Wandjina!From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaWandjina!

Created byG K Saunders

Country of originAustralia

No.of episodes7

Production

CinematographyJohn Seale

Running time30 minutes

Release

Original channelABC Television

Picture formatblack-and-white

Original release1966

Wandjina!was an Australianchildren'sscience fantasytelevision series produced byABC Televisionand first aired in 1966. The story was inspired byDreamtimemythology of the spirit ancestors of theKimberlyregion of north-West Australia and is about three teenagers who become caught up in an adventure linked to local sacred Aboriginal cave paintings of theWandjina the "people from the sky" who visited long ago, in theDreamtime.[1]Wandjina!was the first integrated film and videotape drama production ever undertaken by the ABC in Sydney.[1]Synopsis[edit]A team of scientists includingMiss Smith, venture into the Australian outback to investigate strange incidents. Donald MacPherson, a Scots-born anthropologist, discoversaboriginalpaintings 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 MacPhersonandLinda, an aboriginal girl, explore the Wandjina caves near "Booala" Station and stumble on to a cave full of skeletons.[2]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.Cast and characters[edit]