australian television information archive

Convict Town

Australia... in 1797 prisoners from the jails of London, mostly guilty of only petty or political crimes — were deported to desolate Botany Bay. Descendants of these convicts still lived in the bush in 1840 when Christopher Cobb, an American, came to establish a stage line and lived to become a legend.

Episode 1
February 18, 1961
Writer: Dwight Newton
Director: Peter Maxwell

Chris Cobb and one of his drivers arrive at a road construction site in time to save one of their men from a brutal beating at the hands of three thugs. The thugs are from Ledward's Bore, a convict settlement populated by con-men and ruffians. 'Big Tom' Ledward, the settlement's 'head man', ordered the beating in an attempt to prevent Cobb from opening lines of communication near the Bore. Ledward's son Dan hates the lifestyle of the Bore, and leaves the settlement and is given a job by Cobb. When a wagon loaded with gunpowder and supplies is stolen, and a Cobb employee is killed, suspicion falls on Dan.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Alex Cann as Tom Ledward, John Fegan as Garth, Ron Williams as Quint, Noanie Rothsey as Sally, Kenneth Goodlet as Mike Jacky, John Armstrong as Storekeeper, Phillip Ross as Matthews, Stuart Finch as Mr Gilley [uncredited], Waverney Ford as Sentry [uncredited]

Rider on the Hill

Episode 2
February 25, 1961
W: Harry Julian Fink
D: John Meredyth Lucas

A Cobb & Co. coach is wrecked when it runs into a heavy chain deliberately placed in its path by two bushrangers. A passenger is killed in the crash, and Cobb kills the bushrangers in self-defence. He later receives an Aboriginal death-stick, marking him to die at the next full moon. Defying the warning, Cobb takes a coach into Aboriginal territory, knowing that one of his passengers — a prisoner in chains, his police escort, an Aboriginal, a swagman and a young woman — is his would-be killer.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Gordon Glenwright as Swagman, Delia Williams as Miss Turner, Eric Reiman as Convict, Ivor Bromley as Constable, Johnny Cadell as Chengra

The Legacy

Episode 3
March 06, 1961
W: Bill Templeton
D: John Meredyth Lucas

Anxious to obtain good grazing land for his horses, Cobb approaches the heir to the large Carter estate to enquire about a grazing lease on the property. Cobb's request falls on unresponsive ears, and after he discusses the situation with their solicitor, he becomes directly involved in events concerning the Carter legacy.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Betty Lucas as Jo Acton, Moray Powell as Adam, Reginald Livermore as Maloomba, Kenric Hudson as Lenke, Ron Graham as Alfred, John Brunskill as Paul

The Other Side of the Swan

Australia 1840... Melbourne was already a cosmopolitan city, with an Italian Opera company, a race track and a gay social life. It's thirty thousand residents, however, were always three months behind in keeping up with the news of the rest of the world — since that was the time required for a ship to arrive from England.

Episode 4
March 11, 1961
W: Michael Plant
D: Peter Maxwell

While in Melbourne to open a branch office, Cobb is asked to do a personal favour for Sir John Eddington, the governor of New South Wales — to locate his brother, who fled England after being charged with murder. He was thought to be dead, but is now reported to be living in Melbourne under the assumed name Elliot Fajun. Cobb is warned that the assignment will be dangerous, possibly fatal, and when he accepts an invitation to visit the Governor's niece, Cobb is drugged and locked up.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Nigel Lovell as Mr. Swan, Margo Lee as Anna, Ken Fraser as Sir William [Sir John], Edward Hepple as Cabby, Hugh Stewart as Tilbert, Reg Lye as Police Sergeant, Maurice Travers as Hotel Clerk

Barbed Wire

Episode 5
March 18, 1961
W: Harry Julian Fink
D: Peter Maxwell

A vicious landowner has a young farmer flogged for attempting to fence in his land with barbed wire. Cobb and Ledward find the injured man, and Cobb goes after the landowner, who orders one of his men to shoot Cobb. He then attempts to shoot Cobb himself, but is thwarted by an Aboriginal station-hand.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Gerry Duggan as Doctor, Phillip Ross as Pierce, Grant Taylor as Dundee, Eric Reiman as Sullivan, Don Barkham as Tercell, Brett Hart as Bobby, Robert Tudawali as Roonga

Episode in Bathurst

Australia... the land 'down under' - whose history parallels the American west. Home of the aborigines - the trackless bush... the empty desert. A land where in 1840 an American - Christopher Cobb, came to establish a stage line - and lived to become a legend.

