Pastures of the Blue Crane

Based on the novel by Hesba Brinsmead, this was the first Australian TV series to address racism in any meaningful way. Ryhll Merewether, played by Jeannie Drynan, finds herself dumped on a northern NSW banana plantation after her father dies. She hates it and and hates the people, including a half-caste labourer (Harold Hopkins)who wants to go to university and his crippled old Melanesian grandfather, on the plantation even more.

Her journey of discovery, including her realisation only after the death of the old man, that he was her grandfather and she is the sister of the plantation labourer, was handled remarkably well for a time when Australia was still pursuing a white-only immigration program and discrimination against black Australians was endemic.

Jeannie Drynan's best line in the series "Now I know what it's like to be coloured and it doesn't feel any different" was a big step for Australian TV and signalled a move away from comfortable drama in prime time.