Described in the Brisbane Courier as 'a typically Australian play' (10 August 1914, p7), The Girl From Wayback opens with Erindi Station in the throes of drought, and its owner Henry Loughnane threatened with ruin. Ralph Strickland his overseer secretly secures the only available relief country for himself, plotting to enrich himself by buying the Erindi stock at his own price when the drought is about to break. Wilfred Loughnane, who has left the cable service in order to make good on his uncle's station, also has the ultimate object of winning the love of his cousin, Myrtle Loghnane. In the meantime Myrtle has become suspicious of the overseer and denounces him, but Strickland has played his game well, not only furthering his plans but also managing to discredit Wilfred's reputation with the people at the station. When an old sundowner becomes aware of Strickland's schemes he warns Myrtle and she follows the overseer. Although she overhears a crucial conversation (concerning Strickland's imminent coup) he manages to convince her that the guilty party is Wilfred. The consequence is that he leaves the station in disgrace. Wilfred wins out in then end, however, after his horse beats Strickland's in a race that the overseer had gambled all his money on. When Myrtle realises that she had been fooled she reconciles with Wilfred and all ends happily.
A sub-plot concerns the love affairs of Sally, Billy White and Fitzmaurice Fitzherbert (a new chum Englishman).
Originally titled The Girl From Outback, Lytton copyrighted two variant titles to this play - The Girl From Out West and The Girl From Murrumbidgee. From around 1914, however, the play was being staged as The Girl From Wayback.
The first production of the play is believed to have been on 19 March 1912, although no details of where this occurred have been identified (see manuscript in Australian Archives CRS A1336/2; item 2339).
The term 'sundowner' in the United States of America refers to an alcoholic drink. In Australia it was long used to refer to 'a tramp who habitually arrives at a station too late for work but in time to get a meal (or tucker) and a night's shelter' (ctd. Philip T. Asdell. The Collected Bony Bulletins (q.v., 2007).
Although Lytton makes reference to 'Wayback' in the title from 1914 onwards the play is not believed to have any connection with Henry Fletcher's (q.v.) stories about the Wayback family. These had been popular with the Australian public since The Waybacks : At Home and in Town (q.v.) was first published in 1902. There are, however, a number similarities between this play's narrative and Dion Boucicault's 1860s melodrama, The Flying Scud (see Richard Fotheringham's Sport in Australian Drama, q.v.).
1914 : Elizabeth Street, Brisbane ; 14-15 August (as The Girl From Wayback). Prod/Dir. Philip Lytton ; Representative H. A. Frawley (for Philip Lytton Ltd). - Troupe: Philip Lytton's Dramatic Company. - Cast incl. Arthur Egan (Henry Loughnen - of Erindi Station), Madge Hope (Myrtle Loughnane - the Girl from Wayback), Gilbert Stallard (Wilfred Loughnane - his nephew), Herbert Linden (Ralph Strikland - overseer), Harry Hodson (Bill Elton - a sundowner), George Harpur (Ted Drabby - a trainer), Peter Savieri (Billy White - of Erindi), Claude Turton (Layson - a drover), T. Cosgrove (Tom Archibald - a dummy), Philip Lytton (Fitzmaurice Fitzherbert), Godfrey Lee (Doyle - a rouseabout), Miss Adair (Jacky - a tracker), Ronald Lester (Coghan - station hand), Miss Gray (Sally - on a honeymoon), Miss Glover (Margaret - postmistress), Miss Prince (Rosie - a gin).
This entry has been sourced from on-going historical research into Australian popular theatre being conducted by Dr Clay Djubal.