Episode 6
March 25, 1961
W: Gene Roddenberry
D: Peter Maxwell

Three Americans, the Denvers brothers, have moved into Bathurst and employ gangster methods to control the town and obtain easy money. They taunt Cobb, who is forced to kill one of them in self-defence. Cobb then utilises his skill with a bullwhip and boomerang, and drives the other two brothers out of town.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward [uncredited], Joe McCormick as Matt Denvers, Chuck Faulkner as Tiny Denvers, Richard Meikle as Pecos Denvers, George Roubicek as Tim Perkins, Geoffrey King as Thomas Perkins, Walter Pym as Wenders [does not appear], Annette Andre as Charlene [does not appear], Tom Farley as Farmer, Ron Shand as Publican [uncredited]

The Twisted Road

Episode 7
April 01, 1961
W: Michael Plant
D: Peter Maxwell

Cobb's coach is commandeered to transport a prisoner, Ted Cammidge, from Goondiwindi to Brisbane. Cammidge is to stand trial for murder, and is accompanied by his employer, Dr. Table, who plans to vouch for his innocence at the trial. A young female passenger learns a valuable lesson in life before the journey is completed.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Tom Farley as Dr. Inigo Table, Ben Gabriel as Mitty Cammidge, Rachel Lloyd as Felicity, Ivor Bromley as Queen's Officer, Pat Wedge as Maneeri

Dutchman's Reef

Since the dawn of history, the Australian aborigine has remained one of man's unsolved mysteries — where these savage tribesmen came from, no man knows… Even today their mysterious rites, their witch doctors, and their strange superstitions create fear and defy explanation.

Episode 8
April 08, 1961
W: Gene Roddenberry
D: Peter Maxwell

Cobb goes to search for a missing white man rumoured to be living with an Aboriginal tribe and stumbles across a legendary rich gold deposit, known as ‘Dutchman’s Reef’.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Leonard Teale as Norton, Queenie Ashton as Mrs. Cullert, Derani Scarr as Edwina, Jerome White as Charles, Phillip Ross as Kelly, Norman Blacker as Butler [Edward], Robert Tudawali as Native Boy

The Actress

Australia's great theatrical heritage dates from it's [sic] earliest days, when travelling stock companies were formed to entertain in mining camps, and sheep stations scattered across this vast land. Today this great tradition is represented by such Australian artists as Merle Oberon, Peter Finch, Judith Anderson and the late Errol Flynn.

Episode 9
April 15, 1961
W: Gene Roddenberry
D: Peter Maxwell

Cobb arrives in Dubbo to visit a girlfriend, but leaves the next day, having been told that miners will no longer send their gold with Cobb & Co. — unless Cobb can prevent bushranger Mike Upton's raids on the coaches. During the trip, Upton waylays Cobb's coach and kidnaps a female passenger. Cobb, suspecting that Upton is more a victim of circumstance than a criminal, trails Upton to his lair and rescues the girl. When their trail crosses that of the irate miners, who are intent on lynching Upton, the aspiring actress must give the performance of her career to save his life.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Jennifer Jayne as Genevieve Rochelle, Lew Luton as Mike Upton, Peter Carver as Dodson, Jerome White as Ashton, John Sherman as Elkins, Cherry Butlin as Clarisse, Tony Davey as Coach Driver [Charlie]

Divide and Conquer

Episode 10
April 22, 1961
W: David Evans
D: Peter Maxwell

Bushranger Paddy Cowan joins Bill Fry and his gang in the abduction of Cobb and a Government minister who are looking for a mountain pass to open up the fertile land beyond. The outlaws then hatch a plan to ransom them in exchange for pardons.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Harry Dearth as Sir John Wickett, Colin Croft as Paddy Cowan, Owen Weingott as Bill Fry, Lionel Long as Witton, Kirk Fabian as Bryant, Henry Murdoch as Billy-Jo, Bruck Wheeler as Everett

The Remittance Man

The 'Remittance Man' became a familiar figure in Australia during the Victorian era, when it was considered fashionable by the British aristocracy to send their young wastrel sons away from the temptations of London's social life. The term 'remittance' referred to the allowance sent regularly by the familes for their sons' upkeep.

