AustLit
Adaptation of
Stormy Petrel
1959
single work
radio play
Issue Details:
First known date:
1960...
1960
Stormy Petrel : A Serial for Television
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
A sympathetic exploration of Governor William Bligh's time in charge of the infant colony of New South Wales, some two years after the infamous Bounty mutiny. The series focuses on his troubled relationship with the NSW Corp, and especially Captain John Macarthur.
Notes
-
The first Australian ABC television drama, Stormy Petrel was initially produced in 1959 as a series on ABC Radio, and hence the television adaptation was very much a 'radio with pictures' version. Albert Moran notes, however, that Colin Dean and Rex Rienits worked hard at opening out the radio script so that viewers could look at more than talking heads (Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series, p. 435).
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While not a formal trilogy, Stormy Petrel was the subsequently considered the first in a loose historical trilogy that included The Outcasts (also by Rex Rienits) and concluded with The Patriots (by Phlilip Grenville Mann).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
Forgotten Australian TV Plays : Stormy Petrel
2021
single work
essay
— Appears in: FilmInk , 17 October 2021; -
60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & ‘60s
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 18 February 2019; -
Promoting History, Culture and Literature: ABC Television and the Creative Writer
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Your Memento , October no. 4 2011; 'When television broadcasting began in Australia in 1956, opportunities for local dramatists were scarce. Within a few years, however, television had swamped radio drama and writers could see that their best chance to reach an audience lay in this new technology. Dr Susan Lever, recipient of the Archives' 2010 Frederick Watson Fellowship, looks at script holdings to assess the role of Australian creative writers in ABC television drama of the 1960s and 1970s.'
Source: Publisher's abstract
-
Promoting History, Culture and Literature: ABC Television and the Creative Writer
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Your Memento , October no. 4 2011; 'When television broadcasting began in Australia in 1956, opportunities for local dramatists were scarce. Within a few years, however, television had swamped radio drama and writers could see that their best chance to reach an audience lay in this new technology. Dr Susan Lever, recipient of the Archives' 2010 Frederick Watson Fellowship, looks at script holdings to assess the role of Australian creative writers in ABC television drama of the 1960s and 1970s.'
Source: Publisher's abstract
-
60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & ‘60s
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 18 February 2019; -
Forgotten Australian TV Plays : Stormy Petrel
2021
single work
essay
— Appears in: FilmInk , 17 October 2021;
Awards
Settings:
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- 1808
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