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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Helen Tremaine returns to a remote island in Australia's far north Torres Strait where she had previously worked as the Remote Area Nurse (aka RAN). Helen has a talent for breaking rules and taking on the bureaucracy. That, along with local politics, love affairs and a savage outbreak of Dengue Fever, RAN draws you into the world of a woman who yearns to belong, and a community who love her but want her gone.'
Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 12/6/2013)
Notes
-
Award-winning and individually published episodes in this series are included on AustLit.
Includes
-
2form y
One Ball
Australia
:
Chapman Pictures
,
2006
6043693
2006
single work
film/TV
'The island is rocked by a sudden and cruel death. Giddy, the son of the island's cop Mick (Belford Lui), drowns at sea while attempting to ferry contraband alcohol onto the island. Island Chairman Russ Gaibui (Charles Passi) goes on the warpath, enraged by the system that entices islanders to behave like furtive delinquents.
To ensure that Giddy's death was not in vain, he proposes to overturn the ban on alcohol and establish a wet canteen. Russ's daughter Nancy (Margaret Harvey), leads the opposition to the plan, claiming that it would spell disaster; a return to the bad old days. Russ woos Helen to his side, while an infuriated Nancy accuses Helen of being bought out by the promise of funds for a new clinic, and their long-term friendship feels the strain.
'But it is Russ's personal overtures towards Helen that are more unnerving. The moves he makes are subtle, refined, even flattering, but if Helen were to act on her feelings, it would destroy all the trust she has built up on the island, including that of the influential female elders. It would also be a betrayal of Russ's wife, Ina, whom Helen admires. And there's also a professional consideration; Helen has to guide Russ through a health crisis. It's all too impossible, however much Helen feels herself drawn towards this charismatic and powerful man.'
Source: Australian Television Information Archive. (Sighted: 12/6/2013)
Australia : Chapman Pictures , 2006 -
5form y
Blue Hawaii
Australia
:
Chapman Pictures
,
2006
Z1340178
2006
single work
film/TV
Australia
:
Chapman Pictures
,
2006
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
y
Finding Queensland in Australian Cinema : Poetics and Screen Geographies
London
:
Anthem Press
,
2016
11063066
2016
multi chapter work
criticism
'‘Finding Queensland in Australian Cinema’ comprises eight essays, an introduction and conclusion, and the analysis of poetics and cultural geographies is focused on landmark films and television. The first section of the book, ‘Backtracks: Landscape and Identity’, refers to films from and before the revival, beginning with the 1978 film 'The Irishman' as an example of heritage cinema in which performances of gender and race, like the setting, suggest a romanticised and uncritical image of colonial Australia. It is compared to Baz Luhrmann’s 'Australia' (2008) and several other films. In the second chapter, ‘Heritage Enigmatic’, 'The Irishman' is also drawn into comparison with Charles Chauvel’s ‘Jedda’ (1955), as films that incorporate Indigenous performances in this heritage discourse through the role of voice and sound. In Part 2, ‘Silences in Paradise’, the first essay, ‘Tropical Gothic’, focuses on Rachel Perkins’s 'Radiance' (1998) as a landmark post-colonial film that questions the connotations of icons of paradise in Queensland. The discussion leads to films, in the next chapter, ‘Island Girls Friday’, that figure women on Queensland islands, spanning the pre-revival and contemporary era: ‘Age of Consent’ (1969), ‘Nim’s Island’ (2008) and ‘Uninhabited’ (2010). Part 3, ‘Masculine Dramas of the Coast’ moves to the Gold Coast, in films dating from before and since the current spike in transnational production at the Warner Roadshow film studios there, namely, 'The Coolangatta Gold' (1984), 'Peter Pan' (2003), and 'Sanctum' (2011). The final section, ‘Regional Backtracks’, turns, first, to two television series, ‘Remote Area Nurse’ (2006), and ‘The Straits’ (2012), that share unique provenance of production in the Torres Strait and far north regions of Queensland, while, in the final chapter, the iconic outback districts of western Queensland figure the convergence of land, landscape and location in films with potent perspectives on Indigenous histories in ‘The Proposition’ (2005) and ‘Mystery Road’ (2013). ‘Finding Queensland in Australian Cinema’ presents the various regions as syncretic spaces subject to transitions of social and industry practices over time.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
-
From Martyr to Robo-Nurse : The Portrayal of Australian Nurses on Screen
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , vol. 8 no. 2/3 2014; (p. 110-122) 'Nurses have traditionally been seen as among the most trusted of workers, with cultural connections with caring and femininity long been associated with their profession. While the portrayal of nurses in overseas screenworks has had some attention, Australian productions have not. This study identifies four categories of screenworks: popular entertainment, training and recruitment films, wartime nursing, and nurses as workers and unionists. Although more recent mainstream media portrayals of nurses increasingly depict strong, assertive professionals, little research has been conducted into the fourth category, a significant number of which are made by nurses. When nurses take on the film-making task, different outcomes are produced. New types of film about nurses and by nurses offer an evolving representation of the profession and are helping to change the identity of nurses.' (Publication abstract) -
