| The Miner's Trust | |
| Director: | John Gunn[1] |
| Setting: | England Victorian goldfields |
| Premiere: | 31 October 1908[2] |
| Place: | Palace Theatre, Sydney |
| Orig Lang: | English |
| Genre: | melodrama |
The Miner's Trust is a 1908 Australian play by Jo Smith.[3] It was Smith's first play and very successful. The play was rare for Australian plays at the time in that it was an original for the stage, not an adaptation of a novel or historical event.[4]
The play was produced and directed by John Gunn, a leading theatre manager of the time. He said "I have read many and good Australian manuscripts, but this is far and away the best I have been privileged to glance through."[5]
Reviews were generally strong.[6] '
Evening Sun said "Few imported dramas of the kind, it is said, have the absorbingly interesting plot that characterises A Miner's Trust which, moreover, is not written in the hysterical key common to most melodramas."[7]
The Sydney Morning Herald said it "possesses a higher standard of literary excellence and dramatic construction than much of the similar work of English playwrights."[8]
The Daily Telegraph said "The piece is straight-out melodrama, the central idea is as preposterous as usual, and conventionalities are well preserved. Mr. Smith, however, having got the idea, sticks to it with praiseworthy determination, and allows no side-stepping, but bustles the story along to the inevitable end with considerable ingenuity and well-contrived dramatic effects."[9]
Two Englishmen, John Howard and Alan Trengrove, have been prospecting in Red Hills, Victoria. They strike a rich claim, then return to Melbourne. On the way, John is shot and killed by a French bushranger, an escapee from New Caldeonia. Alan decides to impersonate John to marry John's blind fiancée, Alice Medway, and say that Alan was murdered. Alan then discovers he has inherited a fortune from an uncle in America but this has gone to his villainous cousin Arthur, as they think "Alan" is dead. Alan also falls in love with Ida Medway. Alan hears of a shipwreck and helps rescues the passengers, who include the French bushranger, returning home to France. The bushranger recognises Alan which makes Arthur suspicious. Alan confesses his deception to Ida's father, which is overheard by Alice. Alice gives up her claim to "John" (Alan). Arthur loses his fortune. The French bushranger is arrested.[10] [11]