'Brought up in boarding schools, Ryle has learned to be independent, but when her mysterious father dies, her whole world changes. Part of her inheritance is a half-share in a dilapidated farm which she shares with a scruffy grandfather she meets for the first time.'
(Publication summary)
The Pastures of the Blue Crane
( dir. Tom Jeffrey
)
1969
Australia
:
ABC Television
,
1969
Z869026
1969
series - publisher
film/TV
young adult
A coming-of-age story about Rhyll Mereweather, a teenage girl who, after her father dies, believes that she now has no family. Soon afterwards, however, she is informed that she has inherited a run-down northern NSW banana plantation. When she travels from her home in Melbourne to see the property, she discovers a crusty old grandfather and some other surprising relatives she didn't know about.
As with the book, the screenplay deals with many issues, including the irresponsible property development ruining the pristine coastline of northern NSW. It also, in a witty and hopeful way, deals with some of the most unsavoury aspects of Australian culture: its casual racism, its ingrained sexism, and the pressures put upon young people to conform to expectations. The film was arguably the first Australian television series to address racism in any meaningful way. Although the series was made at a time when Australia was still pursuing a white-only immigration program and when discrimination against Aboriginal peoples was endemic, the subject matter was handled with some care by the producers.