RAN : Remote Area Nurse: SBS Protocols, Grassroots Collaboration and the Quality Miniseries
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , October vol. 7 no. 2-3 2013; (p. 201-213) 'RAN: Remote Area Nurse is a six-part mini-series first broadcast on the Australian Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) in 2006. Described by co-producer Penny Chapman as ‘the first screen fiction set in Torres Strait islander [sic] culture’, the series is loosely based on the work of the health centre on Masig, a tiny island in the central group of Torres Strait Islands. This article traces the working modes of the largely non-Islander production team, as they followed the guidelines and strategies laid out in SBS’s ‘The Greater Perspective: Protocol for the Production of Film and Television on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities’ (1997). In light of interplay between protocol and the production team, the article explores how a modally conventional mini-series nevertheless successfully made space for Islander collaboration, and attracted online engagement and approval from both Torres Strait Islanders and others.' (Author's abstract)
-
RAN : Remote Area Nurse: SBS Protocols, Grassroots Collaboration and the Quality Miniseries
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , October vol. 7 no. 2-3 2013; (p. 201-213) 'RAN: Remote Area Nurse is a six-part mini-series first broadcast on the Australian Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) in 2006. Described by co-producer Penny Chapman as ‘the first screen fiction set in Torres Strait islander [sic] culture’, the series is loosely based on the work of the health centre on Masig, a tiny island in the central group of Torres Strait Islands. This article traces the working modes of the largely non-Islander production team, as they followed the guidelines and strategies laid out in SBS’s ‘The Greater Perspective: Protocol for the Production of Film and Television on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities’ (1997). In light of interplay between protocol and the production team, the article explores how a modally conventional mini-series nevertheless successfully made space for Islander collaboration, and attracted online engagement and approval from both Torres Strait Islanders and others.' (Author's abstract) -
From Martyr to Robo-Nurse : The Portrayal of Australian Nurses on Screen
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , vol. 8 no. 2/3 2014; (p. 110-122) 'Nurses have traditionally been seen as among the most trusted of workers, with cultural connections with caring and femininity long been associated with their profession. While the portrayal of nurses in overseas screenworks has had some attention, Australian productions have not. This study identifies four categories of screenworks: popular entertainment, training and recruitment films, wartime nursing, and nurses as workers and unionists. Although more recent mainstream media portrayals of nurses increasingly depict strong, assertive professionals, little research has been conducted into the fourth category, a significant number of which are made by nurses. When nurses take on the film-making task, different outcomes are produced. New types of film about nurses and by nurses offer an evolving representation of the profession and are helping to change the identity of nurses.' (Publication abstract) -
y
Finding Queensland in Australian Cinema : Poetics and Screen Geographies
London
:
Anthem Press
,
2016
11063066
2016
multi chapter work
criticism
'‘Finding Queensland in Australian Cinema’ comprises eight essays, an introduction and conclusion, and the analysis of poetics and cultural geographies is focused on landmark films and television. The first section of the book, ‘Backtracks: Landscape and Identity’, refers to films from and before the revival, beginning with the 1978 film 'The Irishman' as an example of heritage cinema in which performances of gender and race, like the setting, suggest a romanticised and uncritical image of colonial Australia. It is compared to Baz Luhrmann’s 'Australia' (2008) and several other films. In the second chapter, ‘Heritage Enigmatic’, 'The Irishman' is also drawn into comparison with Charles Chauvel’s ‘Jedda’ (1955), as films that incorporate Indigenous performances in this heritage discourse through the role of voice and sound. In Part 2, ‘Silences in Paradise’, the first essay, ‘Tropical Gothic’, focuses on Rachel Perkins’s 'Radiance' (1998) as a landmark post-colonial film that questions the connotations of icons of paradise in Queensland. The discussion leads to films, in the next chapter, ‘Island Girls Friday’, that figure women on Queensland islands, spanning the pre-revival and contemporary era: ‘Age of Consent’ (1969), ‘Nim’s Island’ (2008) and ‘Uninhabited’ (2010). Part 3, ‘Masculine Dramas of the Coast’ moves to the Gold Coast, in films dating from before and since the current spike in transnational production at the Warner Roadshow film studios there, namely, 'The Coolangatta Gold' (1984), 'Peter Pan' (2003), and 'Sanctum' (2011). The final section, ‘Regional Backtracks’, turns, first, to two television series, ‘Remote Area Nurse’ (2006), and ‘The Straits’ (2012), that share unique provenance of production in the Torres Strait and far north regions of Queensland, while, in the final chapter, the iconic outback districts of western Queensland figure the convergence of land, landscape and location in films with potent perspectives on Indigenous histories in ‘The Proposition’ (2005) and ‘Mystery Road’ (2013). ‘Finding Queensland in Australian Cinema’ presents the various regions as syncretic spaces subject to transitions of social and industry practices over time.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Awards
- Torres Strait Islands, Queensland,
