Gwen Meredith (1907–2006)

For those of us whose childhood featured radio rather than TV, nostalgic memories of favourite programs are of children's programs. (The family lore is that I was named at my sister's command after a character from Listen with Mother on the BBC.) But for adults, it was radio dramas. In England there was The Archers, which is apparently still going, and here in Australia, there was Blue Hills. Blue Hills was broadcast from 1949 to 1976, but I never heard it. My parents were oblivious to popular culture. By the time I was old enough to choose my radio programs (and have my own 'wireless' in my bedroom!) I was listening to The Beatles...

Still, I seem always to have known about Blue Hills. I can even hum its theme music because the introductory bars and the announcement (archived at the NFSA's Australian Screen, listen here) comes from a Pastorale (by English conductor and composer Ronald Hanmer) which is featured on an album called 'Colours of Spring, Classical music to brighten your day'. It was produced in 2014 (and promoted energetically) by ABC Classic FM. Click here to hear it.

What's interesting now is that my search at the NFSA for Gwen Meredith's The Lawsons (1944–1949) — the series that preceded and was replaced by Blue Hills — was fruitless. This might just be that the NFSA has a woeful search engine, because a site search couldn't even find Gwen Meredith. Fine if Google has found the audio clip so you know it exists and you search that tab. I can understand that they may not have an audio clip of The Lawsons from those days. But one ought to be able to find Gwen Meredith at the NFSA from a site search!

The Lawsons in fact have very little presence on the web. Fortunately, thanks to writer and historian Pauline Connolly, I've discovered the story behind the demise of what was a much-loved serial that sustained Australians through the war years without them realising that there was a government-sponsored propaganda element to the importance of planting soya beans. Goodreads and Wikipedia tell us too, that there is a book, a novelisation of the series, published in 1948. Plus, there is a novelisation of Blue Hills, which hit the shelves in 1950. (My copy doesn't have the dustjacket with its Chesty Bond Love Interest on the front cover and Trixie on her horse on the spine.)

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/02/24/blue-hills-1950-by-gwen-meredith/… (mehr)