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y separately published work icon The Squatter's Daughter single work   novel  
Is part of Bookstall Series 1904 series - publisher
Issue Details: First known date: 1933... 1933 The Squatter's Daughter
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A woman sheep station owner is about to lose her family's property because she can't afford to buy out the lease from the neighbouring station. The situation arises when the owner's weak-willed son, left to temporarily manage the station, is manipulated by his villainous overseer. A stranger to the district helps foil the plot, however, and also eventually proves to be the rightful owner of the woman's rival property. The narrative includes a bush fire incident, which occurs when the woman and the stranger attempt to drove a large herd of sheep.

Notes

  • 'Based on the film and dealing with station-life in New South Wales, including the wool industry and efforts against fire and drought.' E. Morris Miller's Australian Literature From Its Beginnings to 1935 (1940): 790. Miller is referring to the 1933 film of the same name by Ken Hall.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Notes:

Introductory note: 'This novel is based on the film, which is adapted from the play 'The Squatter's Daughter' by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan.' (aka Albert Edmunds, qq.v.)

Notes:

Regarding the 1933 film, written by Gayne Dexter and E.V. Timms (qq.v.), Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper (q.v. 1980) note: 'For his second feature production, Ken Hall retained little but the title of an old play by Bailey and Duggan, which had been more faithfully filmed in 1910' (p. 215). In Bruce Molloy's Before the Interval (1990) Bruce Molloy further notes: 'The Cinesound version has been extensively changed, with the original's subplot involving bushranging being entirely omitted in line with the change to a contemporary setting. Introduced in this film is the theme of uncertain or confused identity which is to be a continuing one in Cinesound films' (p. 65).

Notes:

This was not the first novel loosely derived from Bailey and Duggan's play. In 1922 Hilda Bridges (q.v.) had also produced a novel for the New South Wales Bookstall Company titled: The Squatter's Daughter: A Novel Adapted From the Play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan which retained the bushranging theme. [see E. Morris Miller Australian Literature From its Beginnings to 1935. (1940): 752].

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: N.S.W. Bookstall Company , 1933 .
      Reprinted: 1933
      Note/s:
      • Foreword by F.E. Baume: 'Strangely enough, Melaun, the author of the novelized version of The Squatter's Daughter, is not an Australian, but his interest in the play proves that not only to Australians has the Australian scene its appeal. The simultaneous screening of the play and publication of the book, The Squatter's Daughter, indicate that both film impressario and Australian publishers have confidence that work concerning Australia will find its appeal....There are flashes in this book which are literature of a very high order. They give promise, in this novelization of the screen play, of what Melaun can achieve in the field of Australian fiction later on.'
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Related Works

y separately published work icon The Squatter's Daughter, or, The Land of the Wattle Albert Edmunds , 1907 (Manuscript version)x400104 Z850041 1907 single work drama Set largely on a sheep station in rural Australia, the storyline concerns a rivalry between two neighbouring stations: Enderby (owned by Violet Enderby) and Waratah (owned by the Harringtons). While the elder Harrington is away, his weak-willed son is manipulated by the station overseer into attempting to bankrupt Enderby station. The plan almost succeeds but is foiled by a stranger to the district, Archie McPhearson.
y separately published work icon The Squatter's Daughter : A Novel Adapted from the Play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan Hilda Bridges , Sydney : N.S.W. Bookstall Company , 1922 Z95479 1922 single work novel crime
form y separately published work icon The Squatter's Daughter Gayne Dexter , E. V. Timms , ( dir. Ken G. Hall ) Australia : Cinesound Productions , 1933 Z49664 1933 single work film/TV

Although based on the 1905 play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan (which was itself more faithfully adapted for film in 1910), this cinematic version retains little of the original. The storyline begins with Joan Enderby about to lose her family's sheep station because she can't afford to buy out the lease from her neighbours, the Sherringtons. To make matters worse, the elderly 'Ironbark' Sherrington, the owner of 'Waratah,' has been in England for two years allowing his villainous son Clive to try and remove Joan from the property. His attempt to bankrupt her is foiled, however, when a mysterious stranger offers to buy three thousand head of sheep from her at a good price. What she doesn't know is that the stranger, Wayne Ridgeway, is also rightful heir to the Sherrington estate. The only person who knows Ridgeway's identity is an Afghan trader called Jebal Zim, but he is murdered by Clive's overseer before he can tell the recently returned Ironbark Sherrington. Typical of the melodrama genre, the story's climax is played out in a thrilling scene - a bushfire - as Joan and Ridgeway try to deliver three thousand sheep to the market. After escaping the fire, they rescue Zim's kidnapped daughter, Zena and capture the overseer, Fletcher. Naturally Ridgeway is restored to his rightful inheritance, and he and Joan marry.

[Source: Australian Screen]
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Works about this Work

Short Reviews 1933 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Women's Weekly , 12 August vol. 1 no. 10 1933; (p. 39)
— Review of The Squatter's Daughter Charles Melaun , 1933 single work novel
More Australian Publishing Phil Grim , 1933 single work column
— Appears in: All About Books , 12 September vol. 5 no. 9 1933; (p. 151) Grim praises N.S.W. Bookstall's efforts in promoting Australian literature and for also "catering for the market so abhorred by literary snobs".
The Sqautters's Daughter 1933 single work column
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 5 October 1933; (p. 44)
Short Reviews 1933 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Women's Weekly , 12 August vol. 1 no. 10 1933; (p. 39)
— Review of The Squatter's Daughter Charles Melaun , 1933 single work novel
The Sqautters's Daughter 1933 single work column
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 5 October 1933; (p. 44)
More Australian Publishing Phil Grim , 1933 single work column
— Appears in: All About Books , 12 September vol. 5 no. 9 1933; (p. 151) Grim praises N.S.W. Bookstall's efforts in promoting Australian literature and for also "catering for the market so abhorred by literary snobs".
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (3)
Last amended 28 Aug 2009 10:17:18
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