Pastures of the Blue Crane

Pastures of the Blue Crane

First edition
Author	Hesba Fay Brinsmead
Illustrator	Annette Macarthur-Onslow
Country	Australia
Language	English
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	1964

Pastures of the Blue Crane is an Australian novel by Hesba Fay Brinsmead, published in 1964. The novel won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers in 1965. It was adapted for television in 1969.

Synopsis

The story opens in Melbourne, where Amaryllis Merewether, aged 16, is told her father has died and that she is to inherit his farm on the north coast of New South Wales. There is a catch; the co-heir is the grandfather she never knew she had. The snooty schoolgirl and the ramshackle old pensioner are clearly at odds, yet both are curious about the farm and agree to take the train together and visit their property.

The pair are captivated by the beautiful, almost tropical landscape, and soon its luxuriance begins to work its magic on lonely, isolated Ryl and tetchy Dusty. Too young for university, and with nothing else to do in the meantime, Ryl renovates the old farmhouse and makes of it the first real home she has ever had. She makes new friends, including the mysterious taxi driver, Perry. To her astonishment, she finds relatives her father never told her about ... and discovers why he kept them hidden.

Reception

Pastures of the Blue Crane won the Children's Book Council of Australia's Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers in 1965 and the Mary Gilmore Prize, and established its author's reputation. It remained popular into the 1970s.

Today, its theme of half-caste shame and secrecy has caused the novel to fall from favour in a society where to be of mixed race is now considered an asset. However, it is a fascinating glimpse of a little-known episode in Australia's history, when Pacific Islanders were shipped in to work on plantations in NSW and Queensland.^[1]

Television version

The book was adapted for television by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1969.^[2]

It was the most expensive production from the ABC drama department since My Brother Jack in 1964, although the budget did not stretch to colour. Shooting took place in Sydney, Murwillumbah, Terranora, Coolangatta and Brisbane.^[3] The house featuring in the television series is named "Lovat Brae" and was built by Thomas Fraser in 1904 and still exists today.

References

External links

• Pastures of the Blue Crane (1969 TV adaptation) at the Internet Movie Database
• TV adaptation at AustLit