The ABC and The Sponsorship of Australian Radio Drama: 1932-1951

Abstract

In 1977 Alan Lawson pertinently observed that 'the genre most neglected in Australia by literary critics [until recently] and by bibliographers has been drama'. This claim restated what Virginia Kirby-Smith had suggested more than ten years before. There was an even greater dearth of interest in Australian radio drama. Just how this state of affairs came to exist is problematical since it has been constantly claimed and accepted that following the brief pre-war efflorescence of the Pioneer Players and William Moore's four Annual Drama Nights (1909-1912), Australian drama was virtually without serious intent until the mid 'fifties—save for the untiring production of serials, adaptations and original plays and documentaries for Australian radio by Australian authors.