She was the head writer and script editor of the ABC TV drama series Bellbird, the longest such series produced by the ABC, she also wrote the film adaptation of that series entitled Country Town.[1]
Biography
Vernon was born on 25 July 1916, Inverell, New South Wales the youngest child of four to medical practitioner Murray Menzies Vernon and Constance Emma Elliot (née Barling). She attended the New England School in Armidale, New South Wales, before entering the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force in 1943, rising to rank of Corporal, before being discharged in 1946. She joined radio the Northern Broadcasters radio station radio 2NZ. Vernon started to write plays because she was involved with amateur drama and they could not afford to pay for the copyright of plays.[1]
Her first play was "Naked Possum" in 1956, staged by Dame Doris Fitton,[2] her second professionally performed play was the award-winning "The Multi-Coloured Umbrella" and this was the first hour-long Australian play broadcast on Australian television.
Certain Women – contributions as editor (unknown episodes)
References
^ abcJane Connors, 'Vernon, Barbara Mary (1916–1978)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/vernon-barbara-mary-11922/text21359, published first in hardcopy 2002, accessed online 5 June 2016.
