The series shows the struggle for survival in the early days of Australia in all it's brutal, corrupt, lawless and miserable glory,no punches are pulled,and it makes the wild west look like Trumpton! Overall, I would say that, for those who remember this with affection and who are able to look over the flaws of the print, there is much here to enjoy.

Genteel Jason, kind-hearted Samuel (Gerard Maguire), fiery Luke (former Arthur of the Britonsstar Oliver Tobias) and their sister Jassy (Elisabeth Crosby) are to establish a sheep farm on land which has been bequeathed to Jason.To begin with, these opposing views cause great tension as it is unclear who will be the eventual patriarch.

Other regular characters included Moll the innkeeper (Shirley Cameron), Kate Bell (Helen Morse), a former inmate of the notorious Female Factory at Parramatta, and former comic Willie Fennell as a shepherd who the Firbeck family befriends. In the early 19th Century, a man takes his children to Australia to start a new life, but finds that the land he was left by a friend has been settled by others.

Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. Tobias is excellent as the determined,violent and very flawed 'hero'(you'll see why) who will stop at nothing to protect his family's land,but all the cast are good and the stories are well written and filmed, you will get frustrated at Luke's father, who just does not get it!

Amongst its directors are fan-favourite Peter Hammond ( The Avengers ) and the award-winning Peter Weir ( Picnic at Hanging Rock ). Archive TV fans may also like to know that the series was produced by Tony Essex of 'Follyfoot' fame. Tobias, with his rugged good looks was already on his way to making a career of period-piece dramas having previously starred in Arthur of the Britons, he would follow this series with a guest appearance in Dick Turpin and a starring role in Smuggler.Maybe this is the only print available and the market for such a series so marginal that any investment in cleaning it up would never be recouped. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. The programme's popularity at the time (and no doubt part of its enduring appeal) is the smolderingly handsome Luke himself, played by a pre-'The Bitch' Oliver Tobias at his physical prime. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. In 1829, following the tragic death of his wife, retired naval officer Jason Firbeck (James Condon) takes his three adult children – two sons and a daughter – from their home in Yorkshire and heads for the new land of Australia, determined to build a new life for themselves in New South Wales – which at the time was also still a penal colony.