A woman sheep station owner is about to lose her family's property because she can't afford to buy out the lease from the neighbouring station. The situation arises when the owner's weak-willed son, left to temporarily manage the station, is manipulated by his villainous overseer. A stranger to the district helps foil the plot, however, and also eventually proves to be the rightful owner of the woman's rival property. The narrative includes a bush fire incident, which occurs when the woman and the stranger attempt to drove a large herd of sheep.
'Based on the film and dealing with station-life in New South Wales, including the wool industry and efforts against fire and drought.' E. Morris Miller's Australian Literature From Its Beginnings to 1935 (1940): 790. Miller is referring to the 1933 film of the same name by Ken Hall.
The Squatter's Daughter, or, The Land of the Wattle
1907
(Manuscript version)x400104
Z850041
1907
single work
drama
Set largely on a sheep station in rural Australia, the storyline concerns a rivalry between two neighbouring stations: Enderby (owned by Violet Enderby) and Waratah (owned by the Harringtons). While the elder Harrington is away, his weak-willed son is manipulated by the station overseer into attempting to bankrupt Enderby station. The plan almost succeeds but is foiled by a stranger to the district, Archie McPhearson.
The Squatter's Daughter : A Novel Adapted from the Play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan
Sydney
:
N.S.W. Bookstall Company
,
1922
Z95479
1922
single work
novel
crime
The Squatter's Daughter
( dir. Ken G. Hall
)
Australia
:
Cinesound Productions
,
1933
Z49664
1933
single work
film/TV
Although based on the 1905 play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan (which was itself more faithfully adapted for film in 1910), this cinematic version retains little of the original. The storyline begins with Joan Enderby about to lose her family's sheep station because she can't afford to buy out the lease from her neighbours, the Sherringtons. To make matters worse, the elderly 'Ironbark' Sherrington, the owner of 'Waratah,' has been in England for two years allowing his villainous son Clive to try and remove Joan from the property. His attempt to bankrupt her is foiled, however, when a mysterious stranger offers to buy three thousand head of sheep from her at a good price. What she doesn't know is that the stranger, Wayne Ridgeway, is also rightful heir to the Sherrington estate. The only person who knows Ridgeway's identity is an Afghan trader called Jebal Zim, but he is murdered by Clive's overseer before he can tell the recently returned Ironbark Sherrington. Typical of the melodrama genre, the story's climax is played out in a thrilling scene - a bushfire - as Joan and Ridgeway try to deliver three thousand sheep to the market. After escaping the fire, they rescue Zim's kidnapped daughter, Zena and capture the overseer, Fletcher. Naturally Ridgeway is restored to his rightful inheritance, and he and Joan marry.
[Source: Australian Screen]
