| Series: | Play of the Week |
| Series No: | 11 |
| Episode: | 15 |
| Director: | Graham Evans |
| Producer: | Cecil Clarke |
| Length: | 60 mins |
"The Cabbage Tree Hat Boys" is a 1965 British television play by Peter Yeldham set in Australia that was later adapted for radio. It was set in 1840s Australia.
A powerful struggle between rich Australian landowners, who want the cheap convict labour sent from Britain and the ordinary people who want to make the colony a decent place to live in.
It opens with a convict ship, the Hashemy, about to dock at an Australian port in 1849, resuming transportation to Australia. The cabbage tree hat boys, so called because the hats they wore were made of leaves of the cabbage tree, spear-head a group campaigning against the British transportation of convicts to Australia.
Jeremy is a former Irish convict. He is the father of Matthew, one of the boys, is torn between sympathy for his son's actions, which he considers right, and his anxiety to avoid trouble.
The Daily Telegraph said the episode "considerably enlivened" the show.[1] The Sydney Morning Herald reviewing the London production said it was "both entertaining and socially significant... eminently successful."[2]
The play was adapted for BBC radio in 1969.[3]
The play was adapted fo ABC radio in 1967.[4] It was produced again in 1969.[5] An Age review of the latter said it was "not sufficiently developed".[6]