Burst of Summer

Burst of Summer
Written by	Oriel Gray
Date premiered	2 Feb 1960
Place premiered	Little Theatre, South Yarra, Melbourne
Original language	English
Subject	race relations

Burst of Summer
Directed by	William Sterling
Production company	ABC
Release date	1961
Running time	54 mins
Country	Australia
Language	English

Burst of Summer is a 1959 play by Oriel Gray.

Racial tensions that erupt in a small town when a young Aboriginal girl gains brief notability as a film actress. White townsfolk decide to build houses and move the Indigenous residents of the 'The Flats' into them.

The story story is based on the story of Ngarla Kunoth who was cast in the lead of Charles Chauvel's film Jedda.

The play was first produced in 1960.

The play was performed on ABC radio in 1960.

The play was broadcast in 1961 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Filming took place at the ABC's Melbourne Studios in South Bank.

Robert Tudawali was flown from Darwin to Melbourne to make his first appearance in a live television drama. He had already been seen in the filmed series Whiplash.

The TV critic from the Sydney Morning Herald called it a "half-hearted stab" at writing a story on the problems of the aboriginal in a white society, despite some good acting from Georgia Lee and Edward Howell. He added, "One couldn't escape the feeling that the author had dashed it off after seeing too many American movies, rather than making a serious attempt to put the Australian colour problem into its own perspective. It's a pity this missed out, because there is a goldmine of material on the aboriginal waiting for a skilled, sensitive writer to tap it."

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