Created by G K Saunders No. of episodes 7 Running time 30 minutes | Country of origin Australia Cinematography John Seale Original network ABC Television | |
Wandjina! was an Australian children's science fantasy television series produced by ABC Television and first aired in 1966. The story was inspired by Dreamtime mythology of the spirit ancestors of the Kimberly region of north-West Australia and is about three teenagers who become caught up in an adventure linked to local sacred Aboriginal cave paintings of the Wandjina — the "people from the sky" who visited long ago, in the Dreamtime.
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Wandjina! was the first integrated film and videotape drama production ever undertaken by the ABC in Sydney.
Synopsis
A team of scientists including Miss Smith, venture into the Australian outback to investigate strange incidents. Donald MacPherson, a Scots-born anthropologist, discovers aboriginal paintings found on cave walls depicting mythical alien beings — the 'Wandjina', an extraterrestrial race that visited the ancient aborigines. Disturbing events indicate that not only are the beings real, they have not all left. The daughter of the anthropologist, Ann MacPherson and Linda, an aboriginal girl, explore the Wandjina caves near "Booala" Station and stumble on to a cave full of skeletons. The teenagers see some strange things: in one scene a mysterious hooded figure hunts kangaroos with a rod that strikes them down silently at a distance. The Wandjina resemble hooded monks with what looks like life-support back packs (similar to those astronauts used on the moon). Their power base is in a lighthouse style tower at the top of farm land.
In one of the episodes an elongated skull, "the Wandjina skull" is unearthed from sand causing gale-force winds.