ABC returns to mini series after taking a break. 5 x 30 mins.
Cast
* Jeannie Drynan as Ryl
* Harry Lawrence as Dusty
*Harold Hopkins as Perry
Production
The novel was published in 1965.
In November 1968 it was reported the series and Delta would likely be made as a replacement for Contrabandits. Blue Crane was described as a serial for older children like Wandjina.
In January 1969 it was formally announced as part of the ABC's line up for the year.
To Jeffrey told the NFSA he got the gig via David Goddard, head of drama:
I quite liked him. He seemed to be a bit of a goer and he seemed to like me and um because I’d done ‘Crackerjack’ the opportunity for, to do a children’s filmed serial ah arose towards the end of ‘This Day Tonight’ year. Ah and about October I read this script called ‘Pastures of the Blue Crane’. Producer was Brett Porter and ah it was set in um partly set in Murwillumbah and Sydney and environs of Brisbane. And it was an adaptation of Hesba Brinsmead’s book ‘Pastures of the Blue Crane’ and it was to be a six, six by half hours ah for kids. So I said, I leapt at the opportunity of course to do this and um so Brett and I started working on it and um I can’t remember if I left ‘This Day Tonight’ before the end of the the year or you know in terms of its televised year or whether I left early. But um we did recces and things towards, before the end of the year up to Murwillumbah. The script seemed had been written by Ellie Witcombe and Barbara Vernon was the ah was the ah Script Editor um and it was pretty good. Didn’t have to change much at all. They were very good writers...
I certainly had input on the casting and a lot of in put on the casting. A lot of input on the casting and um but in terms of the team, none at all. Ah the way it worked was the Cinematography Department was alerted to the fact that they wanted, you know there was a children’s mini series, they wanted a good camera person ah, Lloyd Shields got assigned to it. And I met Lloyd and said good day and that was it. I mean you liked it or lumped it. It was later on that I was able to um you know, ask for people.
NG: So what about people like Eleanor Witcombe and Barbara Vernon, were they part of the ABC ……….
TJ: Yes well yes. Ellie was contracted in, was commissioned. Barbara Vernon was a resident Script Editor ah had been with the ABC for quite some years. Ah they may have worked on Contract to the ABC like I did as a Producer um I was permanent staff as a Floor Manager but um I forget what they used to call it, Auxilliary Staff as a Producer where you only, you had to get your Contract renewed every year or tw and that’s how you got your gradings...
Jeannie had been to NIDA and had done a film called ‘Two Thousand Weeks’ with Tim Burstall the year before I think it was, in nineteen sixty eight down in Melbourne and she was ah you know, a bright young thing on the scene and had done some theatre work ah and was very impressive and had a lot of potential. Harold, I’m not sure of his background but he had probably also gone to NIDA and um he was there as the handsome young boy and looked terrific you know. Good on screen presence and all of that. So we cast them and then we cast as the grandfather ah mmm, hopeless with names, anyway, that’s where Brett Porter and I didn’t agree. Brett wanted another chap and felt that this Harry Lyons, Harry Lyons that’s right, ah felt that Harry was a little bit too severe was not light enough. Well Harry I thought was pretty good but he did give a sort of a one ah level performance, bit too snarly, but I can’t blame Harry for that because, because I should have directed him differently and um. But he worked well and people liked him and it was a good kind of contrast with the young people. And then up in the Murwillumbah scenes we had Robert Bruning playing the next door neighbour and a whole string of young people and so on. I think um yeah so that was, it was a good lively cast.
It was due to you know, originally it was due to be televised you know six o’clock at night for kids. It actually went out on a Sunday night at seven thirty which was a peak spot. Um people of an age still remember it which I’m you know, what is it thirty years later. Ah so I’m quite pleased about that...
It was like everything I’d wanted to do after fifteen years entering the industry perhaps or not fifteen, ah twelve years before. Here I had this wonderful opportunity to do something that I wanted to do. And yeah I guess all the experiences that I’d had of doing any number of different types of programs in different capacities gave me some basis on which to, from which to work and I think if I can say this about the ABC, that it was it was really wonderful to work there during those days because one could experience a range of different programs.
it was nerve wracking um and finding my feet in that new form and and as Brett Porter said to me and I’d like to mention Brett a bit because he was another one of my mentors. And he played it really, really interestingly. We spent a lot of time talking before the shoot. We did the location recce and we found the places and all of that and then when I was going, when the filming was due to start and we’d, we filmed on location first and then came back to Sydney and did all the interiors, much like ‘Kain’. He didn’t come up. He said no, no. You’re the Director. You go and do it. He said I’ll watch the rushes, because we were filming on sixteen mil black and white, we’d fly the rushes down and of course in those days things took longer to get down. But he’d call me a day or two later and make comment about what he’d seen and give advice or whatever. And one of the, one of the things he told me was that as a director was he said ‘don’t forget that everybody is looking at you. Ah you are the centre of attention, you are the centre of the whole thing’. And it was very, I mean not that that really helped me but it just tended to focus ones mind a bit and ah it was an interesting comment...
