AustLit

Set in the home of Simon Martel at Hobart Town in 1830, the action of the play runs from early spring to Christmas eve. There are 18 characters.

Caroline and Jeanne Martel, the daughters of the harsh dictatorial Christian, Simon Martel, have returned to Hobart after six years in England. En route, Jeanne has fallen in love with Francis Gillan—a liberal reformer who is opposed to the convict system. The harsh treatment accorded to two good-type convicts causes Gillan to plan an escape from the island. Jeanne accompanies the party, but it is interrupted in flight and Gillan is shot. Rufus Bellamy the convict kills Mr Martel in revenge, but the passionate intensity of Jeanne's pleading persuades Caroline to agree to conceal the truth—for Francis's sake.

Abstract adapted from The Campbell Howard Annotated Index of Australian Plays 1920-1955.

DAYBREAK was first produced by Olive Wilton for the Hobart Repertory Theatre Society, at the Theatre Royal, on Saturday, 30 July, 1938, with the following cast:

               SIMON  MARTEL: James Pratt

               CAROLINE MARTEL: Peggy Waterworth

               JEANNE MARTEL: Junee Cornell

               FRANCIS GILLAN: Henry Moore

               MRS. CARMICHAEL: Pearl Burbury

               PHOEBE  MOON: Beatrice Jordan

               RUFUS BELLAMY: Mervyn Wiss

               CAPTAIN NORTH: K. W. Nicholson

               CAPTAIN BLAINEY: Jack Mitchell

               LIEUTENANT PRIDEAUX: Noel Richard

               MRS. MOSS: Audrey St. Hill

               LAURA MOSS: Erica Gilbert

               MRS. TURNER: Dulce Haddon-Cave

               SARAH TURNER: Nancy Chapman

               LUCY TURNER: Phyl Bailey

               ELLEN: Mrs. W. F. Hinman

               BEAM: Don Sutherland 

               MRS. BEAM: Mrs. Alan Burn

Decor and costumes by Robert Montgomery