AustLit

Born Lynette Margaret Bower, Lynn Bayonas was the first daughter of Helen and Fred Bower. She left Westleigh College at fourteen, and within a few years had secured a position with the Australian Ballet as assistant to the general manager. During the company's European tour, the then eighteen-year-old Bower became increasingly unhappy with her job. While in London, she made a successful application for a job with Hollywood actor/director Orson Welles, who was about to begin filming in Spain. It was while she was working in Spain that she met Luis Bayonas, a writer and filmmaker. Although the couple never married, she later took his surname as hers.

The three years that Bayonas spent working with Welles taught her a great deal about writing drama and provided her with the level of expertise that saw her offered a position as script writer with Crawford Productions (q.v.). Following her return to Australia in the mid-1960s, Bayonas wrote for Crawford's popular drama series Division 4 and The Box, and in 1971 was briefly script editor for the top-rating Homicide. Three years later, she was the associate producer and script editor for the ABC's goldfields drama Rush. The series went on to win thirteen Logies. Bayonas also developed a number of children's dramas at the ABC, including the award-winning Frank and Francesca (1973), while also providing scripts for adult drama series such as The Sullivans.

In 1981, James Davern (q.v.) hired her as script producer for his new series, A Country Practice. Within four years, the show's popularity and Bayonas's growing reputation led to her being appointed head of drama at Channel Nine. Under her management, Nine aired such series as The Flying Doctors, A Fortunate Life, Barlow and Chambers, Ring of Scorpio, The Girl from Tomorrow, Willing and Abel, and All the Way. Despite her success, Bayonas became tired of clashing with the 'Channel Nine boys' club' and finally left the network in 1987 to become a freelance writer and producer. In 1991, she created the raunchy Chances, which featured nudity in prime time. When Nine indicated that it would keep the show going but only in a later timeslot and with more sex, Bayonas and her writing team were given an opportunity to let their imaginations go in any direction they wanted and Chances began building a cult following as the episodes became even raunchier and the stories more absurd.

Between 1994 and 2000, Bayonas lived in Los Angeles, writing for sitcoms and miniseries. During this period, she worked primarily for Paramount Pictures, working on programmes such as Sunset Beach and Prime Time. After returning to Australia, Bayonas began working on the Australian-Canadian co-production The Saddle Club, based on Bonnie Bryant's bestselling books about three twelve-year-old girls and their horses. The show was sold to cable in the US, and has since sold more than 400,000 DVDs. At the same time, she also produced several other children's dramas, including the fantasy Guinevere Jones. As production for the third series of The Saddle Club finished in 2008, Bayonas discovered that she had cancer. Lyn Bayonas died in early 2010, and is survived by her partner, children Daniel and Ilena, and a grandson. She was also the sister of Australian television producer Susan Bower (Neighbours).

A leading figure in Australian drama during the 1970s and 1980s, Lynn Bayonas became Channel Nine's head of drama during the heyday of local mini-series and finished her career with the highly successful children's series The Saddle Club. 'There was no one she fought with, and no one she worked with, who didn't respect her drive and ability and creative energy in the hundreds of hours of Australian television drama that she brought to the screen,' said James Davern, the creator of the long-running rural drama A Country Practice, who credits Bayonas for much of its success.