The Bronze Plain

The play was produced again in 1952[1] and twice in 1955 (a Brisbane production directed by Raymond Menmuir[2] and a Melbourne production[3] Leslie Rees wrote "By virtue of vivid, fluent verse, it evoked a picture of cold evil in the steely, ruthless Captain Godwin, contrasted with lyrical elements in the love of Godwin’s daughter for Brian McRae, a land-owning part-Aboriginal with a tongue to speak of both his heartache and his country.

"[4] The Adelaide Mail said the characters "hammered... the listeners', ears with such a thunder of platitudes and portentous epigrams that the shipwreck scene almost came as comic relief.

The turgid business ended in a welter of gore and iambic pentameters that surely left the stage in a greater mess than any since Humpty Dumpty took his historic plunge.

Major Croudace senses that something is amiss, but he can hardly guess that Captain Godwin intends to make his fortune, not from farming, but from wrecking and plundering ships.

Among the guests is Brian Mcßae, a young man of fine character, but brooding bitterly under the hurt of social ostracism, for he is of half-caste blood.