The Bushrangers (Burn play)

The Bushrangers

Written by| David Burn
Date premiered| September 8, 1829 (1829-09-08) [1]
Place premiered| Caledonian Theatre, Ebinburgh
Original language| English
Subject| bushrangers
Genre| melodrama
Setting| Tasmania

The Bushrangers is a 1829 Australian play by David Burn. It was the first Australian written play with a local background. The play was never published in Burns' lifetime (unlike his other plays).[2] However a copy survived in the Mitchell Library and the play was performed in Edinburgh in 1829.[3][4][5]

It is not to be confused with the 1834 play The Bushrangers.

The play was published in book for in 1971. A reviewer said "I think it is unlikely to find many serious producers. It has the one merit of melodrama; it moves along at a spanking pace. Apart from this its interest lies in being a local example of a regrettable period in the history of drama."[6]

## Premise[edit]

Some convicts in Tasmania escape and one becomes a bushranger.

## References[edit]

1. ^ "THE STAGE BUSHRANGER: A Hoary Veteran". The Worker. Vol. 18, no. 12\. New South Wales, Australia. 25 March 1909. p. 27. Retrieved 19 November 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
2. ^ "THE STAGE BUSHRANGER: A Hoary Veteran". The Worker. Vol. 18, no. 12\. New South Wales, Australia. 25 March 1909. p. 27. Retrieved 19 November 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
3. ^ Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards an Australian Drama. pp. 6–11.
4. ^ D. H. Borchardt, 'Burn, David (c. 1799–1875)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/burn-david-1854/text2153, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 19 November 2023.
5. ^ "GREAT TASMANIAN EDITORS OF THE PAST". The Mercury. Vol. CLXXIII, no. 25, 636. Tasmania, Australia. 19 February 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 19 November 2023 - via National Library of Australia.
6. ^ "A dramatic relic". The Canberra Times. Vol. 46, no. 12, 943. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 16 October 1971. p. 15. Retrieved 19 November 2023 - via National Library of Australia.

## External links[edit]

* The Bushrangers at AustLit