by Stephen Vagg
I have previously written about Stormy Petrel (1960), the first Australian mini-series which also served as the first really unqualified success for ABC TV drama. Indeed, the Rum Rebellion saga was such a hit that even before the last episode aired, the ABC were talking to its writer Rex Rienits and director Colin Dean about doing a follow-up.
But how to make Stormy Petrel 2: Back in Action when Bligh never went back to Australia? The original had been based on a radio serial by Rienits and they might have discussed adapting another one of his works set in colonial Australia; there were certainly enough to choose from, including tales of Margaret Catchpole, Mary Reiby, George Barrington, Matthew Flinders, the Eureka Stockade, and the Flying Doctors, plus an adaptation of the novel Robbery Under Arms. (Later on, Rienits would pen radio serials about such topics as Ned Kelly and the Snowy Mountains Scheme. If you don’t know any of the names I’ve listed, they’re worth a google.) Maybe, those topics were all too inherently ‘outdoorsy’ for what the ABC were capable of filming in 1961, when the bulk of their TV drama had to be broadcast live on sets.
In the event it was decided to do a “kind-of” sequel to Stormy Petrel: it would pick up on the action following the arrival of Lachlan Macquarie, who appeared at the end of the first series, thereby enabling some characters and actors to be re-used, such as Bligh’s daughter Mary (Delia Williams, in what I think was her last ever screen appearance), John Macarthur (Walter Sullivan), Elizabeth Macarthur (Margo Lee) and Macquarie (Henry Gilbert) himself. Presumably, it would mean the ABC could also re-purpose costumes and sets.
The focus of the new series – to be called The Outcasts – would be split between Macquarie and a character not seen in Stormy Petrel, William Redfern (Ron Haddrick), the doctor-turned-convict-turned-convict-doctor who became a leader for the emancipists, i.e. ex-convicts who didn’t have full legal rights. Twelve half-hour episodes would revolve around the troubles faced by Redfern and Macquarie in getting rights for emancipists in the face of opposition from such men as Reverend Samuel “give me a Catholic to flog and I’m happy” Marsden).
A lot of interesting stuff happened to Redfern and Macquarie during the time that is dramatised in The Outsiders (1808 to 1822): they had wives and kids (some of whom died), colonial Sydney turned from a penal settlement into more of a just-plain-old-settlement, the Blue Mountains were crossed by Europeans, there was plenty of conflict. But the series lacks the clean narrative drive of Stormy Petrel, which built up to a big confrontation between two conflicting parties (i.e. The Rum Rebellion). This one is more sprawling and less focused, with a greater number of sub-plots and extraneous characters, and more of an overall theme. Instead of being a story about two hot-tempered alpha males slogging it out, The Outcasts has more of a solemn “we are making history here” vibe with characters talking a lot about what they envision Australia’s future to be.
Also, Redfern and Macquarie simply aren’t as interesting characters as Bligh or Macarthur. They are depicted as being decent, dogged men who speak and act rationally and love their wives, ex-convicts and each other (the bromance is laid on fairly thick)… It may be fair to history, but it is not terribly compelling. Rienits livens things up by bringing in a solid array of antagonists: the flog-happy Marsden (John Gray), the pompous judge Jeffrey Bent (Keith Buckley), the snobby Lt Molle (Leonard Teale), the bitter John Macarthur (Walter Sullivan) and the convict-hating Commissioner Bigge (Allan Trevor). These characters are all highly entertaining but apart from Marsden they never seem to stick around that long. In particular, Molle and Macarthur get all this build-up but don’t provide the fireworks they promise (we don’t get to see Macarthur go mad, for instance).
Rienits repeats the “woman’s interest device” subplot of Stormy Petrel, by having a man suffering unrequited love for the female lead – in this case it’s a convict (played by Neil Fitzpatrick) who moons over Sarah Redfern (Amber Mae Cecil)… and Lt Antill (John Unicomb) seems hot for her too, but Sarah loves Redfern, so Antill marries her sister (Carolyn Keely) and the poor old convict gets flogged and kills himself. Sarah Redfern isn’t as good a part as Mary Bligh was, though – she basically wears a bonnet, goes “you work too hard, Will” and that’s about it. As in Stormy Petrel, I wish more had been done with Elizabeth Macarthur.
History buffs will enjoy the appearance of real-life characters such as Blaxland (John Faassen) Wentworth (Philip Ross) and Lawson, early architect Francis Greenaway (Al Thomas), early doctor D’arcy Wentworth (Edward Howell), early tycoon Simeon Lord (Kirk Fabian), early poet Michael Massey Robinson (Hugh Stewart), British Prime Minister Lord Liverpool (Edward Hepple), and Macquarie’s Indian servant George Jarvis (I’m not sure who played him – the credits are unclear and the actor is in brownface). Aboriginal people get the occasional mention but are not seen.
The sets and costumes are very polished and Colin Dean’s direction feels more confident than in Petrel – the camera moves more, there are some filmed sequences of Blaxland and co. walking over the Blue Mountains. The acting is fine; I particularly liked John Gray as Mardsen and John Fegan as his “flagellator” (as the credits put it). The cast includes a young Robyn Nevin, in what must be one of her first performances, as the bitchy wife of early judge Ellis Bent (Lewis Fiander).
I just think that they selected the wrong period of history to illuminate for a 12 eps x 30 mins drama. The action really picks up in the final two episodes with the arrival of the snide Commissioner Bigge, splendidly played in George Sanders style by Allan Trevor. Maybe, they should’ve focused the whole series around Bigge’s investigation – they could have flashed back to other times if needed. Or maybe, they should have done a straight up “life of Redfern”… include events referred to but not seen in this version, like his involvement in mutiny and the death of his first wife.
Reviews and ratings were strong, on the whole, probably fairer than the series deserved. The praise wasn’t unanimous: Malcolm Ellis, who was a writer, historian and sort of 1960s neocon columnist, wrote a hit piece on The Outcasts in The Bulletin, whining about its authenticity, but allowed that “For those who like their historical drama presented in the Alfred Dampier manner, with shouting, weeping, oppression of the weak, all the characters pure-white or pure-black in morals and the dialogue scissored out of volumes seven to ten of the “Historical Records of Australia,” the series is good, clean fun.” Producer-writer Brian Wright penned a letter in response to Ellis defending Rienits, to which Ellis wrote a whiny hysterical response, as critics often do when called out. How dare the ABC publicity make a claim of authenticity to Malcolm Ellis! How dare they! Historians can get very possessive and mean whenever someone else does a work on “their” area of history (Side note: I grew up endlessly hearing about how The Bulletin made such an invaluable contribution to Australian culture back in the day. Maybe that was true in the 1900s or whenever Henry Lawson was running around, but from what I’ve read of the magazine in the 1960s, when it came to Australian culture, The Bulletin seemed to operate mostly as a platform for snide little whiners. End of side note.)
Still, The Outcasts illustrated an important but little-known piece of our history (I had to google a lot of it… no one discusses Macquarie and Redfern much these days, too hard probably). And the response was encouraging enough for the ABC do another sequel, The Patriots which I will talk about in another article. Rex Rienits left Australia in 1961, having worked at the ABC for two years. He based himself in London until his death a decade later, but he never stopped writing about Australia.
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A fascinating article. I have a letter written by Rex Rienits to the best-selling author, Georgette Heyer, asking her for permission to adapt her bestselling novel, BLACK SHEEP (1966) into a radio adaptation for the BBC. If you were interested, I would be glad to send you a copy.
Kind regards
Jennifer Kloester