Adventure Unlimited

The series was made in 1963, but was not shown in Sydney until 1965, airing on Channel Ten on Friday nights at 7.30.[3] An episode appears to have aired on Thursday, 30 September 1965.[4]

It was not seen in Melbourne until 1968, where it started 15 September.[5] It sold to Canadian television and screened there in 1965.[1]

Directed by Ken Hannam, written by Michael Plant and Evan Green. Filmed by Carl Kayser and Ron Taylor.

Set on Hayman Island. A drama involving a rich heiress, her husband and a pretty young singer.

Aired Sydney 10 December , 1965.[6]

Written by Joy Cavill, directed by Robin Lovejoy.

Set in Papua New Guinea – a nun from a Roman Catholic mission on the upper Sepik River was the witness to a murder in Sydney years before, and her testimony could result in a conviction. The story centres around plots to kill her while the police try to bring her back to testify.

Aired in Sydney on 5 November 1965.[7]

Directed by Robin Lovejoy. Photography by Carl Kayser and Ron Taylor.

Set on the Great Barrier reef – two divers are commissioned by a steel company to survey the sands of a section of coast for limestone in the sands – the area is full of sharks and divers go on a shark killing spree when a strange boat turns up with armed men on board. The men steal the divers' boat and proceed to hunt them. The divers ambush them on their own boat and take them prisoner. It turns out they are bringing in illegal aliens.

Aired Sydney 22 October 1965.[8]

The episode was reviewed in the Sydney Morning Herald. Kylie Tennant said "besides being dull it was slow."[9]

Directed by Ken Hannam.[10]

The story of coast watcher Arthur Reginald Evans (Fred Parslow), who helped safe the lives of John F. Kennedy and the PT 109 crew after their boat was sliced in two by a Japanese destroyed in the Bracket Strait.

Aired Sydney 19 November 1965[11]

Written by Lee Robinson and directed by Robin Lovejoy.

Two crocodile hunters are on the trail of Melangie, a giant crocodile valued at £500 if it can be captured alive. The plans go astray when three American women tourists arrive in Arnhem land.

Aired in Sydney 29 October 1965.[12][13]

Written by Cecil Holmes. Producer and directed by Lee Robinson.[14]

Filmed on the Northern Territory in West Arnhem Land – starring Grant Taylor as Ted Abbott, one of the Territory's leading buffalo hunters.

The National Film and Sound Archive listed this as episode 8 but it was the first (possibly second) episode aired in Sydney, on 8 October 1965.[15]

It was directed by Ken Hannam and shot by Bill Grimmond and Carl Kayser.

Set in 1942 in Madang, Papua New Guinea, about the Australian Army Women's Medical Service. It tells the true story of nurse Margaret Evans (Mary Reynolds), and her brief marriage to an Airforce pilot (Tom Oliver) which lasted only minutes, as he was killed shielding her with his body during an air raid immediately after the wedding. Written by Joyce Spelling (former colonel in chief of the Australian Women's Auxiliary), directed by Ken Hannam.[16]

It screened 3 December 1965 in Sydney and 13 October 1968 in Melbourne.[17][18]

Filming took place in New Guinea. It was one of the first professional roles in Australia for Tom Oliver who called the result "awful. Terrible."[19]

Directed by Robin Lovejoy.

Set in the highlands of Papua New Guinea – a young Australian patrol officer who leads his party to search for the survivors of a plane crash near the Indonesian border. He becomes the first white man to contact a tribe of cannibals.

Aired Sydney: 15 October 1965[20]

Written by Brian Wright and Lee Robinson. Directed by Robin Lovejoy.

Set in the Finke River district (NT) – a young officer takes over the district and undertakes a nine-week camel patrol where he realises the use of the camel and local trackers.

Aired Sydney 26 November 1965.[21]

Directed by Ken Hannam.

Set in Mt. Hagen in P.N.G. – a district show takes place and sees a feud between two coffee growers, Gordan Gillespie (Alexander Archdale) and Bob Cole (Chips Rafferty) with Gordons' boss boy as prize. The competition is a draw & the Bossboy goes off to start his own plantation.

Aired in Sydney 12 November 1965.[22]

Five episodes were shot in New Guinea – "The Rivals", "Uncontrolled Territory", "The Rescue", "The Witness", and "Silver Backed Brushes."

• Adventure Unlimited at Milesago
• Adventure Unlimited at National Film and Sound Archive