Santa Claus of Christmas Creek is a 1938 Australian radio play by Ernestine Hill. It was one of the most popular Australian radio plays of its era, being produced in 1938, 1939, 1942, 1946 and 1951.[1][2]
| Genre | drama play |
|---|---|
| Running time | 30 mins |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Language(s) | English |
| Syndicates | ABC |
| Written by | Ernestine Hill |
| Original release | 28 December 1938 |
Background edit
The play was published in a 1946 collection of Australian radio plays. The Bulletin called it "a trifle as harmless and pleasant as Father Christmas himself. "[3]
The play was based on a 1934 short story by Hill.[4]
According to Leslie Rees, " It shows the fearsome loneliness of that far life, where nevertheless the station owner’s wife, forlorn in childlessness, is determined to celebrate Christmas as she has known it, by giving the blacks on her station a good time, with baccy and sweets and fireworks and prizes. There is something ineffably touching about the fall of her jaw as her husband insists that Christmas goings-on depend on the arrival of Billy Bond’s truck, and there are two creeks down already and the river’s coming up. “If she runs a banker, Christmas won’t be here till the middle of March.” But they have their Christmas, and Mrs. Hill's detailed observation is most revealing."[5]
Premise edit
The play was set in north west Australia. "Joe Hackett and Janet, his wife, live on an isolated station, awaiting the rains, but also hoping to have a good time at Christmas — providing the stores arrive. Janet is the only white woman in hundreds of square miles. The other characters are Lorimer, a prospector, whose wife has just died and left a tiny baby on his hands; a camp of blacks; and Dolly-pot Mick, a curious old “hatter,” whose long life in the raw bush has made him both a comic and pathetic figure."[6]
References edit
- ^ Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards an Australian Drama. p. 188.
- ^ Australasian Radio Relay League. (December 9, 1938), "Radio Pot Pourri", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, nla.obj-714500764, retrieved 23 January 2024 – via Trove
- ^ "Some Radio Plays.", The Bulletin, 13 November 1946, nla.obj-551016592, retrieved 23 January 2024 – via Trove
- ^ "How Tuckiar returned to his people". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 21 December 1934. p. 7. Retrieved 23 January 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Australian Broadcasting Commission. (26 December 1942), "Plays Shining Through The Dross", ABC Weekly, nla.obj-1330045236, retrieved 23 January 2024 – via Trove
- ^ Australasian Radio Relay League. (December 23, 1938), "Wednesday December 28", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, nla.obj-714515583, retrieved 23 January 2024 – via Trove
External links edit
- Santa Claus of Christmas Creek at AustLit
- Santa Claus of Christmas Creek at Ausstage