''Tales of the Southern Cross'' is a 1940 Australian radio drama series by

Joy Hollyer Joy Hollyer was an Australian writer whose career ranged from the 1940s until the 1970s. She collaborated a number of times on radio scripts with Edmund Barclay Edmund Piers Barclay (2 May 1898 – 26 August 1961) was an English-Australian w ...

. It was a series of children's Sunday plays, based on Australian history and true adventure.

Select episodes

#"Treasures of the Deep" (1 September) - a boy takes his father's place on a pearling lugger of the coast of Western Australia #"Wrecker's Island" (8 September) - a boy fights pirates on Kangaroo Island #"The Bold Buccaneer" (15 September) - a cabin boy sails with

William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...

#"The Quartermaster" (22 September) - a cabin boy goes to

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

and gets involved with

Henry Hacking Henry Hacking (1750 – 21 July 1831) was an Australian seaman and early explorer in New South Wales. He was responsible for shooting and killing the Aboriginal resistance fighter Pemulwuy in 1802. Biography Hacking was quartermaster of , t ...

#"Bobbies and Bushies" (29 September) - a boy gets involved with bushrangers #"A Brave Australian" (6 October) - a tale about Police Trooper Walker who tracks

Captain Thunderbolt Frederick Wordsworth Ward (1835 – 25 May 1870), better known by the self-styled pseudonym of Captain Thunderbolt, was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island, and also for his reputation as the "gentleman bushrang ...

#The Flying Doctor (13 October) #"The Last of the Pirates" (20 October) - about Bully Hayes #"The First Farmer" (27 October) - about

James Ruse James Ruse (9 August17595 September 1837) was a Cornish farmer who, at age 23, was convicted of burglary and was sentenced to seven years' transportation. He arrived at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, on the First Fleet with 18 months of h ...

#"Bounty Bligh" (3 November) - about William Bligh #"Guinea Gold" (10 November) - James Lewis (Peter Finch), New Guinea patrolman, saves an old prospector, Wall Eye Sums (Lou Vernon), from being killed by new Guinea cannibals. The two then discover gold deposits in New Guinea. ''Wireless Weekly'' said "Not a breath-taking play, but more interesting than the usual kids’ fare. And well done. Acting by Peter Pinch and Lou Vernon is worth mentioning." #"A Modern Moses" (17 November) #"Whales in the South Seas" (1 December 1940) - Harry and Denny, two Australian boys who wanted to be whalers, do business with Archibald Mosman. #"The Seven Sisters" (8 December 1940) - the Aboriginal story of seven sisters who make up the

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...

References

{{reflist Australian radio dramas based on actual events 1940 Australian radio dramas Piracy in Australia Australian radio dramas set in New Guinea