The Bombora Explained

The Bombora
Format:drama play
Runtime:60 minutes
Country:Australia
Language:English
Home Station:ABC
Syndicates:ABC
Director:Leslie Rees
Record Location:Sydney
First Aired:6 October 1957

The Bombora is a 1957 Australian radio play by Coral Lansbury that was performed on the ABC. It was very highly regarded. The ABC production was broadcast on the BBC in September 1958. It was one of the first ABC productions for this to happen.[1] [2]

The play was also broadcast in New Zealand.[3]

It was first produced in 1957, then produced again in 1962, 1966 and 1969.[4]

Lansbury called it a "thriller" adding "Leslie Rees and I decided there'd been enough about Scotland Yard and the FBI, we'd have an Australian thriller for a change."[5]

Premise

A drama set in a pearling town. Glen Baker, an American, visits the coast with his wife Beryl who was once a barmaid in the town. Baker is investigating the wreck of a Japanese pearling ship which sunk in 1941, appearently with some pearls aboard. When the local tide is low and the "bombora", or whirlpool, is quiet for a few hours, the ship can be approached. Baker asks a local diver to help; the diver was once engaged to Baker's wife.

Notes and References

  1. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/b0a8cda5de00440aa77a6491486ac5ce The Bombora
  2. News: Australian radio drama for BBC. The Age. 5 September 1958. 25.
  3. Web site: 1958-08-06 . Broadcasting Programmes . 2023-08-27 . Papers Past.
  4. News: AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING COMMISSION 2CY 2CN . . 36 . 10,170 . Australian Capital Territory, Australia . 10 March 1962 . 26 August 2023 . 17 . National Library of Australia.
  5. News: Playwrights are on the air. The Sydney Morning Herald Woman's Section. 26 September 1957. 2.