We filmed it all, got it back, cut it, edited it and we realised in fact it didn’t hold for six half hours. That in fact it was really only material strong enough for five half hours and we so we tightened it all up to five half hours, and managed to get rid of some ridiculous scenes, some padding, padding scenes. But the poetry of the story and the poetry of the locations um were still there and the music you know carried a lot of it and Charles Marrowood (sp?) did any number of songs for it which we, we got ah, ah, who was ah Auntie Jack’s sidekick.. Rory O’Donohue did the did the you know recorded and performed the music and ah it was great. It was some good tracks. I mean these days we would have made a CD out of the music that Charles wrote for that that show and um it it bugs me a little bit that Charles never got the the wider recognition that I feel he deserved.
... There were some things in ‘Pastures of the Blue Crane’ a few scenes where I was, where I was most uncomfortable with the end result and even while I was shooting them I didn’t do as well as I would have liked. But um but just the notion of um of realising story on film was something that I’d wanted to do for years and years and um and ‘Pastures’ of course gave me that that opportunity. So I milked it for all its it was worth. There’s one other aspect of ‘Pastures’ that I’d like to comment on and that was the magic of working with the actors. Jeannie Drynan, Harold Hopkins and so on. It really was a magical thing and um I suppose I can reveal here that I did fell, fall very deeply in love with Jeannie. Nothing came of it but it was one of those things that, it was a very emotional time for all of us and in fact one of the scenes in the last episode where, where Harold Hopkins reveals who he is in reality to to Jeannie and ah on this little veranda of a very little hut set in the middle of a banana patch, um it became a hugely emotional couple of hours while we shot that film, ah that scene, and ah in fact it became too emotional. We were crying all together and all of this sort of stuff. As a consequence of that the performance whilst visually it was very good, orally it was crook and you couldn’t really hear or understand what Jeannie was saying through her tears and things so we actually had to re voice that when we came back. So that was a lesson learnt for me that ah that I mustn’t get too involved emotionally with ah with the what’s going on at a particular moment in time that I, as a Director, must always try to retain my objectivity and particularly later on when I was producing and directing ah this became important and I think I did manage to learn that lesson.
Reception
The SMH called it "slow and meandering". The daily SMH disliked the acting.
Crew
DOP - Lloyd Shiels. Camera operator - John Seale. Film editor - Ray Alchin. Sound recordist - Ron Moore. Continuity - Susan Milliken. Original music and lyrics - Charles Marawood. Played by Oakapple Day. Assistant director - Brian Shannon. Unit manager - Cathy Garland. Wardrobe - Edith York. Makeup - Bob Wasson. Script editor - Barbara Vernon. Designer - Quentin Hole. Producer - Brett Porter. Director - Tom Jeffrey. Writer - Eleanor Witcombe. Sound editor - Ian Barry. Staging supervisor - Stan Woolveridge. Propsman - Michael Baynham. Special effects - Gordon Oswin. Graphics - John Endean. Assistant director - Brian Shannon. Unit manager - Cathy Garland. Wardrobe - Rosalind Wood, Edith York. Make up - Bob Wasson.
Episode Guide
Ep 1 6 July 1969 - Syd. Ril's father dies and she meets her grandfather Dusty. She inherits a farm in northern NSW and they move there and meets a colored man her own age, Perry. GS Jeudy Ferris (Sister Sebastian), Tony Bazell (Mr Herbert), Eve Hardwick (Miss clark), Sue Lloyd (Marian), Queenie Ashton (Reverend Mother), Gavin Hamilton (telegram boy), John Hargreaves (porter), Arthur Toar (K).
Ep 2 - 13 July 1969 - Syd. Ryl makes new friends including Glen. Glen's father warns him away from Ryl. GS: Sheila Kennelly (Rose), Peter McPhie (Glen), Gordon Tett (Red), Judith Morris (Clare), Cliff Neate (Mr Dynon), Robert Bruning (Clem), Arthur Toar (Ki). Judy Morris as "Judith"!
Ep 3 - 20 July 1969 - Syd. Ryl cleans up the face. Perry punches Glen for making a racist comment. GS: Peter Hannant (announcer), Sheila Kennelly (Rose), Peter McPhie (Glen), Gordon Tett (Red), Tracy Gilling (Dodi), Gordon McDougall (Mr Brown).
Ep 4 - 27 July 1969 Syd. Ryl and Perry clash at University of Queensland. Ryl goes to a dance with Glen. She has a big fight with Dusty. GS: Kate McKitrick (Bunty), Peter McPhie (Glen), Arthur Toar (Ki), Sheila Kennelly (Rose), Rosalind Anderson (Sister Jackson), Robert Bruning (Clem).
