AustLit

Butterfly Island follows the travails of Charlie Wilson and his children, who are determined to retain the tropical beauties and charm of Butterfly Island, but face such difficulties as the competition from nearby resorts, unscrupulous land developers, and shipwrecked boys with mysterious pasts and unwittingly criminal tendencies.

Moran points out in his Guide to Australian TV Series that the program made use of the same locations as its predecessor, Fauna Productions' Barrier Reef, and 'promoted the kind of tourist image of Australia, so much a feature of Fauna's work'. Indeed, he argues,

Butterfly Island was conceived principally in terms of the formula of 'likeness and difference' so much a feature of Fauna Productions in the 1960s and 1970s, with likeness in the form of father, mother, kids, adventures, odd characters, comedy and adventure; and difference in the form of the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsundays, Australian beaches, outdoor life, sun and sand.

As such, the program relied heavily on location shooting, and was comparatively expensive by Australian standards.

The program employed a local cast, but Moran points to such American actors as Ann B. Davis, Cameron Mitchell, and Susan Strasberg in cameo roles.

Taken aboard as deckhand after he saves a grateful family's child from drowning, a fifteen-year-old orphan soon becomes prime suspect when the boat is sabotaged.

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, 'This hybrid series revolves around a company of opera singers (incarnated as puppets) who live in a disused theatre. They are found by two children who are their only audience as they proceed through thirteen different operas'.

The program was designed by Marcia Hatfield as a way of introducing child viewers to opera, and ran through such productions as Il Trovatore, Carmen, Aida, and I Pagliacci.

Moran notes that SBS, which purchased the series, ran it in an early evening timeslot during the traditionally poor summer season, but that the series did sell well to overseas markets.

Based on the children's novel by Max Fatchen, Chase Through the Night was a short children's series set in the Australian outback. Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, offers the following synopsis:

Three desperate bank robbers on the run in a stolen car head for the bush into the small outback town of Caribun. They stop for petrol in an isolated general store and are recognised by Petra, a teenage girl. They bundle her into the car and continue their journey north. Arriving in the town, the robbers find that most of the townspeople have left for the long weekend. The few remaining townspeople defeat every attempt by the robbers to leave. The mini-series culminates in a violent chase on a stormy night.

'The stock squad, investigators of rural crime, find huge quantities of grain missing from a Government operated silo. Detective Santana discovers corruption runs deep, especially when the town 'ratbag' goes missing.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 10/2/2014)

When Spider takes his friends Kate and Ben across the harbour to visit the spooky Castle House, abandoned for many years, their adventure turns into a mystery when two boys disappear right in front of their eyes.

'A smuggling racket, a strange haunting creature and the idyllic setting of the Queensland reef islands are all part of this exciting Australian children's adventure movie'.

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 19/7/2012)

A modernised version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, set in an Australian country town.

According to Screen Australia, 'The greedy councillors of a small country town have reneged on a deal they made with the Fluteman. They are dismayed when all the children vanish overnight, except one ... a young deaf boy'. (Sighted: 15/6/2012)

A young girl, marooned on a seemingly deserted island, comes face to face with a South American refugee, who is desperate to remain hidden.