My Brilliant Career, which launched on Netflix last week, is currently ranked as the number one show in Australia and debuted at number four on the Global English TV List. It is a top 10 show in 54 countries and has racked up 3.1 million views around the world.

The global hit is based on Miles Franklin’s 1901 novel My Brilliant Career, which recounts the story of protagonist Sybylla Melvyn, an aspiring writer who resists the conservative norms of 1890s rural Australia. The book was previously adapted for the screen in Gillian Armstrong’s 1979 film, which stars Judy Davis, Sam Neill and Wendy Hughes.

Laurel Hosking and her husband bought the Para Para in Gawler – which now sits on 12 acres – 25 years ago as a “lifetime restoration project”. She now runs Para Para Lavender out of the property.

Para Para first appears on episode two of My Brilliant Career as Five Bob Downs – the home of Sybylla’s suitor, the wealthy landowner Harry Beecham.

Hosking first received an email from a location scout saying a “significant streaming service” would be filming a “classic Australian feminist novel” and was interested in featuring Para Para.

The production crew moved in towards the middle of March and began working on the grounds and exteriors, before beginning work on the interior in May.

Filming began on May 19, with an initial week of cameras rolling before the crew spent six weeks at Yallum and other locations. They later returned for another two weeks of filming at the end of July, with Hosking “living in a film set” in the interim.

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“The crew were incredibly respectful of the property and what was trying to be done there. The cast were so gracious and just beautiful people and were so kind,” she said.

“I stayed out of their way as much as I could, because everyone’s got a job to do. Occasionally, every so often, I’d be called in to deal with a problem or to help them with, ‘Oh, where’s that?’ or ‘Do you have any more of these curtain rings’.”

Over the years, Hosking and her husband have carried out extensive restoration work to the property, including in the ballroom, drawing room, dining room and entrance hall, as well as establishing the picturesque gardens.

The 400 acres of land on which Para Para once sat was originally purchased by colonial pastoralist, long-term legislative councillor and SA Treasurer Walter Duffield in 1851, who made his fortune running flour mills.

“We had the Australian 11 on the way back from an Ashes Test played here in the 1880s, there’s been horse racing, there’s been football matches, there’s been community picnics – this is what he did when he was here,” Hosking said.

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The property was later inherited by his son, the famous astronomer Walter Jeffrey Duffield, but later fell into disrepair before being saved from demolition in the 1940s by the local Cork family, whose son Frank was a well-known photographer.

Para Para, which will be open to the public on September 20 for Open Gardens SA, makes its first appearance in episode two of My Brilliant Career and also features in episodes four and five.

“Our cat gets a cameo in the beginning of episode five because he became the darling of the cast and crew, so they wanted him in it,” Hosking said.

Andy Clifford, whose family has owned Yallum Park since 1914, said he was approached in February last year by a film scout last year about filming on his property.

“They were looking for quite a large house with a big garden, and then when they saw the coach house, they settled on using that as well,” he said of the property, which makes its first appearance in episode one of My Brilliant Career.

Yallum Park, which was built in 1880, was used for Caddagat in the show – the homestead of protagonist Sybylla’s wealthy grandmother Mrs Winifred Bossier.

The 900-acre property dates back to the 1840s, when it was squatted on by Thomas and Joshua Austin.

It was later leased to the noted explorer Lawrence Wells and his brother before SA politician and pastoralist John Riddoch built in 1880, with Prince George and Albert having stayed a night there in June 1881.

Clifford said that after Netflix chose the property for the series, there was “a lot” of construction work, as well as work on the garden, before a film crew of 140 shot on location for two weeks in June and July last year.

The crew also constructed four replica rooms of Yallum at the SAFC in Glenside, transporting Clifford’s furniture to Adelaide for the shoot.

“It was a real eye-opener to us because we knew nothing about filming or whatever – so, we learnt quite a bit, and it was really interesting,” Clifford, who runs regular guided tours of the property, said.

“Normally, when they do some filming, the owners of the property aren’t there, but we just said ‘No, we’re not moving out’.”

Clifford, who attended the premiere of My Brilliant Career at the Piccadilly in North Adelaide last week, was amazed that the series would be viewed in 190 countries.

“It was great – we could watch it and say, ‘Oh, we know where that was filmed and we saw that part being filmed’,” he said.

“We are expecting more – we’ve had a lot more media interest than we had before, of course, but once it gets out there, that’ll just help as well, so I can see us having to perhaps extend tours and whatever.”

Leanne Saunders, who is acting CEO at the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC), said the show appealed to the agency because it was already market attached and would reach a wide audience.

SAFC invested in My Brilliant Career through its Screen Production Fund, which supports projects that are “substantially produced and post-produced in South Australia”.

The series was made by New South Wales-based production company Jungle Entertainment and was produced by South Australian producer Paul Ranford of Jetty Films.

Although she said the amount invested by SAFC was “commercial in confidence,” Saunders said the project injected $19 million into SA’s economy, employed 600 South Australian jobs and engaged 410 local businesses.

“We’re very keen to have the shows that we produce down here not only looking great but also providing great experiences in upskilling our local crews,” she said.

The SAFC has also recently supported projects ranging from the World War II film Lady Death to Wolf Creek: Legacy, the First Nations-led horror film The Debt and actress Tilda Coham-Hervey’s directorial debut It’s All Going Well With No Problems.

Saunders said she would not be surprised if the series led to increased visitation to locations it featured, saying South Australia has some of the best-preserved historic houses and picturesque natural landscapes.

“I think people will be very interested to go to those regions and see that architecture and also to some of the stunning natural locations in terms of mountain ranges, deserts and gullies and these beautiful natural environments that are part of towns and state,” Saunders, who started as SAFC’s head of production two years ago, said.

Saunders watched the series being filmed at the SAFC’s studios, saying she was impressed by the scale of the production, which is the biggest single season of a TV show ever filmed in the state.

“That’s what really strikes me actually is the innovation and the ability to innovate and produce remarkable work under ever-changing conditions,” she said.

Arts Minister Kyam Maher said the project “is showing global audiences what we already know – South Australia is one of the world’s great places to make screen stories, and a beautiful place to visit”.

“The Labor Government is proud to support these exciting productions that create local jobs, grow our creative industries and share South Australian stories, talent and locations with audiences around the globe,” he said.