person or book cover
Screen cap from opening credits
form y separately published work icon Bellbird series - publisher   film/TV  
Issue Details: First known date: 1967... 1967 Bellbird
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Australia's first successful television soap opera, Bellbird was devised by writer Barbara Vernon and telecast by ABC Television between 1967 and 1977. The serial is set in a rural farming community, with the storylines examining the lives of various people from in and around the fictional township of Bellbird. Among the long list of characters introduced during the course of the series were the crusty farmer Jim 'The Colonel' Emerson and his glamorous wife Maggie, the local mechanic Joe Turner and his wife Olive, local policeman Constable Des Davies and his wife Fiona, the unpleasant stock and station agent John Quinney, and Jim and Marge Bacom, proprietors of the local pub that served as a central meeting place.

Includes

1.1
form y separately published work icon Bellbird [Episode 1] Barbara Vernon , Australia : Australian Broadcasting Commission , 1967 Z1362907 1967 single work film/TV
— Appears in: Close-Up : Scripts from Australian Television's Second Decade 1971; (p. 177-209)

Episodes one and four from the first season of Bellbird are published in Close Up: Scripts from Australian Television's Second Decade. Editors Don Reid and Frank Bladwell provide a summary of the episodes:

Episode 1: Melbourne teacher Michael Foley sells his house and leaves the city in his Rolls Royce to live in the country township of Bellbird. Lori Chandler, a librarian, has agreed to take him in as a boarder at her property, Bellbird Station. The local P and C committee members find this immoral, however, and demand she renege on her decision. Meanwhile, Glenda Chan, a young Chinese woman, is being pressured to sell her house by local real-estate agent Charles Kozane, who uses Jack Baker, an old friend of the Chans', as his cover. Baker currently tends the garden for Glenda. She is informed that not only is the garden on council land but her family has also been squatting on land originally bought by Lori Chandler's grandfather. Kozane knows that Lori won't sell the land while Glenda still lives in the house, and is attempting to convince her to take Jack's 'generous' offer.

Australia : Australian Broadcasting Commission , 1967
1.2
form y separately published work icon Bellbird [Episode 2] Barbara Vernon , Australia : ABC Television , 1967 19048317 1967 single work film/TV Australia : ABC Television , 1967
1.4
form y separately published work icon Bellbird [Episode 4] Barbara Vernon , Australia : Australian Broadcasting Commission , 1967 7112626 1967 single work film/TV
— Appears in: Close-Up : Scripts from Australian Television's Second Decade 1971; (p. 177-209)

Episodes one and four from the first season of Bellbird are published in Close Up: Scripts from Australian Television's Second Decade. Editors Don Reid and Frank Bladwell provide a summary of the episodes:

Episode 4: Michael Foley's presence as the new teacher, his living arrangements, and his car become topics of interest within the town. While Mrs Lang finds the whole situation a lot of fuss about nothing, she is nevertheless determined that her daughter will have nothing further to do with Tony Buckland. Charles Kozane invites Foley to his office to apologise for his behaviour, but then asks him to help convince Lori that she shouldn't get involved with the 'Chinese' problem. Kozane is disappointed when Foley not only insists he has no plans to get involved in anything or with anybody in this 'god-forsaken burg,' but also openly criticises his 1920s' Chicago-style methods. The episode ends with Glenda informing Lori about Kozane's attempts to get her out of the house. Lori exclaims with savage bitterness, 'Charlie Kozane! Of all the Grade A stinkers! Charlie Kozane!'

Australia : Australian Broadcasting Commission , 1967

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1967
    • c
      Australia,
      c
      :
      ABC Television ,
      1967-1977 .
      person or book cover
      Screen cap from opening credits
      Extent: 1697 episodes (Episodes 1-1508 - 15 min. ; Episodes 1509-1562 - 60 min. ; Episodes 1563-1697 - 30 min.)p.
      Description: Black and white/colour

      Holdings

      Held at: National Archives of Australia National Archives Library
      Location: C1060
      Note:
      Holdings include digitised rehearsal scripts for episodes one and two.

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon Super Aussie Soaps : Behind the Scenes of Australia's Best Loved TV Shows Andrew Mercado , North Melbourne : Pluto Press , 2004 Z1511282 2004 single work criticism

The definitive history of Australian TV soaps, Super Aussie Soaps examines Australian television serials, in chronological order from 1958 to the early 2000s. Among the series presented are Bellbird, Number 96, The Sullivans, Prisoner, Sons and Daughters, Neighbours and Home and Away.

Writing for the `Bellbird' Assembly Line Phillip Adams , 1968 single work column
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 23 November vol. 90 no. 4629 1968; (p. 80,82)
y separately published work icon Super Aussie Soaps : Behind the Scenes of Australia's Best Loved TV Shows Andrew Mercado , North Melbourne : Pluto Press , 2004 Z1511282 2004 single work criticism

The definitive history of Australian TV soaps, Super Aussie Soaps examines Australian television serials, in chronological order from 1958 to the early 2000s. Among the series presented are Bellbird, Number 96, The Sullivans, Prisoner, Sons and Daughters, Neighbours and Home and Away.

Writing for the `Bellbird' Assembly Line Phillip Adams , 1968 single work column
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 23 November vol. 90 no. 4629 1968; (p. 80,82)
Last amended 5 Feb 2018 16:00:27
Settings:
  • Victoria,
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X