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"Life in the bush is hot, hard and not for the faint-hearted. Under the extreme sun of Northern frontier country a pack of itinerant drovers thrive in the land they call home. A freak stampede brings ‘Briglow’ Bill and his mates face to face with mortality and their masculinity and mateship are tested. All the while, Pidgeon, a young Aboriginal boy, watches the white fellows. He sees something the drovers cannot speak of and, for Briglow, this silence is as stifling yet as familiar and as comforting as the heat that surrounds them all.
The Drovers is a bush drama that is rich with tension, grim stoicism and heightened masculinity of the, notably, all-male characters. Clipped sentences and straight-talking speak of the no-nonsense attitude necessary to survive in the remote bush of the 1920s. The play draws us to the campfire where, in light and heat, we see the relationships the drovers experience: between each other, between white man and Aboriginal man, between man and land and, finally, the ultimate and unavoidable relationship: a man’s connection with life and death."
Notes
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The 1999 Five Islands Press edition has the dedication : 'To the memory of my uncle John Ford Paterson.'
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Also published in sound recording format.
Production Details
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1923 : Temperance Hall, Melbourne ; 3 December. Prod. Pioneer Players.
1964 : Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne ; ca. August ; Prod. Melbourne Theatre Company.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Teaching Australian Drama in the 50th State
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Crossings : Bulletin of the International Australian Studies Association , August vol. 6 no. 2 2001; -
Framing the Landscape: Prichard's "Pioneers" and Esson's "The Drovers"
1993
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , October no. 23 1993; (p. 121-134) Makeham compares the way in which landscape is invoked in both plays: the room of Pioneers; and the outdoors of The Drovers. The former invokes landscape as a presence separate from the domestic centre of Prichard's play. The latter locates its action wholly in an outdoor setting. But, despite the different ways of framing the landscape, both plays celebrate the resilience and propriety of the human activity situated within it. -
Staging Australia : Models of Cultural Identity in the Theatre
1990
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Studies , April no. 13 1990; (p. 53-62) Examines dramatic interpretations of Australia's "landscapes", particularly the Outback and Suburbia, with a focus on the work of Louis Esson and the New Wave playwrights (especially David Williamson). -
Irish Memories and Australian Hopes : William Butler Yeats and Louis Esson
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 34 no. 2 1989; (p. 33-40) Esson drew his inspiration for a distinctively Australian theatre from a bewildering array of models from overseas, but he was highly influenced by the Irish poet and playwright, W. B. Yeats. Yeats encouraged Esson to write about Australia as if it were the centre of the universe. But despite the creative output of the 1920s, Esson failed to attract a large audience. McCallum concludes that, if not for Yeats, Esson probably would not have written the material on which his reputation is based and would not now be considered a pioneer dramatist. -
Sports Lovers and Sports Haters : Attitudes to Sport in Some Australian Plays
1986
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Drama 1920-1955 : Papers Presented to a Conference at the University of New England, Armidale, September 1-4, 1984 1986; (p. 89-98)
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Australian Drama
1921
single work
column
— Appears in: Corroboree : The Journal of the Australian Literature Society , 1 October vol. 1 no. 1 1921; (p. 5-6) -
Australian Drama : Some Thoughts Stimulated by the Australian Drama Night Held by the Australian Literature Society on August 25
1929
single work
column
— Appears in: All About Books , 20 September vol. 1 no. 10 1929; (p. 329-330) Byrne, Simpson, and Williams discuss performances of one act plays The Copper Fire, Absalom, Charlotte and Settling the Sectarian Question in the context of a debate sparked by St. John Ervine's attack on Australian theatre in the London Observer, 21 July, 1921 and the resulting correspondence from Mary Fullerton and other Australians. Quill reports. -
Australian One Act Plays
1930
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Brisbane Courier , 11 January no. 22451 1930; (p. 12) -
Drama
1981
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Oxford History of Australian Literature 1981; (p. 175-267) -
Irish Memories and Australian Hopes : William Butler Yeats and Louis Esson
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 34 no. 2 1989; (p. 33-40) Esson drew his inspiration for a distinctively Australian theatre from a bewildering array of models from overseas, but he was highly influenced by the Irish poet and playwright, W. B. Yeats. Yeats encouraged Esson to write about Australia as if it were the centre of the universe. But despite the creative output of the 1920s, Esson failed to attract a large audience. McCallum concludes that, if not for Yeats, Esson probably would not have written the material on which his reputation is based and would not now be considered a pioneer dramatist.
- Far North Queensland, Queensland,
- Bush,
