Margaret Catchpole (radio play)

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Margaret Catchpole is a 1945 Australian radio drama written by Rex Rienits about the Englishwoman Margaret Catchpole, who was transported to New South Wales in the early 1800s. The 60-minute program aired on ABC on 22 April 1945 (8:00–9:00 pm), directed by Charles Wheeler and starring Bebe Scott.

It was one of several Rienits dramas about Australian historical figures, and plays about Australian subjects were relatively rare on radio at the time. Critics like Leslie Rees listed it among the most notable Australian radio dramas of the 1940s. The play was repeated later in 1945 and re-recorded in 1958, and some listeners cited it as one of the best plays of 1945.

Catchpole’s story was later dramatized by the ABC in 1950 as an episode of Famous Women and featured again in a 1953 “talks” episode. ABC Weekly summarized the play as telling the story of a strong-minded, attractive English girl sent to New South Wales, who attracts public interest by rejecting a marriage offer from a well-connected settler; it explains why she was transported and why she refused marriage, keeping suspense to the end.