The Castlereagh Line was an Australian radio serial, written by Ross Napier and produced by Grace Gibson Productions. Commencing in 1982 the serial ran for 910 episodes. Each episode is approximately 6 minutes in duration.
Contents
The drama mainly concerns the see-sawing fortunes of Lottie Clemens and John ("Jack") Seager (played by Wynne Nelson and Ric Hunter, respectively) as they establish and run their two business empires in the years from 1880 and the early 1900s. The title refers to a horse coach line they set up in the Castlereagh River area of New South Wales.
Music
The Castlereagh Line has a musical theme which features more than a dozen vocal variations, each mentioning numerous stops along the routes. The vocals for these themes were recorded by Australian performer Johnny Ashcroft. The words were sung to the tune of Lillibullero.
Publications
Ross Napier also wrote a series of books from 1984 to 1992 as a spin-off from the radio serial: The Castlereagh Line, The Castlereagh Way, The Colours of Castlereagh, The Castlereagh Heritage, The Castlereagh Rose, The Castlereagh Cross.
From 2012, Grace Gibson Productions commenced the issuing of the entire radio serial on CD, for public purchase
Broadcast
Between 2 February 2009 and 16 November 2011, the serial was broadcast as part of the Bob Rogers Show on 2CH in Sydney, and until 9 October 2013 on Nightline with Bruce & Phil on 3AW in Melbourne.
It is currently heard on a variety of stations, including 2NURFM Newcastle, 4KZ Innisfail, Golden Days Radio Melbourne and Yass FM Yass.