AustLit

While on an archaeological expedition with their parents, Josh and Ling, exploring beneath the temple, find a golden Chinese dragon. Two thousand years earlier, the dragon lent his pearl to the emperor, to help defend the kingdom. But the pearl was buried with the emperor and, without it, the dragon remains entombed. Josh and Ling hope to dig up the pearl and free the dragon, but there are others who crave the pearl's power for their own purposes.

The production is a Chinese-Australian co-production. As a treaty co-production, the film is simultaneously considered a fully Chinese film and a fully Australian film.

'A moving and magical tale of two elephant brothers in search of their mother. Just days after the birth of baby elephant Tutu, hunters decimate the herd. Faced with the loss of their family, Tutu and Zef set off across the African plain in search of a future. Spectacular in scope and rife with the exotic beauty of Africa, ELEPHANT TALES weaves a heartwarming tale of trust and leadership between siblings and new friends.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 12/9/2012)

'In 1870 a parrot is captured by a pirate in the Amazon jungle and taken aboard his ship along with priceless treasure. The ship is sunk in the South Pacific and the parrot watches as the wounded pirate buries the treasure and dies beside it. In 1996 the same parrot, Mac, is now 140-years-old and living with an eccentric inventor, who is very close to his 12-year-old grandson, Sam. Their world is shattered when Sam's father discovers Grandpa is in serious debt and organises to sell his home and move him into a pet-free retirement centre. The prospect of being separated from Grandpa is too much for Mac who reveals to Sam that he can talk! Mac also remembers where the treasure is buried and the adventure begins’.

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 12/9/2012)

Napoleon, a young Golden Retriever, finds himself in Sydney after a balloon ride. Determined to find dingoes, he sets off to the bush guided by a galah called Birdo. During the journey, he encounters various Australian bush animals and a wide variation of landscapes. In the centre of Australia, he finally finds two dingo pups and rescues them when their cave is flooded.

Science fiction in a stricter (and less speculative) sense, Sky Trackers followed the adventures of a group of scientists' children living in a remote space-tracking station in the Australian outback. The program had the romantic component common to young-adult programming (with blossoming romance between thirteen-year-old Nikki and fourteen-year-old Mike), but also focused on such topics as ambition, future careers, and scholastic achievement.

Bella, an orphan girl, is rescued from a catastrophic shipwreck on the coast of Australia by Black Beauty, though the accident costs Bella her memory. Both Bella and the horse are adopted by a country doctor, but Bella finds herself haunted by dreams (or memories?) of a missing gold shipment.

A mixture of live-action, puppetry, animation, and documentary, Lift Off centred on a group of children who lived in the same neighbourhood and whose imaginations made their environment a world of fun and excitement. However, the program also explored issues such as pain, loneliness, jealousy, and anger. The program was aimed at three-year-old to eight-year-old viewers (as defined by Harvard University developmental psychologist Howard Gardner), and was linked to school curricula through the Curriculum Corporation of Australia.

'Mark and his friends discover they've lived before. Not only that, they were famous and important people. Mark is elated—his father always wanted him to be "a somebody". Then Mark and the others find they are responsible for several of the world's big problems. So Henry Ford, Queen Victoria, Albert Einstein and Phar Lap set out to make up for what they've done. Never has a school history project been so dangerous, exciting … or hilarious.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive (http://www.australiantelevision.net/more_winners.html). Sighted: 10/11/2011

A doctor treats an Indigenous Australian patient who admits to having defied a tribal taboo and visited a sacred cave. After the encounter, the doctor begins to experience strange dreams, and finds herself drawn into a 200-year-old mystery.

Children's television program focusing on thirteen-year-old Sammy, who runs away from his grandparents (and guardians) to live with his father Oscar, a stuntman. Pursued by a 'bumbling' private detective hired by Sammy's grandparents, the two disguise themselves and go on the run, while also rescuing friends and bringing criminals to justice.

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, 'The series cost $1.2 million and the ten episodes were shot over a three-month period'.

'Jessica, a beautiful young woman alone on an isolated outback farm, becomes the unwilling participant in a series of dangerous games with three shooters.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 7/8/2013)