Ep 5 - 3 Aug 1969 Syd. Ryl discovers that she and Perry share the same mother. GS: Robert Bruning (Clem), Sheila Kennelly (Rose), Peter McPhie (Glen), Cliff Neate (Mr Dynon), Gordon McDougall (Mr Brown).
it was shown in England in 1970.
It was repeated in 1971.
Remembered Australian TV Plays: Pastures of the Blue Crane
by Stephen Vagg
November 6, 2021
Stephen Vagg’s series on forgotten TV plays takes a detour to discuss one that is very fondly remembered: 1969’s Pastures of the Blue Crane.
The words “cult Australian TV show” are normally associated with dramas on the campier side of the spectrum: Prisoner, of course, but also Number 96, Return to Eden, E Street during the Mr Bad years, and Chances. But cuddlier programs have their die-hard supporters, too. One of the most devoted fan bases has formed around an Australian mini-series lacking a single serial killer, insatiable omnisexual or cast-minimising explosion… Pastures of the Blue Crane.
This was a 1969 ABC adaptation of the 1965 novel by Hesba Brinsmead, spread out over five 30-minute episodes. I don’t know why the ABC decided to adapt that particular book; if I had to guess, the national broadcaster probably figured there was a lot of stuff about youth in the media at the time (you know, The Graduate, Paris riots, all that) and figured they should do something for youth. The ABC did have a Children’s Department, which made TV dramas in the 1960s like The Stranger, Wandjina and The Intrepretaris, but they were more in the sci-fi/fantastical realm; Pastures of the Blue Crane skewed older and dealt with adult themes.
It told the story of Ryl (Jeanie Drynan), who is in her last year of (city Catholic all-girls) high school when told her father has died and she is to inherit a farm in north-eastern New South Wales… which these days would make her a multi-millionaire, but the late 1960s was a more dairy-farmers-moving-out-hippies-coming-in time. Ryl moves there with Dusty (Harry Lawrence), the grandfather she has never met, and makes friends with young hot spunkrats, Perry (Harold Hopkins), a “quarter-caste” as they were known then, and Greg (Peter McPhie), a blonde rich brat. Other characters include a friendly exposition-spouting neighbour (Sheila Kennelly), Perry’s “coloured” grandad (Authur Toar), Greg’s dad (Robert Bruning) and some babes on the beach, one played by “Judith Morris” aka Judy Morris.
There’s small town atmosphere, flirting, fighting, racism, home renovations and a Family Secret as Ryl transforms from lonely snob to beloved member of the community… it’s really good, solid, emotional storytelling, the sort of stuff that has powered our serial dramas for decades. The adaptation was by Eleanor Witcombe, who wrote a lot of Number 96, and the script editor was Barbara Vernon, the first story editor on Bellbird; both wrote plenty of other things too, being among our top writers at the time. The Family Secret involves race, which perhaps seems quaint now, but not in 1969 when the White Australia policy had just ended. There’s a fair bit of groovy dancing, including a version of The Doors’ “The End” played at a party by a band called Oakapple Day (I think that’s Rory O’Donaghue, later of Aunty Jack, as the singer).
Pastures of the Blue Crane was shot on film, with location work in north-eastern New South Wales and Brisbane (including scenes at the University of Queensland, which I got a special kick out of, having studied there). It has some stunning scenery, yet the budget didn’t extend to colour – that’s probably the most frustrating thing about the production; if any mini-series could have used colour, it was this one. (It’s a shame some enterprising producer didn’t reshoot the whole thing as a feature film in colour like they did for You Can’t See Round Corners… probably too scary for the ABC. The novel would still make a good movie, btw – you’d have to make it period, I think, but it would not be exorbitantly expensive, as most of it takes place either in the bush, beach or in a ramshackle farm house.)
The director was Tom Jeffrey, who went on to make perhaps Australia’s best film on the Vietnam War, The Odd Angry Shot (1979). A lot of other soon-to-be-notables worked behind the scenes, including John Seale (camera operator), Ian Barry (sound editor), and Sue Milliken (continuity). Drynan is a terrific lead – vulnerable, bright, sparky, gorgeous (even if it is a little weird seeing Muriel’s mum running around in a swimsuit looking like a magazine covergirl) – and she’s well matched by Harold Hopkins, brown skin make-up notwithstanding.
Researching this, I came across some contemporary reviews that were, amazingly, sniffy (such as this one). I think they totally missed the point (as was often the case with TV critics). With its sense of rebirth, romance and community, it’s not hard to see why Pastures of the Blue Crane was so beloved. The fans don’t have midnight screenings throwing props at the screen, at least not to my knowledge, but they were keen enough to get together, form a Facebook group and pushed until the series was available via ABC Commercial. You can get copies here, apparently.
Pastures of the Blue Crane serves as yet another reminder that while the ABC always seems to have a middle-aged soul, when it does things for teens it can do them very well (Sweet and Sour, JJJ, Recovery).
The author would like to thank Chris Keating for his help with this article. All opinions are my own.
