Described in an Argus review as belonging to a 'familiar school which seeks... to portray the hopes and fears, the struggles and successes of the brave men [and presumably the women] of the back country,' the story concerns Jim Garron, his wife Lin, and her former suitor, Fred Tarrant, whose brooding over her rejection has caused him to become villainous. When he thinks he has discovered that Jim has kept secret another wife, Fred attempts to use this information both for his own gain and as revenge. In the end, however, it is proven that Jim's first wife is dead, and Lin, after recovering from the shock of having married a widower, forgives her husband. The critic further reports that 'when the secret comes out it is not so great a secret as the hair-pulling and the letter-twisting of the earlier parts of the production might suggest... the villain proves not so much of villain after all [while] the hero 'turns out to be less heroic than his well-fitting riding trousers and resolute eye might lead one to suppose' (7 March 1927, p20).
The location and date of Gum Tree Gully's world premiere is yet to be established. Although the copyright application held in the Australian Government Archives (CRS A1336/1 item 12261) is dated June 1924, the accompanying script (item 2) has no date. Interestingly reviews of the 1927 Melbourne season record that the play was new to that city's audiences. The Bulletin, for example, refers to the production as Howarde's 'latest outpouring' (10 March 1927, p32); while the Age and Argus both review the opening night as a premiere production. An advertisement in the Argus (5 March 1927, p40) also highlights the Melbourne production as 'Kate Howarde's new Australian play.' Why it took so long for Howarde to debut the the play in Melbourne is unclear.
With a plot that one critic described is 'never permitted to unduly interfere with the broad humour' and characters reliant on 'conventional stereotypes' (Bulletin 10 March 1927, 34), Gum Tree Gully did not attract overly positive reviews from the critics. Of a similar disposition, for example, was the Argus critic who suggested that Howarde relied too heavily on the humour of the dialogue for overall effect rather than concentrating on dramatic organisation (7 March 1927, p20). Most reviews, however, appear to accept the play for what it set out to offer, light entertainment, and report that the actors made the most of their opportunities.
One of the more negative response to Gum Tree Gully was the Age review which called the play 'un-Australian' for its depiction of characters who have never existed in real life Australia. The critic even describes one character (the villain) as seeming to have come straight out of a Los Angeles film studio. Although the review debases the play as mere farce and suggests that the funniest moments were unintentional, it nevertheless notes that the players did their best to create mirth, and succeeded in doing so, [and that] any faults were not theirs but the playwright's' (7 March 1927, p12). Louis Esson also wrote a scathing review of the production in Triad (April, n. pag.).
1927 : Palace Theatre, Melbourne ; 5 March - 22 April (return season: 4-17 June). Dir. Kate Howarde ; Prod. Fullers' Theatres Ltd (q.v.). - Cast incl. S. A. Fitzgerald (q.v., John McAllister - aka Dad), Cora Warner (Jean McAllister - aka Mum), Walter Cornock (Steve McAllister, their son), Fred Stephenson (Sam Stebbins), Alex McPherson (Jim Garron), Molly Raynor (Polyanthus), Mr Vivian Edwards (Fred Tarrant), Mona Thomas (Linette Garron), Olive Sinclair (Selina Taggart).
