Nostalgic fans help to uncover Pastures of the Blue Crane
Fans of a 1960s ABC drama track down rights-holders and manage to unlock it from ABC archives.
- Published by David Knox
- on
A fan campaign for nostalgic ABC drama Pastures of the Blue Crane, long languishing in ABC archives, has led to a book reprint, a rare re-release and a public screening next month.
Pastures of the Blue Crane, based on a novel by Hesba Fay Brinsmead, became ABC’s very first mini-series in 1969, filmed in Murwillumbah, the Tweed and Coolangatta, and starred Jeannie Drynan as Ryl Merewether.
A 1904 house used in the series still stands today.
Tweed Regional Museum Curator Erika Taylor said, “The first time I enquired with the ABC about getting access to Pastures of the Blue Crane, I just got told ‘No’. It was a hard no, there’s no way.”
Rights for artists, composers, playwrights, and the author, who had since died, needed to be secured in order to re-negotiate the rights to the series.
One of the hardest to find was the playwright, Eleanor Witcombe, who was in her 90s.
“We ended cold-calling Witcombes out of the phone book and we actually found her on the 11th call, and we managed to get her in contact with the ABC as well,” she said.
A public screening will be held at The Regent Cinema, Murwillumbah on November 25.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZdnQFtKgvY
Source: ABC
Share
- Tagged with Pastures of the Blue Crane
4 Responses
One for the nostalgia buffs and unlikely to appeal to a young or even middle aged audience I would imagine. A pity because many of the old shows (I have a large collection on dvds) are well worth a look even if most are dated to use the the popular term.
Is sad so much other content remains locked away in ABC Archives due to rights and deceased estates issues. I fear alot of it will never be screened again in our lifetimes.
I know it would be a difficult task, though it would be good if television archives were able to be viewed by the public one way or another. Even program information for old shows would be great to view.
The ACMI in Melbourne has an extensive archive room with touch screens and headphones. It’s pretty wonderful!