George Kenneth Saunders (1910–2005), also known as Ken Saunders, was a New Zealand writer, born in England, who had a substantial career in Australia.

Career

After leaving

Canterbury University The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

, he secured a job writing scripts for radio 3ZD

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. Hoping to expand his horizons, he emigrated to Australia in August 1939 with his wife Mona. Introduced by

Peter Finch Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio. Born in London, he emigrated to Australia at the age of ten and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudevi ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

Federal Controller of Productions

Frank Clewlow Frank Dawson Clewlow (October–December 1885 – 13 June 1957) also known under pseudonym of Stafford Dawson, was an English-born actor, director, stage and radio producer and theatre manager, he worked in his native England, as well as Scotland ...

, who was recruiting staff for the newly reconstituted

Argonauts Club ''The Argonauts Club'' was an Australian children's radio program, first broadcast in 1933 on ABC Radio Melbourne. Its format was devised by Nina Murdoch who had run the station's Children's Hour as "Pat". The show was discontinued in 1934 when N ...

and its companion program "The Children's Session", he was immediately put to work developing the on-air characters of 'Mac', 'Joe' and 'Elizabeth', and concocting humorous vignettes to brighten up the show. He was also writing scripts for the

Macquarie Network Nine Radio (formerly Macquarie Media Limited) is an Australian media company, owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and headquartered in North Sydney. The company operates radio stations nationally in the capital cities of Sydney, Melbou ...

's ''Lux Radio Theatre'', but with Australia's entry into World War II, he was recruited into the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

, leaving only Sundays for him to develop scripts for the ABC. Mona handled his correspondence as well as scripts and quizzes for the Argosy and Brains Trust, weekend programs associated with the Argonauts. After the War, he was able to devote more attention to stories for the Children's Hour. ''The Moon Flower'' and ''The First Planet'', science fiction serials aired in 1953, were so successful he went on to write a dozen more; all highly speculative yet incorporating important scientific principles. ''The Stranger'' was sold overseas as a radio serial and also published as a novel. Around 1957 he and Mona moved to England to gain experience writing for television, but kept up his commitments with the ABC by writing a serial ''The Nomads'' about a family caravanning about Europe. In the end it ran for 400 episodes. It was not without its detractors, however; in 1960 the politician Sir

Wilfrid Kent Hughes Sir Wilfrid Selwyn "Bill" Kent Hughes (12 June 1895 – 31 July 1970) was an Australian army officer and politician who had a long career in both state and federal politics, most notably as a minister in the Menzies government (1949–196 ...

saw the story as subtle Communist propaganda and made a vitriolic speech to the

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

Young Liberals to that effect. Mona Saunders (née Beri) (1910–1994) wrote their joint autobiography ''Lucky Couple'', published in 1998.

Screen

*'' The Stranger'' 1964-65 ABCTV series (12 × 30min episodes) *''

Wandjina! ''Wandjina!'' was an Australian children's science fantasy television series produced by ABC Television and first aired in 1966. Its story, inspired by Dreamtime mythology of the spirit ancestors of the Kimberley region of north-West Australia, w ...

'' 1966 ABCTV series (7 × 30min episodes)

Publications

*''ABC Children's Hour Annuals'' 1956 - Educational Press for ABC, Sydney 1956 - *''The Stranger'' Whitcombe & Tombs, Sydney 1978 *''The Forest Rangers'' Whitcoulls, Christchurch New Zealand 1979 *''Maggie Jackson's Kid'' Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra 1998 *''Lucky Couple'' (Mona Saunders and Ken Saunders), The Caxton Press 1998

Sources

*''The Golden Age of the Argonauts'' Rob Johnson, Hodder & Stoughton 1997

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, G. K. New Zealand radio writers New Zealand expatriates in Australia Australian radio writers Australian science fiction writers Australian television writers 1910 births 2005 deaths Australian male novelists Australian male television writers 20th-century Australian screenwriters English emigrants to New Zealand