Cirrus@Austlit

Now an extremely obscure television program (of which no mention is made on the National Film and Sound Archives website), Wandjina! was a seven-part fantasy series for young viewers, written by G.K Saunders (who, in 1964 and 1965, had scripted The Stranger) and, like The Stranger, produced by the ABC.

Wandjina! followed three young protagonists who stumble across a mysterious valley. In one of the valley's caves, they find cave paintings of the Wandjina spirit people. But after making this discovery, they start to see some odd things.

The central mythology of the program was inspired by the Dreamtime mythology of the Kimberley region of north-west Australia; as such, it represented an early attempt to create a consciously Australian style of fantasy for television (for example, it preceded the television adaptation of Patricia Wrightson's The Nargun and the Stars).

Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series that the program was 'notable in using young Aboriginal actors such as Bindi Williams, as well as bringing some sense of Aboriginal culture to its young, white audience'. The lead roles were taken by Juliana Allan (who played Ensign Eve Poitier in Vega 4 in the following year) and Jacki Weaver (one of her earliest screen roles).

For a detailed, episode-by-episode synopsis, see Notes.

Australia's first locally produced science-fiction television program and one of the earliest Australian television programs to be sold overseas, The Stranger followed the adventures of 'Adam Suisse', an alien visitor to Earth. G.K. Saunders had previously written the story as a BBC radio series.

Nan Musgrove's review summarises the plot of the first series as follows:

'"The Stranger," called Adam Suisse (Ron Haddrick), is a being from Soshuniss. He arrives on earth by spaceship, and during a terrific storm is found on the doorstep of the Sydney home of the headmaster of a boys' school.

'He is taken in by the family, and given a job at the school as a master.

'His relationship with the headmaster's son and daughter and one of their friends results in the three teenagers visiting Soshuniss–a visit that is a first-class international mystery.'

Source: Nan Musgrove, 'Kids!–You Can't Fool Them', Australian Women's Weekly, Wed. 29 April 1964, p.15.

The first series ended with the inhabitants of Soshuniss (which can no longer sustain its population) being offered sanctuary in Australia, after an agreement is reached between them, the Australian government, and the United Nations.

However, producer Storry Walton noted in another interview that the second series would complicate the political situation:

'Enormous complications will take place in Australia, New York, and on Soshuniss' [...]

'For instance, the people of Australia, who had accepted wholeheartedly the good intentions of the people of Soshuniss, begin to doubt them. On top of this, there is a revolution on Soshuniss and a new and militant leader is appointed who appears to be a threat to the whole world.'

Source: Nan Musgrove, 'U.S. May Buy A.B.C. Series', Australian Women's Weekly, Wed. 19 August 1964, p.19.

Both writer and designer went to great length to add complexity and depth to the alien aspects of the program. For example, script-writer G.K. Saunders devised an 'alien' language for the inhabitants of Soshuniss to speak among themselves, and ensured that they spoke English with a 'foreign' accent (hence the humans' assumption that The Stranger is Swiss). Similarly, the Soshunissian spaceship was carefully vetted by the CSIRO, to ensure that it was as plausible a spacecraft as possible.

A six-part radio series following the adventures of three Sydney children who meet an alien from the planet Soshuniss. (For a detailed, episode-by-episode synopsis, see Notes.)

The Stranger was produced in Australia as a television series (Australia's first locally produced science-fiction television program and one of the earliest Australian television programs to be sold overseas) in 1964, and series one of the ABC's television version followed the same basic plot as this radio series. See note below for more details on the relationship between the two.