The Sundowner (radio series)

The Sundowner is an Australian radio series starring Chips Rafferty as a swagman.

Production history
The series originated in 1947 as a vehicle for Chips Rafferty after his success with The Overlanders. It was devised by Peter Finch who wrote a pilot script in conjunction with Harry Alan Towers, who was visitng Australia at the time. The pilot was recorded in Sydney around August 1947, after which Towers took it back with him to London where he sold the series overseas in 1948 and ordered a batch of episodes. Finch also directed the pilot. When Finch went to London, John Wiltshire took over as director although Finch continued to contribute episodes as writer.

The series debuted in Australia on 1950. It was made by Towers of London. Reviews were mixed.

The show was heard in Australia on a network of 60 stations, including 2UE, every Friday at 8.30 p.m., and on Mondays from SAD at 8.00 p.m., from 3DB, 4BK, and 7HT at 8.30 p.m. According to one listener, "The sponsors are also to be congratulated on the acquisition of the really fine script. Chips Rafferty’s voice has rare qualities, being melodious, quiet, beautifully distinct, unhurried, unaffected, and utterly uncorrupted by any accent (“drawl” or “twang”). In short, Chips speaks good, unadulterated, pure Australian-English."

The show was sponsored in Australia by Shell.

It is not to be confused with another radio series starring Rafferty, Chips.

Premise
The Sundowner travels the Australian outback having adventures.

Cast

 * Chips Rafferty as The Sundowner
 * Marshall Crosby
 * Tom Lake
 * Alan Herbert
 * Frank Ransom

Select episodes

 * "Lasseter" - written by Finch
 * "The Bushranger" (17 Feb) - "Old Eddie spent most of his time dreaming about the old bushrangers. They were his idols. Then he tried to emulate their exploits. At first his friends were able to hush things up, but finally he tried to stick up the bank, slipped on the polished linoleum and broke his hip. His final lament from his sick bed  is that if they’d let him carry on he would have tied up Mrs. Thompson,  the schoolteacher, and given all the  kids a half-holiday, just as one of his heroes had done in the wild colonial days. "
 * Ep 6 - "The Immigrant" (24 Feb) - Chips calls at a homestead, and meets an English immigrant who tells about his rivalry with a neighbour
 * "The Drovers" (3 March) - three boys lead a cattle drive from north Queensland to Adelaide
 * "On the Track" (10 March) - The Sundowner travels with a swagman called Andy and they wind up at a rodeo.
 * Ep Seven "The Poet" (17 March) - On a big sheep station in Northern N.S.W., the shearing season is in full swing. The shearers tell stories in the evenings.
 * Ep 10 pearling industry (24 March) - The Sundowner signs on as a member of the crew of a pearling lugger at Broome
 * "Timber" (7 April) - The Sundowner and his mate find an ancient and majestic old Karri tree, about which they have heard strange stories. In his dream the Sundowner seems to hear the spirit voice of the tree.
 * "Mercy on Wings" (21 April) - old timer Dogger Bails falls sick but insists on going on a drove - he refuses to allow The Sundowner to ride to the nearest wireless to call the Flying Doctor. Dogger's grandson rides, is injured. The Flying Doctor arrives to save him.
 * "The Broken Hill" (May 12) - the Sundowner meets an American down on his life and an old timer who talks of the town Silverton near Broken Hill and a story of the old days
 * (19 May) - The Sundowner stops at a wayside road show. One of the exhibits is a Wild Man of Borneo, in whom Chips recognises an old acquaintance, an aboriginal by the name of Fred Haynes. He tells of discrimination he has suffered.
 * "Whiplash" (26 May) - On a cattle-drove in Queensland, Chips and Cracker Charlie are annoyed when the herd is stampeded by an inexperienced drover named Johnno, who cracks a whip in the night and frightens the animals.  Johnny finds out why the head drover Ian never uses a whip.
 * Diamond field (9 June) - The Sundowener meets Steve who he knew from the diamond fields near Inverell - Steve tells how his father Horrie looked for diamonds.
 * Sheep station (23 June)
 * Steel industry (30 June) - The Sundowner meets a boy who does not want to work in his father's steelworks