The Nargun and the Stars (TV series)

Last updated

The Nargun and the Stars
Genre Children's television
Based on The Nargun and the Stars
by Patricia Wrightson
Screenplay by Margaret Kelly
Directed byJohn Walker
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes5
Production
BudgetAU $150,000
Original release
Network ABC Television

The Nargun and The Stars is a children's fantasy mini-series based on the award-winning novel of the same name written by Patricia Wrightson. The series contained five episodes, each of thirty minutes duration. The first episode was screened on 15 September 1981.

Contents

Production

Patricia Wrightson's story was made into a mini-series for television in 1977–1978 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the screenplay adapted by Margaret Kelly. [1] [2]

Produced by Lynn Bayonas, the series contained five episodes, each of thirty minutes duration. It took 45 days to film in the television studios in Sydney and Melbourne during the last three months of 1977 at a cost of about $150,000. [3] [4]

Artist Peter Kravchenko, the creator of the model for Potkoorok used in the series. 1977 Peter Kravchenko with his model of Potkoorok.jpg
Artist Peter Kravchenko, the creator of the model for Potkoorok used in the series.

Regarded as a top-rating children's television program with prospects of sales internationally, its screening was delayed for almost two years because of a union dispute over the use of new technology and demand for higher pay by ABC technicians. Although production was completed in January, 1978 — the tapes were not edited because the union had imposed black bans on the installation of new editing equipment. According to an ABC spokesman at the time, Graham Reynolds "The sad part is that if the series could have been screened when it was scheduled, it could have cashed in on the box-office appeal of such films as Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind ." [4]

The first episode was eventually screened on 15 September 1981. [1]

Plot

The story is set in Australia, and draws on Australian Aboriginal mythology, and includes themes of conservation. It involves an orphaned city boy, Simon Brent, who comes to live on a 5000-acre sheep station called Wongadilla, in the Hunter Region, with his mother's second cousins, the affable Edie and Charlie.

Simon initially shows little sensitivity to the natural environment. In a remote valley on the property he discovers a variety of ancient Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime creatures. The arrival of heavy machinery intent on clearing the natural vegetation, the building of a road, and Simon's own vandalistic actions on the natural environment brings to life the ominous ancient stone creature — the Nargun which has the ability to move. Other mythical creatures encountered in the story include the mischievous green swamp-dwelling water-spirit Potkoorok, the Turongs (tree people) and the Nyols (cave people).

Cast

Episodes

  1. Simon
  2. The Potkoorok
  3. The Turongs
  4. The Nyols
  5. The Nargun

Broadcast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Dreaming</span> Sacred era in Australian Aboriginal mythology

The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his colleague Baldwin Spencer and thereafter popularised by A. P. Elkin, who, however, later revised his views.

Norman Gunston is a satirical TV character performed by Australian actor and comedian Garry McDonald. Norman Gunston was primarily well known in his native Australia, and to a lesser extent, the United States during the mid to late 1970s. He was the only Gold Logie winning fictional character on Australian television, with McDonald collecting the 1976 Gold Logie and the George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent in character.

<i>Sky Trackers</i> Television series

Sky Trackers is a 26-part science-based Australian children's television adventure series, and a stand-alone children's television movie of the same name, which feature the adventures of children who live at space-tracking stations in Australia. Both series and telemovie were created by Jeff Peck and Tony Morphett, and executive-produced by Patricia Edgar on behalf of the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF).

Robert Roger Ingpen AM, FRSA is an Australian graphic designer, illustrator, and writer. For his "lasting contribution" as a children's illustrator he received the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1986.

Melissa Jaffer is an Australian actress. She is best known for her stage and television roles, but has also appeared in many films.

Certain Women was an Australian television soap opera created by prominent Australian TV dramatist Tony Morphett and produced by the Australian Broadcasting Commission between 1973 and 1976. There were a total of 166 fifty-minute episodes. Episodes 1–59 were produced in black and white and, starting in with the introduction of colour broadcasting in Australia in 1975, episodes 60–166 were produced and broadcast in colour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Driscoll</span> British-Irish actress (1927–2020)

Patricia Noel Driscoll was a British and Irish actress, who has appeared both on television and in films.

