form y separately published work icon The Bird Laughed single work   film/TV   historical fiction  
Is part of The Exiles Lynn Foster , 1959 series - author film/TV (number 1 in series)
Issue Details: First known date: 1959... 1959 The Bird Laughed
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The Selways were introduced [...] neither as prospectors who struck lucky nor as ambitious farmers. Arriving in the country in the 1870s their one aim was to amass capital and get back to the old country leaving an unfriendly climate and alien society behind for ever. But it is never quite possible for them to leave; and as their plans for return are pushed further and further into the future, the sound of a mocking bird drives home the title's meaning.

'The episode is solidly constructed to convey information about the management of land. Jack Selway arrives in Sydney and promptly falls into the hands of a group of profiteers who dispatch him into the bush to take charge of a smallholding. His belief that they have treated him generously is soon exploded; he learns that he has been made a "dummy" in a campaign against a "squatter".'

Source:

'Clarity in Saga of Australia', The Times, 26 January 1959, p.6.

Notes

  • Television play.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ,
      1959 .
      Series: form y separately published work icon BBC Sunday Night Theatre United Kingdom (UK) : British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) , 1950-1959 6432525 1950 series - publisher film/TV

      Anthology drama series made for the BBC between 1950 and 1959.

      The episodes suffered badly during the BBC's purge of its archives in the 1970s, and little of the original series remains.

      In addition, for the first three years (March 1950 - February 1953), the show was aired live, and so no recordings from those years were ever made.

      Number in series: 10.04
Last amended 8 Dec 2014 11:39:29
Settings:
  • c
    Australia,
    c
  • 1873-1876
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