AustLit logo
person or book cover
The opening and closing titles of Barrier Reef placed great emphasis on the New Endeavour and her environment, at the expense of any shots of the cast (screen cap from closing credits)
form y separately published work icon Barrier Reef series - publisher   film/TV  
Issue Details: First known date: 1971... 1971 Barrier Reef
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Film Details - Fauna Productions ; Network Ten , ca. 1971-1972

Producers:

John McCallum (q.v., Executive Producer)
Joy Cavill (q.v., Producer)
Lee Robinson (q.v., Producer)
Bob Austin (Executive Producer)

Production Companies:

Fauna Films (aka Norfolk International)

Director of Photography:

Ron Taylor (Director of Underwater Photography)

Composer:

Eric Jupp

Cast:

1. Regular cast/characters were: Joe James (Captain Ted King), Rowena Wallace (Tracey Deane, episodes 18 - 39), Elli Maclure [aka Christine Maclure] (Diana Parker, episodes 9 - 20), Harold Hopkins (Steve Gabo), Ken James (Kip Young), George Assang (Jack Meurauki), Susannah Brett (Elizabeth Grant, episodes 1 - 8), Ihab Nafa (Dr Paul Hanna, episodes 1 - 17).
2. Additional cast/characters incl. Tom Farley (Professor Martin), Janet Kingsbury (Mrs Holmes), Tina Cornioley (Kelly Clarke), John Warwick (q.v., Sir John Hargreave), Robert Bruning (q.v., Bob Davenport), Valerie Taylor, Willie Fennell, John McCallum, Don Pascoe, Allan Lander, Kevin Miles, Don Reid (q.v.), Christina O'Brien, Judith Fisher, Helen Morse (q.v.), Peter Adams, Tristan Rogers, John Wood (q.v.), Damien Parker, Ken Goodlet, Gerry Duggan, Les Berryman, Pat Sullivan. Ric Hutton, John Roddick, Peter Aanensen, Janet Kingsbury, Don Crosby, Nora Tfieng, Lex Mitchell, Lyle Hilway, Ron Coleman, Vaughan Tracy, Terence Cooper, Al Thomas, Harry Lawrence, Noel Ferrier, Keith Lee, Misao Kamijo Molinaro, Judy Morris, David Foster, Peter Carver, Tony Ward, Sue Costin, Reg Gorman, Peter Reynolds, Alister Smart, Ron Haddrick, Ben Gabriel, Richard Meikle, Eric Reiman, Redmond Phillips, Kurt Nischelwitzer, Malcolm McLeod, Vic Ley, Tony Bazell, Stewart Ginn, Robert Quilter, Terry McDermott, Owen Weingott, Chuck Kehoe, Judy McBurney, John Bonney.

Release Dates:

First aired in Melbourne on 5 February 1971. Other release dates incl. Netherlands (29 June 1971), USA (11 September 1971), Belgium (6 November 1973).

Location:

  • Hayman Island, North Queensland.

Notes:

1. For further details on the Barrier Reef series, see the Classic Australian Television (q.v.) website.
2. While the series premiered on ATV-0 (Melbourne) on February 5 1971, it was already being seen in Britain and Canada. Sydney's TEN-10 did not air the series until September that year, so as to gain the maximum benefit from newly introduced Australian content regulations. ATV-0 decided to adopt the same strategy and therefore took the series off air after a few weeks. It returned to the station's schedule in September (ATV-0 also screened the series out of sequence).
3. Don Storey (Classic Australian Television) indicates that Barrier Reef was originally titled Minus Five, and that the new name wasn't adopted until April 1970, when the series was well into production (production had begun in September 1969). Storey notes that some of the early episodes were actually completed with Minus Five opening credits before the producers decided to rename the series.
4. Barrier Reef was sold to over fifty countries, including Britain (BBC) and the U.S.A. (NBC). Other countries that bought the series included Canada, Japan, South America, South Africa, and most European countries.

List of episodes

1. Rendezvous (Joy Cavill)

2. Galleon (Lee Robinson)

3. Something Beginning with M (Joy Cavill)

4. Strange Cargo (Lee Robinson)

5. The Pewter Chalice (Lee Robinson)

6. The Cannon of Nemora (Michael Wright & Ron McLean)

7. The Pirates (Joy Cavill)

8. Old Gold (Lee Robinson)

9. Slipway (Lee Robinson)

10. When Big Fish Die (Brian Faull)

11. Russians Are Red (Ted Roberts)

12. Cyclone (Lee Robinson)

13. Assignment in Shute (Joy Cavill)

14. Thursday Girl (Brian Faull)

15. Nothing But the truth (Joy Cavill)

16. White Death (Joy Cavill)

17. Echoes from the Past (Peter Maxwell)

18. A Matter of Money (Brian Faull)

19. Scotch on the Rocks (Joy Cavill)

20. God Bless Her (John McCallum)

21. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (Joy Cavill)

22. Sea Fever (Ron McLean)

23. Shark Bait (Ted Roberts)

24. The Tripod (Lee Robinson)

25. Coconut Ice (Joy Cavill)

26. Moon Shot (Lee Robinson)

27. The Speckled Stone Fish (John McCallum)

28. The Old Skipper (Ted Roberts)

29. Sell Out (Brian Faull)

30. Black Diamond (Joy Cavill)

31. The Tunnel (Lee Robinson)

32. Sanctuary Cay (Joy Cavill)

33. The Missile (Lee Robinson)

34. His Majesty Regrets (Ross Napier)

35. Voices in the Deep (Brian Faull)

36. Pilgrims Progress (Ross Napier)

37. Oysters Never Tell (John McCallum)

38. Bird Cage (Ross Napier)

39. The Fence (Brian Faull)


Subjects:
  • ca. 1970s
Settings:
  • Great Barrier Reef, Australian seas,
X