Episode 11
April 29, 1961
W: Wells Root and Ron Bishop
D: John Meredyth-Lucas

Jimmy Quicksilver, a 'gentleman' bushranger, asks Cobb to conceal knowledge of his activities from two members of his aristocratic family who have come to Australia to take Quicksilver's son back to England to be educated.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Stuart Wagstaff as Jimmy Quicksilver, Geoffrey King as Sir Alex Glynders, Nellie Lamport as Lady Glynders, Roger Cox as Manny, Kim Hamilton as Martin

Sarong

Australia 1840… The discovery of pearl beds in the Tasman Sea, created the same frenzy as the Califormia gold rush. As in America's early history, this attracted a number of young women, called 'bond girls' who were sent as indentured servants to the colonizers.

Episode 12
May 06, 1961
W: Gene Roddenberry
D: John Meredyth Lucas

Posing as a miner from the goldfields, Cobb heads north towards Brisbane to investigate the disappearance of several young women — 'bond girls', indentured servants from the islands — who have vanished while travelling on Cobb & Co. coaches. He finds that the women were kidnapped and taken to a secluded inlet, where they were forced to dive for the abundance of pearls found there.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Joe McCormick as Zumwalt, Julian Flett as Hennessy, John Fegan as Capart, John Tate as Wenders, Barbara Guest as Terrani, Dale Ford as Nabila, Leilani Kemp as Leilani, Willi Koopman as Bond Girl [uncredited]

Solid Gold Brigade

The 'Banker on horseback' became a familiar figure in the Australian bush during the gold rush of 1851. Often dressed in formal attire, he travelled between the mining camps, assaying and collecting the gold for deposit in Sydney.

Episode 13
May 13, 1961
W: Michael Plant
D: Maury Geraghty

Cobb is hired to transport miner's gold from Fury Creek to Sydney, but enroute a bushranger shoots him and leaves him for dead. The bushranger then attempts to impersonate Cobb and get away with the gold.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, John Gray as Derby Strickland, Tony Arpino as Logan, John Brunskill as Adam Douglas, Ray Bushby as Baxter, Walter Pym as Oscar Wenders, Don Pascoe as Fenton, Ken Goodlet as Mike Jacky, Denys Burrows as Gage

Stage for Two

Episode 14
May 20, 1961
W: Terry Maples
D: Peter Maxwell

Cobb becomes the reluctant ally of an escaping bank robber who is sought not only by the police, but also by the outlaw gang he has cheated.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Leonard Teale as Wallace, Peter Guest as Reves, Vaughan Tracy as Braven, Rex Mansfield as Neil, Peter Armstrong as Babson, Ron Haddrick as Jack Meadows [uncredited]

The Bone That Whispered

The Australian aborigine is the oldest inhabitant on earth — a direct link to the Stone Age people. These strange and mysterious tribesmen possess some knowledge of occult powers — and by such rites as pointing the bone have been known to cause death or illness. Scientific evidence would indiccate that it is a form of post-hypnotic suggestion or mental telepathy which never has been satisfactorily explained.

Episode 15
May 27, 1961
W: Michael Plant
D: John Meredyth Lucas

When a small girl is left motherless, Cobb sets out to track down her father, a man charged with murder who has fled the law swearing his innocence and now living with an Aboriginal tribe.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Nigel Lovell as Edwin Regnor, Gwenda Pippen as Marianne Regnor, Reginald Lye as Barrow, Robert Tudawali as Dalgowlie, Jack Kelly as Tjalkalieri, Henry Murdoch as Billy-Jo [uncredited]

The Day of the Hunter

The Australian 'squatter' was really a sheep-herder who acquired land by simply squatting on it. This method of laying claim to grazing land was officially recognised by the Crown in 1836 and virtually all of the ancestral families in Australia acquired their vast land holdings in this way.

Episode 16
June 05, 1961
W: Michael Plant
D: Peter Maxwell

A squatter's farm is burned down by a land-hungry man who trades on people's fears by terrorising their families. Cobb undertakes a hazardous crossing of an Aboriginal burial ground to assist.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Rachel Lloyd as Maureen Flegg, Peter McCredie as Thomas Flegg, Max Osbiston as Garth Blake, Des Rolfe as Captain Wardley, Henry Murdoch as Billy-Jo, Chips Rafferty as Patrick Flegg

The Canoomba Affair

Episode 17
June 07, 1961
W: Richard Grey and Ralph Peterson
D: Peter Maxwell

Chris Cobb finds Canoomba empty of men after a gold strike in a nearby town. Chris has gold to transport but can't muster guards to help. Things become stranger when Dan's coach is robbed by what appeared to be a female bushranger.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Janette Craig as Joan Geddes, Stewart Ginn as Peebles, Lew Luton as Rick Geddes, Brenda Senders as Mrs. Parker, Don McNiven as Kemp, Ralph Peterson as Thurston

The Rushing Sands

A characteristic of the Australian personality is a congenital dislike of policemen. Some say the feeling goes back to early days, when the chief duty of the constables was to collect license fees from the miners. Other historians maintain that in order to establish their authority, the few police officers patrolling thousands of miles of trackless bush, had to be very tough and their reputation endures today.

