The Cabbage Tree Hat Boys

Last updated
"The Cabbage Tree Hat Boys"
Play of the Week episode
Episode no.Series 11
Episode 15
Directed byGraham Evans
Written by Peter Yeldham
Produced byCecil Clarke
Original air dateDecember 13, 1965 (1965-12-13)
Running time60 mins

"The Cabbage Tree Hat Boys" is a 1965 British television play by Peter Yeldham set in Australia that was later adapted for radio. It was set in 1840s Australia.

Contents

Premise

A powerful struggle between rich Australian landowners, who want the cheap convict labour sent from Britain and the ordinary people who want to make the colony a decent place to live in.

It opens with a convict ship, the Hashemy, about to dock at an Australian port in 1849, resuming transportation to Australia. The cabbage tree hat boys, so called because the hats they wore were made of leaves of the cabbage tree, spear-head a group campaigning against the British transportation of convicts to Australia.

Jeremy is a former Irish convict. He is the father of Matthew, one of the boys, is torn between sympathy for his son's actions, which he considers right, and his anxiety to avoid trouble.

Cast

Reception

The Daily Telegraph said the episode "considerably enlivened" the show. [1] The Sydney Morning Herald reviewing the London production said it was "both entertaining and socially significant... eminently successful." [2]

Radio versions

The play was adapted for BBC radio in 1969. [3]

The play was adapted fo ABC radio in 1967. [4] It was produced again in 1969. [5] An Age review of the latter said it was "not sufficiently developed". [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Clarke</span> English-born Australian novelist, journalist and poet

Marcus Andrew Hislop ClarkeFRSA was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright. He is best known for his 1874 novel For the Term of His Natural Life, about the convict system in Australia, and widely regarded as a classic of Australian literature. It has been adapted into many plays, films and a folk opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rolf Harris</span> Australian entertainer (1930–2023)

Rolf Harris was an Australian musician, television personality, painter, and actor. He often used unusual instruments like the didgeridoo and the Stylophone in his performances, and is credited with the invention of the wobble board. He was convicted in England in 2014 of the sexual assault of four underage girls, which effectively ended his career.

<i>The Wednesday Play</i> British television series

The Wednesday Play is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction also featured. The series gained a reputation for presenting contemporary social dramas, and for bringing issues to the attention of a mass audience that would not otherwise have been discussed on screen.

Warren Redman Ryan is an Australian former professional rugby league football coach and player. He is considered one of the most influential rugby league coaches of the 20th century. Ryan also played in the NSWRFL Premiership for the St George Dragons and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Marr (journalist)</span> Australian journalist

David Ewan Marr FAHA is an Australian journalist, author, and progressive political and social commentator. His areas of expertise include the law, Australian politics, censorship, the media, and the arts. He writes for The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, and Guardian Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Perkins (Aboriginal activist)</span> Australian Aboriginal activist and football player, coach and administrator

Charles Nelson Perkins, usually known as Charlie Perkins, was an Aboriginal Australian activist, soccer player and administrator. It is claimed he was the first known Indigenous Australian man to graduate tertiary education. He is known for his instigation and organisation of the 1965 Freedom Ride and his key role in advocating for a "yes" vote in the 1967 Aboriginals referendum. He had a long career as a public servant.

Adventure Island is an Australian television series for children which screened on the ABC from 11 September 1967 to 22 December 1972. It was jointly created by Godfrey Philipp, who produced the series, and actor-writer John-Michael Howson, who also co-starred in the show. It typically aired from Monday to Friday and each story would stretch across a full week, reaching a resolution on Friday.

Grahame John Bond AM is an Australian actor, writer, director, musician and composer, known primarily for his role as Aunty Jack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Doleman</span> New Zealand actor

Guy Doleman was a New Zealand born actor, active in Australia, Britain and the United States. He is possibly best remembered for being the first actor to play Number Two in the classic cult series The Prisoner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Griffith</span> Australian biologist and author (born 1945)

Jeremy Griffith is an Australian biologist and author. He first came to public attention for his attempts to find the Tasmanian tiger. He later became noted for his writings on the human condition and theories about human progress, which seek to give a biological, rational explanation of human behaviour. He founded the World Transformation Movement in 1983.

<i>The Fire on the Snow</i> Play written by Douglas Stewart

The Fire on the Snow is a 1941 Australian verse play by Douglas Stewart about the Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica by Robert Falcon Scott. It premiered on ABC radio on 6 June 1941 to great acclaim and inspired a series of Australian verse dramas on ABC radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabbage-tree hat</span> Type of hat

A cabbage tree hat is a hat made from the leaves of the Livistona australis, also known as the cabbage-tree palm. It is known as the first distinctively Australian headwear in use. Seeking protection from the sun, early European settlers started to make hats using fibre from the native palm, which soon became popular throughout the colonies. The process involved boiling, then drying, and finally bleaching the leaves. The Powerhouse Museum describes a cabbage-tree hat thus: "Finely woven natural straw coloured hat; high tapering domed crown, wide flat brim; applied layered hat band of coarser plaiting with zig-zag border edges."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Ferguson (journalist)</span> British–Australian journalist (born 1965)

Sarah Ferguson is an Australian journalist, reporter and television presenter. She is the host of ABC TV's flagship news and current affairs program 7.30.

Night of the Ding-Dong is a 1954 stage play by Ralph Peterson. It was this second play, following The Square Ring. It is a comedy set in Adelaide just after the Crimean War about the locals fearing a Russian invasion. It is based on a real incident.

"A Season in Hell" is a 1964 Australian TV movie broadcast on the ABC which originally aired as an episode of Wednesday Theatre. It was directed by Henri Safran from a script by Patricia Hooker and was shot at the ABC's Gore Hill Studios in Sydney. "A Season in Hell" aired on 1 April 1964 in Sydney, on 22 April 1964 in Brisbane, and on 29 April 1964 in Melbourne.

"The Swagman" is a 1965 Australian television play. It aired as part of Wednesday Theatre on 31 March 1965 in Sydney and Melbourne.

One Morning Near Troodos (1956) was a British TV play by Iain MacCormick which aired on the BBC as part of Sunday Night Theatre. It was the first British TV play about the Cyprus Emergency.

"The Tower" is a 1964 TV play broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It aired on 2 December 1964 as a stand-alone in Melbourne and on 28 April 1965 as part of Wednesday Theatre in Sydney. It aired on 6 January 1965 in Brisbane. It was based on a play by Hal Porter and directed by Christopher Muir in the ABC's studios in Melbourne.

Luther is a 1964 TV play broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was adapted by Phillip Grenville Mann from the 1961 play by John Osborne. It was directed in Melbourne by Christopher Muir and starred Terry Norris in the title role.

Ralph Rashleigh and the Bushrangers is a 1953 Australian radio play by Edmund Barclay based on an 1840s novel by James Tucker.

References

  1. "Play of the week series enlivened". The Daily Telegraph. 14 December 1965. p. 15.
  2. "Sydney play praised". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 December 1965. p. 9.
  3. Cabbage Tree Hat Boys radio at Genome
  4. Australian Broadcasting Commission. "APPENDIX 18 DRAMA AND FEATURES". Annual report of the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament) (1966/1967, PP no. 157 of 1967). Sydney: ABC. nla.obj-2629191491. Retrieved 12 May 2024 via Trove.
  5. "Advertisement". The Age. 12 June 1969. p. 34.
  6. "Last week". The Age. 19 June 1969. p. 34.