The Bush Orphan

This is an excerpt from side one of a spoken word recording giving the backstory of how Skippy and Sonny first met.

The side opens with a song, 'Waratah National Park' by Kevin Gleeson, and then the spoken word story written by Moya Wood, who worked as scriptwriter and script coordinator on the television series.

The story is narrated by actor John McCallum, who was also a producer on Skippy. It was recorded while the series was in production, between 1966 and 1968.

It's a delightful recording, very much of its time, with the narrator's perfect diction seeming to speak directly to the intended young audience. Music and sound are used sparingly and unobtrusively in support, giving the recording the soothing quality of a bedtime story for children.

Side two contains another song, 'Skippy, Creature of the Wild', and story 'Skippy Saves Her Pals'.

Notes by Stephen Groenewegen and Adam Blackshaw