Episode 18
June 24, 1961
W: Michael Plant
D: Peter Maxwell

In his Duranga office, Chris Cobb finds Petey Hibberd, a one time star driver for the Cobb stage line and now a mere husk of a man expecting death. Hibberd is dedicating his last days to tracking down the bushranger who he believes has murdered his son.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Gordon Glenwright as Petey Hibberd, Barry Linehan as Chad Karpner, Nevil Thurgood as Kenneth Colby

Fire Rock

During the paleolithic age, Australia became virtually a "lost world" when the land bridge connecting it with Asia sank into the sea. Today, it's [sic] prehistoric animal life, it's [sic] fantastic rock formations, and bubbling hot springs are evidence of the magnitude of this cataclysm.

Episode 19
July 01, 1961
W: Michael Plant
D: John Meredyth Lucas

A trusted Cobb & Co. agent disappears in the ‘Taroomba’, a sacred Aboriginal burial ground which is rich in opal. His wife, taking full advantage of the attraction that her beauty has for men, persuades Cobb to lead a search party — with surprising results.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Delia Williams as Ella, Kevin Golsby as Walter, Robert Tudawali as Kogarah, Alistair Roberts as Clauson

The Hunters

Australia has probably been above the water for one thousand, six hundred million years. It is the oldest continent on earth. Geologists believe that it was once connected to the continent of Asia by a land bridge stretching from Malaya to Java and the Indonesian Islands. It's [sic] inhabitants, the aborigines, were stone age people prior to the settlement of Australia in 1788. Their strange superstitions, tribal customs, and taboos exist even today in the wild outback.

Episode 20
July 08, 1961
W: Morris L. West
D: John Meredyth Lucas

A white cattleman, Dillon, inadvertently interrupts the ritual killing of a bull by a tribe of Aboriginals, and, according to tribal custom, must himself be killed to complete the cycle of events. A spear hurled by tribesman Mundaru seriously wounds him, but Dillon manages to escape. When Dillon's riderless horse returns to the homestead Cobb sets out on a desperate race against time.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Bettina Welch as Mary, Phillip Ross as Dillon, Robert Tudawali as Mundaru, Henry Murdoch as Billy Jo

Stage Freight

"Sly grogging" is a typical Australian outback expression meaning "bootlegging" or "rum running". In a nation where prohibition is a major issue, and liquor laws are very strict, it may help to explain the seemingly strange contradiction, that Australians are reputed to consume more alcoholic beverages per capita than any other people in the world.

Episode 21
July 15, 1961
W: Ralph Peterson
D: Peter Maxwell

Cobb has a full load of passengers on the return journey from Mowamba, and it seems certain that among them are a man and a woman who have committed a brutal murder.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Barry Linehan as Joe Scammell, Margo Lee as Rosie London, Eric Reiman as Magnus Irving, Fernande Glyn as Margaret, Terry McDermott as Tom, Bernard Don as Policeman

A Portrait in Gunpowder

Highwaymen were a constant threast to travellers in the Australian outback. Bushrangers with romantic names such as Captain Thunderbolt robbed gold escorts of fortunes. Ballads and legends still exist telling of the exploits of Ned Kelly, who wore a coal scuttle over his head as armour, and once 'occupied' two towns and locked all the citizens in Jail. He was hanged.

Episode 22
July 22, 1961
W: Michael Plant
D: John Meredyth Lucas

Cobb accepts a commission to transport a renowned artist newly arrived from France to an undisclosed destination. He again crosses the path of Jimmy Quicksilver, a 'gentleman bushranger' whose dishonesty is equalled only by his good manners and sense of humour.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Stuart Wagstaff as Jimmy Quicksilver, Therese Talbert as Denise de Mornay, Alan Light as Murchison, Roger Cox as Manny

Ribbons and Wheels

Thoroughbred horse racing in Australia has a long tradition dating back to the days when the Cobb stage lines raced their coaches against competitors to secure valuable route franchises. Today the sport of Kings is so popular with Australians that the day of the Melbourne Cup race is observed as a state holiday.

