corporation (now Film Victoria) and a founding member of the board of the Australian Film Commission.

She was a role model and mentor for many screen practitioners and was highly regarded among her industry peers, with an annual Film Victoria award in her name.

As a producer, Jill worked on a number of award-winning feature films, television series and telemovies, including producing the Australian Children’s Television Foundation’s Top Enders and Devil’s Hill, which were part of the Touch the Sun series.

ACTF Head of Content Bernadette O’Mahony first met Jill when Bernadette was hired as a young production coordinator on Top Enders and Devil’s Hill, filmed in the Northern Territory and Tasmania. The pair then worked together years later, with Bernadette hired as line producer on Banjo Paterson’s The Man from Snowy River.

Bernadette said: “From that first meeting on Top Enders when I was the office junior (no production secretaries in those days), Jill took me under her wing, and she became a valued mentor and supporter across my career, and for many others as well. Jill was inclusive and collaborative and championed female producers and executives and was happy to share her wealth of experience and knowledge. She also had great stories! Most of all she was a great friend. She will be missed.” 

Jill Robb pictured in the back row, seventh from the left, with the Top Enders crew in 1987.