Australian TV Plays: Wandjina! (29 April 1966)

Premise

A team of scientists, including Miss Smith, venture into the Australian outback to investigate strange incidents. Donald MacPherson, a Scots-born anthropologist, discovers aboriginal cave paintings depicting mythical alien beings—the 'Wandjina', an extraterrestrial race that visited the ancient aborigines.

Disturbing events suggest that not only are the beings real, they have not all left. Ann MacPherson, the anthropologist's daughter, and Linda, an aboriginal girl, explore the Wandjina caves near Booala Station and stumble upon a cave full of skeletons.

They see some strange things: In one scene a mysterious hooded figure hunts kangaroos with a rod that strikes them down silently from a distance. The Wandjina resemble hooded monks with what look like life-support backpacks, similar to those used by astronauts. Their power base is a lighthouse-style tower above the farmland.

Cast

John Gregg
Bob Haddow
Anne Haddy as Miss Smith, an intelligence agent
Brian James
Mark McManus as Donald MacPherson, an anthropologist
Kit Taylor
Lou Vernon
Julianna Allan as Linda
Jacki Weaver as Ann MacPherson
Candy Williams as Charlie
David Yorston

Radio

The series was based on a radio serial, Country of the Skull, by G. K. Saunders, who had also written The Stranger for ABC TV.

Production

Filming began in September 1965 on location in Western New South Wales including Cooper's Creek and Broken Hill. It was also shot at the ABC studios.

Broadcast

Ep 1 - 29 April 1966 Syd - 30 May 1966 Melb

Ep 2 - 6 May 1966

Ep 3 - 13 May 1966

Ep 4 - 20 May 1966

Ep 5 - 27 May 1966

Ep 6 - 3 June 1966

Ep 7 - 10 June 1966

It was repeated in 1967. I think it was shown in England that year as Wanjinda Magic.

Reception

he Canberra Times said, "It is hard to chase the spectre of Blue Hills out of the mind. Whether teenagers will fall for it is doubtful. It could be that the producers have underestimated their sophistication. Linda, the aboriginal playmate of the station owner's daughter, Anne, looks just like what she is — a white girl with obvious make-up, (the blurb says they had trouble with this owing to water colour difficulties, and it is apparent on the screen); when she opens her mouth she sounds like a graduate from a specially selected girls' school. These two points combined don't add to the authenticity.

An ASO entry is here. It deals with Ep Five.

It was 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.