Episode 23
July 29, 1961
W: Ralph Peterson
D: Peter Maxwell

The owner of a feeder company for Cobb has been forced financially to accept new partners, who, unknown to Cobb, want to put him out of business. Ultimately, a race ensues between Cobb and the new line, but the line's new partners don't plan to play fair.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Tom Farley as Bunyip, Ursula Finlay as Kate, Grant Taylor as Horton, Kevin Colson as Kubley, Don McNiven as Race Judge

The Wreckers

Episode 24
August 05, 1961
W: Daphne Field
D: John Meredyth Lucas

A group of bushrangers capture a Cobb & Co. coach and use it in a series of raids and robberies implicating Cobb. Determined to protect his company's reputation, Cobb tracks down the bushrangers with the assistance of Dan Ledward and Kuraba, an Aboriginal who came to his aid.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Guy Doleman as Norris, Robert Tudawali as Aborigine, Hugh Stewart as Chief Officer, Nat Levison as Police Clerk

Uncredited: Deryck Barnes as Harris, Max Osbiston as Gillespie, Roger Cox as Hobart, Warwick Ray as Ned, Reg Gorman as Gang Member, Barry Armand as Tom, Bill Brady as Evans, Bernard Don as Wagon Master

Storm River

Although Australia has the second largest desert in the world — half the size of the Sahara — in the rainy season it's [sic] rivers overflow and create vast swamps. It was one of these 'oceans of reeds' that discouraged explorers from finding the source of Australia's great river system for nearly one hundred years.

Episode 25
August 12, 1961
W: Don Ingalls
D: John Meredyth-Lucas

Cobb is knocked out during a storm, and awakens in an outback cabin, where he finds his moneybelt has been taken. The cabin is occupied by a man, his son, and niece who wants desperately to get away from them and begs Cobb to take her with him when he leaves.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Annette Andre as Cassie, Grant Taylor as John Kerrabee, Norman Erskine as Cloy

Flood Tide

Episode 26
August 19, 1961
W: Michael Plant
D: Ben Fox

Cobb and his sole passenger, Sarah Bartley, spend the night in a deserted house trapped by a flood. During the night a violent storm strikes, and all is not as it seems when a mysterious stranger arrives to seek shelter.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Shirley Broadway as Sarah Bartley, Barry Linehan as Jess Beldon

A Dilemma in Wool

Australia produces more wool than any continent in the world. Yet, oddly enough, its' [sic] most famous breed of sheep, the Australian Merino, is a native of Spain. In 1847 two ewes and a ram were brought by sailing ship thirteen thousand miles around the Cape of Good Hope and founded the dynasty.

Episode 27
August 26, 1961
W: .Ralph Peterson
D: Peter Maxwell

Cobb becomes involved in the strange story of a fugitive Spanish couple, a stolen lamb, and the beginning of Australia's wool growing industry.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Janette Craig as Nina, Neil Fitzpatrick as Carlos, Nigel Lovell as Jose, Lionel Long as Dyson, Chris Christensen as Drover

Dark Runs the Sea

Episode 28
September 02, 1961
W: Oscar Maillard and Michael Plant
D: John Meredyth Lucas

Attractive, young, thrill-seeking Fiona Merrick, niece of the local magistrate, is kidnapped in the outback. Cobb is mystified when he discovers that she is apparently a willing victim, and the local magistrate is reluctant to press on with the search for her.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Reg Lye as Bradley Bradley, Annette Andre as Fiona Merrick, Guy Doleman as Raike Darkner, Joe McCormick as Arnold Lufton, Neville Gaha as Darkner's Assistant, John Brunskill as Lieutenant

The Magic Wire

Until the first telegraph line was completed between Sydney and Melbourne in 1872, the Cobb stage lines, which travelled 28,000 miles each week, were virtually the only means of communication. Before the west coast of Australia was finally interconnected in 1875, telegraph linesmen had to fight highwaymen, insects, deserts and impenetrable mountain forests and bush.

