The Breaking of the Drought single work   drama  
Issue Details: First known date: 1902... 1902 The Breaking of the Drought
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The outback station of Wallaby is in the grip of a drought. Unable to stop the bank from repossessing his land, veteran farmer Jo Galloway is forced to move his wife and daughter to the city in the hope that his son Gilbert can help them. Gilbert has supposedly been studying there, but Jo soon finds out that he has been corrupted by the highlife. Worse, Gilbert has long been embezzling the family funds to support his life of luxury and decadence. A number of 'melodramatic' episodes unfold, including a murder and a suicide, before the family is finally able to unite and return to the Wallaby (just as the rains begin to fall once more).

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon The Breaking of the Drought Jack North , Franklyn Barrett , ( dir. Franklyn Barrett ) 1920 Sydney : Golden Wattle Film Syndicate , 1920 Z1360214 1920 single work film/TV

The outback station of Wallaby is in the grip of a drought. Unable to stop the bank from repossessing his land, veteran farmer Jo Galloway is forced to move his wife and daughter to the city in the hope that his son Gilbert can help them. Gilbert has supposedly been studying there, but Jo soon finds out that he has been corrupted by the highlife. Worse, Gilbert has long been embezzling the family funds to support his life of luxury and decadence. A number of 'melodramatic' episodes unfold, including a murder and a suicide, before the family is finally able to unite and return to the Wallaby (just as the rains begin to fall once more).

John Tulloch, in Legends on the Screen (1981), notes that the natural threat of drought (represented in naturalistic mode) and the social threat constituted by the corrupt city (in melodramatic mode) are, in effect, opposite sides of the same coin. The independent bush woman, Molly (see A Girl in the Bush), appears to represent the 'right' balance between nature and culture.

Notes

  • First produced on stage by Bland Holt in 1902.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Last amended 19 Aug 2009 11:30:57
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