The AFI Award-winner, who played Benji in the first series of the underworld TV drama and Adam in cop show Blue Heelers, spent seven days on the Bulga Plateau acting in the short film, The Clearing, which is described as a love story with thriller elements set in the Aussie bush.

The Elands people pulled out all the stops for the Sydney-based crew of 30, vacating their homes to accommodate the visitors, preparing meals and entertaining them in the Bulga Hall each night.

Damian said he was pleased to work in such a beautiful, pristine location and he was impressed with the community’s respect for the environment.

The director Seth Larney, a former Manning Valley resident who is the son of Telly Bertels, chose Elands as the location for his short because he is passionate about the place where he grew up.

The film’s producer, Lisa Shaunessy, agreed the Bulga was the perfect backdrop for the emotional story.

“This is one of Australia’s most special pieces of countryside,” she said.

The crew filmed at the Elands Oxygen Farm, a nearby quarry, the bottom of Ellenborough Falls and Gladneys Flat.

The scenery is important to the story – so much so that Lisa described the forest as a character in the narrative.

The film tells the story of the characters Adam and Eve. They wake in the wilderness, battered and bruised, and soon discover they are being pursued by three men with rifles.

They flee but soon find they have been going in circles.

We don’t want to give away the ending but the story concludes with the lovers parting in emotional and unexpected circumstances.

Lisa was also full of praise for the people of Elands.

“The community has been incredible,” she said.

“It’s been a really incredible experience. The crew and actors have loved every minute of it.”

Despite these positive comments, the actors and crew have more than earned their paycheques having to work through cold temperatures, persistent rain and mud during the first few days of shooting.