Episode 29
September 09, 1961
W: Ralph Peterson
D: Peter Maxwell

Aboriginal attacks imperil the laying of an overhead telegraph line. Cobb, contracted to freight supplies from the coast to a telegraph construction camp, discovers that the attacks are being instigated by a white man who has much to gain if the work is not completed on schedule.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Anthony Wickert as Dan Ledward, Peter Aanensen as Sam Green, Terry McDermott as Jack Sheridan, Robert Tudawali as Kunama, Nosepeg as Tjankata

The Haunted Valley

While the lawlessness of the American West has been exaggerated — the bush rangers who roamed the outback of Australia, during the same period were among the most dangerous outlaws the world has ever known. Secret mountain passes and hidden valleys provided them with hideouts from which only an army of territorial police could dislodge them.

Episode 30
September 16, 1961
W: Gerry Day
D: John Meredyth Lucas

Cattlemen at Wallaby Junction lose stock in mysterious thefts which convince Cobb that there must be a secret pass through the surrounding mountains. He sets out to find the trail and catch the thief.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Bettina Welch as Catha, Ron Whelan as MacReady, Kevin Colson as Robbie, Norman Blackler as Kilcain

Love Story in Gold

Australia... in 1797 prisoners from the jails of London, mostly guilty of only petty or political crimes — were deported to desolate Botany Bay. Descendants of these convists still lived in the bush in 1840 when Cristopher Cobb, an American came to establish a stage line and lived to become a legend.

Episode 31
September 23, 1961
W: James Clavell
D: John Meredyth Lucas

A man tosses a sack of gold into Cobb's office in Sydney, and asks Cobb to personally undertake to transport a load of merchandise, including brandy, a trousseau and two coffins, into the heart of New South Wales. Cobb hasn't much enthusiasm for the job, but he is attracted by the price. At the agreed meeting place, Cobb is overpowered and taken to a lush valley, where he meets the female leader of a group of escaped convicts. She tells Cobb that he is to marry her daughter and he will be given more gold than he can imagine. If he refuses, he will fill one of the coffins.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Neva Carr-Glyn as Tamros, Owen Weingott as Smithy, Margaret Mewkill as Toria, Keith Silver as Rufus, Chris Christensen as Preacher, Cecil West as Book-keeper [Mr Sheridan]

Secret of the Screaming Hills

Australia possesses the second largest desert area in the world — over half the size of the Sahara. In the wild Northern Territory, the Simpson Desert, the Nullarbor Plain, and the Great Victoria desert, years often pass without rain. To ranchers and farmers living on the edge of these barren lands, water is valued more highly than gold — and the aborigines draw a strange little figure in the earth — called the 'frog man' as a symbolic plea to their rain gods for water.

Episode 32
September 30, 1961
W: Michael Plant
D: Peter Maxwell

Cobb finds a dying man in the bush, and undertakes to deliver a map to the man's wife. With the help of an Aboriginal, Cobb solves the mystery of the 'frog fella' and a missing treasure.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Marion Johns as Mrs. Wooster, Frank Waters as Garrett, James Elliott as Ryan, George Roubicek as Frank Garrett, Pat Wedge as Joe Clever Fellow, Veronica Rouse as Miranda, Ken Goodlet as Wooster, Reg Livermore as Tad, Tex Clark as Doctor [uncredited]

Act of Courage

Episode 33
October 07, 1961
W: Gerry Day
D: Ben Fox

On his way to testify at the trial of a bushranger charged with killing one of his stagecoach drivers, Cobb arrives at drought-stricken Cross Creek Station with two passengers, a married couple. He is met by a gang who plan to keep him prisoner until after the bushranger's trial.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Guy Doleman as Sundowner, Margo Lee as Terry, Brett Hart as Mike, Terry McDermott as Slyter, Ric Hutton as Lachlan, Janette Craig as Catherine, Brian Hungerford as Stuart, Tony Madigan as Kelly

The Adelaide Arabs

Australia's great interest in horse racing and breeding stems from the earliest days. Since forage and water were scarce, desert stallions, purchased from the great Sultan of Arabia, were carried by sailing ships a distance of nine thousand miles to be sold for fantastic prices in Sydney.

Episode 34
October 14, 1961
W: Ralph Peterson
D: Peter Maxwell

A female horse-breeder, a gang of bushrangers, and Chris Cobb are all in hot competition for the possession of three magnificent Arabian horses, and the contest soon becomes a fight to the death.

Cast: Peter Graves as Chris Cobb, Chips Rafferty as Sorrel, Chuck Faulkner as O'Hara, Donald Barkham as Link, Coralie Neville as Virginia, Stuart Wagstaff as Lt. Hoffman, Al Thomas as Auctioneer, Peter Owen as Wallace, Walter Pym as Mr. Poole