<i>The Nargun and the Stars</i> Novel by Patricia Wrightson

The Nargun and The Stars is a children's fantasy novel set in Australia, written by Patricia Wrightson. It was among the first Australian books for children to draw on Australian Aboriginal mythology. The book was the winner of the 1974 Children's Book Council of Australia Children's Book of the Year Award for Older Readers, and Patricia Wrightson was awarded an Order of the British Empire in 1977, largely for this work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Wrightson</span> Australian childrens writer (1921–2010)

Patricia Wrightson OBE was an Australian writer of several highly regarded and influential children's books. Employing a 'magic realism' style, her books, including the award-winning The Nargun and the Stars (1973), were among the first Australian books for children to draw on Australian Aboriginal mythology. Her 27 books have been published in 16 languages.

John Stanton is an Australian actor, who has appeared in many stage, television and film productions throughout his extensive fifty-year career.

A Nargun, according to Gunai/Kurnai tribal legends, a fierce half-human half-stone creature that lived in the Den of Nargun, a cave under a rock overhang behind a small waterfall located in the Mitchell River National Park, Victoria, Australia. Aboriginal legend describes the Nargun as a beast entirely made of stone except for its hands, arms and breast. The fierce creature would drag unwary travellers into its den. Any weapon directed against it would be turned back on its owner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous All Stars (rugby league)</span> Rugby league team

The Indigenous Australian rugby league team is a rugby league football team that represents Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. The team was first formed in 1973 and currently plays in an annual All Stars Match against a National Rugby League NRL All Stars team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Perkins</span> Australian filmmaker

Rachel Perkins is an Australian film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. She directed the films Radiance (1998), One Night the Moon (2001), Bran Nue Dae (2010), and Jasper Jones (2017). Perkins is an Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman from Central Australia, who was raised in Canberra by Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins and his wife Eileen.

Aaron Blabey is an Australian author of children's books.

The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is a non-profit organisation to bring books and children together. In 1966, IBBY Australia was established and Ena Noël OAM became its first president and remained in this role for over 20 years.

<i>The Timeless Land</i> Novel by Eleanor Dark

The Timeless Land (1941) is a work of historical fiction by Eleanor Dark (1901–1985). The novel The Timeless Land is the first of The Timeless Land trilogy of novels about European settlement and exploration of Australia.

<i>Redfern Now</i> Australian TV series or program

Redfern Now is an Australian drama television series that first aired on ABC1 in 2012. It follows the lives of six Aboriginal Australian families living in the urban hub of Redfern, Sydney. The series provides insight into contemporary issues facing Aboriginal Australians, including lack of employment and mental illness, which are positioned as direct ramifications of colonialisation and the Stolen Generations. Produced by Blackfella Films as part of the ABC's Indigenous Department, the show is the first series to be 'commissioned, written, acted and produced by Indigenous Australians'. f5 in The series' release contributes to widespread public debate surrounding Indigenous representation in the Australian media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Blair (director)</span> Indigenous Australian actor

Wayne Blair is an Australian writer, actor and director. He was on both sides of the camera in Redfern Now. He is also the director of the feature film The Sapphires.

<i>Wandjina!</i> Australian TV series or program

Wandjina! was an Australian children's science fantasy television series produced by ABC Television and first aired in 1966. Its story, inspired by Dreamtime mythology of the spirit ancestors of the Kimberley region of north-West Australia, was about three teenagers caught up in an adventure linked to local sacred Aboriginal cave paintings of the Wandjina — the "people from the sky" who visited long ago, in the Dreamtime.

Elaine Crombie is an Aboriginal Australian actress, known for her work on stage and television. She is also a singer, songwriter, comedian, writer and producer.

References

  1. 1 2 Flynn, Greg (23 September 1981). "The Dreamtime comes to life". The Australian Women's Weekly . p. 145. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  2. "The Nargun and the Stars (1980)". IMDb . Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  3. "Four new ABC-TV programs next year". The Canberra Times . 15 September 1977. p. 18. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  4. 1 2 "TIMESTYLE". The Canberra Times . 27 May 1979. p. 18. Retrieved 26 October 2015.