The Billabong | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories

Illustrated script cover page (from the Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection)

form y The Billabong single work film/TV crime children's

Author:agent Denise Morgan

Issue Details: First known date: 1975... 1975 The Billabong

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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'JACK NORTON: 60/65. A retired farmer who, although worked hard [sic] all his life, has nothing to show for it. His only love is fishing and this also provides his food for the week. He and Joe Porter are fishing mates from way back, and both feel that the youth of today are pushing them back and out. Making them obsolete. Jack is a widower of five years with no children. His only companion is:-
'COCKY: His cockatoo - anyone would think it was human.
'DAVE BRADLEY: Early 30's. A young farmer and friend of Gary Hogan's. He has great ideals about conservation and the protection of wildlife. He is setting up his land as a sanctuary and cordons off the billabong as a protection for birds, animals and fish.
'FRANK BURNS: Wildlife and Fisheries expert.
'TEDDY FINCH: 18. A wild lad about Emerald. Out for a good time.
'BERT FINCH: 16. Teddy's younger brother who goes along for the ride.'

Notes

This entry has been compiled from archival research in the Crawford Collection (AFI Research Collection), undertaken by Dr Catriona Mills under the auspices of the 2012 AFI Research Collection (AFIRC) Research Fellowship: see The Writer in Australian Television History.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

1975 .

Script cover page (from the Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection)

SoloOneEp4Cover2_FXS9.jpg

Extent: 22p.
(Manuscript) assertion

Note/s:

The Crawford Collection holds two copies of the script. Both are copied on blue paper, both are labelled 'Code: 23504', and both have two cover pages: an illustrated outer cover page and a second cover page giving crew details and episode duration. Neither copy shows any indication of to whom this copy of the script was designated.

Copy 1 is annotated throughout in red ink, seemingly in the same hand as the annotations to episodes 1-3. The annotations are alterations to dialogue and the occasional deletion of scenes or sections of scenes. The degree of annotation is fairly heavy throughout the script.

Copy 2 shows no signs of annotation.

The file also contains the following ancillary material:
1. Cast list: a type-written cast list, with no confidential information.
2. Printed cast list, showing actors' contact information.
3. Casting call sheets, showing the actors' contact details.
4. 10pp.copy of the script stripped to nothing but dialogue, copied on white paper. This script incorporates the alterations to dialogue made in copy 1 above.

Holdings

Held at: AFI Research Collection

Local Id: SC SOL : 4

Note:
AFI Research Collection record

Director: David Stevens ; Stewart Wright ; Geoff Hunt

Note: The script credits Stevens as director, Hunt as first assistant director, and Wright as second assistant director.

VIEW FILM DETAILS

work

Publisher: Crawford Productions ; Seven Network

Melbourne, Victoria,: Crawford Productions ; Seven Network , 1976 .

Screen cap from opening credits

SoloOneEp4ScreenCap_FXS8.JPG

Extent: 24 min., 42 secs (according to the script)p.

Note/s:

Storey lists this as episode six.

Series: form y Solo One Sonia Borg , Phil Freedman , Gwenda Marsh , Everett de Roche , Peter Schreck , Vince Moran , Keith Hetherington , John Drew , Keith Thompson , Denise Morgan , Tom Hegarty , Melbourne : Crawford Productions , 1976 Z1814905 1976 series - publisher film/TV children's adventure detective Abstract
A spin-off from Crawford Productions' Matlock Police, Solo One transferred motorcycle officer Gary Hogan from the fictional town of Matlock to the real town of Emerald in the Dandenong Ranges, where the program was filmed on location.

The program, an attempt to capitalise on Gary Hogan's popularity with child viewers of Matlock Police and less adult in focus than its predecessor, wasn't renewed for a second season, after Cronin moved on to Crawford's war-time drama, The Sullivans. Don Storey, in his Classic Australian Television, notes that the program 'was very successful and received much critical acclaim', but Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, counters that 'Cronin, though lovable both to Crawford's and the Victorian Police, who were advisors on the series, was far too long in the tooth to be playing this kind of role'.
Number in series: 4