The Red Terror, 1944

Title:
The Red Terror, 1944
NFSA ID
80685
Year
1944
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The Red Terror is a dramatised radio program that launched on northern NSW radio stations in 1939 and warned of the dangers of bushfires.

In this dramatic clip, excerpted from a 1944 episode, Jack and Martha prepare to flee their farm as a raging fire approaches. 

Each five-minute episode in the 26-part series staged debates about firefighting and fire prevention between a cast of entirely fictitious characters, pre-empting the ABC’s rural dramas The Lawsons (c1944–49) and Blue Hills (1949–76) by several years.

None of the early episodes of Red Terror has survived, but the NFSA collection holds one episode from 1944, from which this clip is taken.

Read more about regional radio dramas of the 1930s and 1940s.