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y separately published work icon The Bushrangers; or, Norwood Vale single work   drama   - Three acts
First known date: 1834 Issue Details: First known date: 1834-2006... 1834-2006 The Bushrangers; or, Norwood Vale
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Production Details

    • First produced in an extended form at the Theatre Royal in the Argyle Rooms, Hobart, 29 May and 2 June 1834.
    • Also produced at the Launceston Theatre, 1835.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Plays for the Colonial Stage : 1834-1899 Richard Fotheringham (editor), St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2006 Z1238215 2006 anthology drama (taught in 3 units) St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2006 pg. 3-39
    Note: Introduction appears on pp.5-12.
    • Fortitude Valley, Fortitude Valley - New Farm area, Brisbane - North East, Brisbane, Queensland,: Playlab , 2013 .
      image of person or book cover 8264696094122147764.jpg
      Extent: 1vp.
      Note/s:
      • Available as an PDF download.
      Series: y separately published work icon Playlab New Vintage Playlab (publisher), Fortitude Valley : Playlab , 2013- 16932703 2013 series - publisher drama
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Hobart Town Magazine vol. 3 no. 14 April Z900575 1834 periodical issue pg. 82-96
    Note:

    A note to the editor, published at beginning of the play, attempts to disguise the identity of the author who was in fact the Hobart Town Magazine's editor.

    The note reads, 'Mr Editor, Having been requested to write a theatrical piece, introducing a few Colonial characters, I have hurriedly penned the Bushranger's; of, Norwood Vale, which you may, if you please, publish in your truly interesting Magazine. M.'
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

'Sun Arise' : The Appropriation of Australia’s First Peoples’ Music, 1956–1974 Bill Casey , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 42 no. 3 2018; (p. 357-373)
“Come Be off with You” : White Spatial Control in the Representation of Aboriginality in Early Australian Drama Ben Miller , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Journal of Commonwealth Literature , June vol. 52 no. 2 2017; (p. 365–381) 'Scholars of early Australian drama have over-emphasized the stylistic relationship between Aboriginal characters in early Australian drama and blackface characters in early American drama. Focusing on stylistic connections between early US and Australian theatre potentially overlooks the complex ideological similarities in representations of race on the American and Australian stage. This article provides a close reading of two of Australia’s first plays — David Burn’s “The Bushrangers” and Henry Melville’s “The Bushrangers; or, Norwood Vale” — in order to nuance the critical record exploring the influence of American drama on Australian drama around 1830. Looking beyond formal connections between early US and Australian theatre can reveal an ideology of white spatial control underpinning early representations of Aboriginality and blackness in Australian and American drama.' (Publication abstract)
The Bushranger, The Larrikin and the Digger; Travelling Theatre and Nationhood Barbara Garlick , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Defining Acts : Australia on Stage : A Centenary of Federation Exhibition Celebrating the Australian Character on the Popular Stage over the Past 100 Years 2001; (p. 14-25)

'The first organised theatrical performance in any of the Australian colonies is usually thought to be The Recruiting Officer, a popular London play staged in a convict hut in 1789 before Governor Phillip, probably by some of the same convicts who had put on an improvised theatrical entertainment on board one of the ships in the first fleet, the Scarborough, in early January 1788. From the date of white settlement therefore travelling is one notable defining feature in the history of theatre in Australia. As important to its history as it develops through time is the way that theatre in Australia progressed across the landscape, in the process mimicking colonial history itself.' (p. 14)

Untitled 1834 single work review
— Appears in: The Tasmanian and Austral-Asiatic Review , 30 May 1834; (p. 174)
— Review of The Bushrangers; or, Norwood Vale Henry Melville , 1834-2006 single work drama
Untitled 1834 single work review
— Appears in: The Tasmanian and Austral-Asiatic Review , 30 May 1834; (p. 174)
— Review of The Bushrangers; or, Norwood Vale Henry Melville , 1834-2006 single work drama
The Bushranger, The Larrikin and the Digger; Travelling Theatre and Nationhood Barbara Garlick , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Defining Acts : Australia on Stage : A Centenary of Federation Exhibition Celebrating the Australian Character on the Popular Stage over the Past 100 Years 2001; (p. 14-25)

'The first organised theatrical performance in any of the Australian colonies is usually thought to be The Recruiting Officer, a popular London play staged in a convict hut in 1789 before Governor Phillip, probably by some of the same convicts who had put on an improvised theatrical entertainment on board one of the ships in the first fleet, the Scarborough, in early January 1788. From the date of white settlement therefore travelling is one notable defining feature in the history of theatre in Australia. As important to its history as it develops through time is the way that theatre in Australia progressed across the landscape, in the process mimicking colonial history itself.' (p. 14)

“Come Be off with You” : White Spatial Control in the Representation of Aboriginality in Early Australian Drama Ben Miller , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Journal of Commonwealth Literature , June vol. 52 no. 2 2017; (p. 365–381) 'Scholars of early Australian drama have over-emphasized the stylistic relationship between Aboriginal characters in early Australian drama and blackface characters in early American drama. Focusing on stylistic connections between early US and Australian theatre potentially overlooks the complex ideological similarities in representations of race on the American and Australian stage. This article provides a close reading of two of Australia’s first plays — David Burn’s “The Bushrangers” and Henry Melville’s “The Bushrangers; or, Norwood Vale” — in order to nuance the critical record exploring the influence of American drama on Australian drama around 1830. Looking beyond formal connections between early US and Australian theatre can reveal an ideology of white spatial control underpinning early representations of Aboriginality and blackness in Australian and American drama.' (Publication abstract)
'Sun Arise' : The Appropriation of Australia’s First Peoples’ Music, 1956–1974 Bill Casey , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 42 no. 3 2018; (p. 357-373)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (4)
Last amended 4 Oct 2017 08:05:48
Subjects:
Settings:
  • Van Diemen's Land (1803-1856), Tasmania,
  • Bush,
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