Barbara Vernon(1916-1978)

[on setting up ABC's Bellbird (1967) We chose the name Bellbird because we understood that there was a town called Bellbird in every State in Australia. We were also very conscious about keeping the setting neutral. We made a great effort to keep State references out. For instance, we always referred to "the city", rather than to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. However, production began in the ABC studios in Melbourne. This was because they happened to be available. Sydney had a full schedule. So when there were cars they had Victorian registration, the trains were obviously Victorian, and it pretty soon became obvious that Bellbird was a Victorian town. This hadn't been intended.