AustLit logo

AustLit

form The Load of Wood single work   film/TV  
Adaptation of The Load of Wood Ross Franklyn , 1947 single work short story
Issue Details: First known date: 1956... 1956 The Load of Wood
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Adapted from the 1953 short story 'The Load of Wood' written by Frank Hardy under a pseudonym, this cinematic adaptation is a bleak, almost Soviet-like tale of men suffering out the 1930s Depression in a country town. Although a group of unemployed men is given relief work on the grounds that they cannot afford to buy enough fuel to keep their families warm, two of the men decide to steal a truck-load of wood from a rich man's estate and deliver it to those in the town with a desperate need for warmth.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Date: 1956
  • Appears in:
    form y separately published work icon Three in One Rex Rienits , Ralph Peterson , Australia : Australian Tradition Films , 1956 Z919028 1956 selected work film/TV

    A trilogy of stories reflecting a socialist view of Australian life in the 1950s, with a particular focus on mateship. Joe Wilson's Mates, based on Henry Lawson's 'The Union Buries its Dead', shows union members in a country town holding a funeral for an unknown tramp who carries a union card. In Frank Hardy's A Load of Wood, men in a make-work job during the Depression assert themselves by stealing firewood from a farmer and distributing it to the poor. The third story, The City by Ralph Peterson, follows young lovers trying to make a life in the hustle and bustle of Sydney.

         Australia : Australian Tradition Films , 1956
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()
Last amended 13 Feb 2015 12:22:23
Subjects:
Settings:
  • c
    Australia,
    c
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X