AustLit

Described in the Brisbane Courier as 'a typically Australian play' (10 August 1914, p7), The Girl From Wayback opens with Erindi Station in the throes of drought, and its owner Henry Loughnane threatened with ruin. Ralph Strickland his overseer secretly secures the only available relief country for himself, plotting to enrich himself by buying the Erindi stock at his own price when the drought is about to break. Wilfred Loughnane, who has left the cable service in order to make good on his uncle's station, also has the ultimate object of winning the love of his cousin, Myrtle Loghnane. In the meantime Myrtle has become suspicious of the overseer and denounces him, but Strickland has played his game well, not only furthering his plans but also managing to discredit Wilfred's reputation with the people at the station. When an old sundowner becomes aware of Strickland's schemes he warns Myrtle and she follows the overseer. Although she overhears a crucial conversation (concerning Strickland's imminent coup) he manages to convince her that the guilty party is Wilfred. The consequence is that he leaves the station in disgrace. Wilfred wins out in then end, however, after his horse beats Strickland's in a race that the overseer had gambled all his money on. When Myrtle realises that she had been fooled she reconciles with Wilfred and all ends happily.

A sub-plot concerns the love affairs of Sally, Billy White and Fitzmaurice Fitzherbert (a new chum Englishman).

The first Australian film to be based on the real-life British criminal John Babbacombe Lee, whose attempted execution by hanging failed three times, before his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

The plot of the melodrama on which the film is based (see note), is described as follows:

'The scene opens with a beautiful moonlight setting of the Babbacombe homestead and gardens, wherein John Lee makes his appearance after an absence of some years served in the navy. On his return, he at once becomes engaged Kate Merton, his old sweetheart. His rival, Fred Masterville, who proves to be of the worst type possible, acts upon a scheme to bring shame upon him by depositing in Lee's bag a purse containing £20. Dicky Dood happens to sec this, and politely converts the money to his own use. Masterville, proving unsuccessful in this attempt, breaks an entrance into Miss Cleveden's house, with an accomplice, Jim Wells, with the intention of robbery, and on being discovered and recognised by Miss Cleveden murders her. Lee is arrested on suspicion, tried, found guilty, and is sentenced to death. Three times he is taken to the scaffold, which three times fails in its appointed task. As a result, Lee receives a life sentence. Twenty-two years later Lee and the real murderer meet face to face. Jim Wells, his old accomplice, turns King's evidence, Lee is released and marries his old sweetheart, and the light of day is let in upon the most mysterious case the world has ever known.'

Source:

'The Man They Couldn't Hang', Singleton Argus, 2 September 1911, p.4.

'"The Cup Winner," as its name implies, deals mainly with horses, and followers of the "sport of kings". In the first act a happy home–Richard Avenell's–is wrecked by the work of a blackmailer (Stephen Warland) who in the subsequent acts pursues his villainous career. In the final scene, however, the tables are turned and the blackmailer's horse, Odd Stocking, being beaten by the hero's, Kitchener, in the race for the Ascot Gold Cup, Warland receives his deserts, and the hero's family is reunited once more.'

Source: 'His Majesty's Touring Theatre', Brisbane Courier, 25 January 1909, p.6.

'Mr Sheridan … and his collaborators have succeeded in introducing an old friend to the public in a new and very pleasing guise… Departing entirely from any traditional form of the story, there are introduced scenes which suggest Meyerbeer's Robert Le Diable, Planquette's Rip Van Winkle and from that downwards to A Trip to Chinatown. Every now and then the action of the plot - if there is a plot - is interrupted by the introduction of some little pleasantry' (Sydney Morning Herald 27 December 1902, p.6).