The Bunyip (musical)
The Bunyip, also known by the longer title The Enchantment of Fairy Princess Wattle Blossom, was written by Ella Palzier Campbell (aka Ella Airlie). The pantomime was a highly successful musical comedy that toured Australia for a decade within Fuller Brothers theatre circuit. The show was produced by Sydney entrepreneur Nat Philips. The premiere of the show ran for at least 97 performances and was revived several times over the following decade. Production history Music was supplied by a number of Australian stage personalities including Vince Courtney, Herbert De Pinna and James Kendis. A Melbourne National Gallery student P. Cohen was enlisted to paint the sets with Australian flowers, namely wattle and waratah, on costumes also. Venues 1916 Grand Opera House, Sydney 1917 Princess Theatre, Melbourne 1917 Majestic Theatre, Adelaide 1918 Brisbane Empire 1924 Sydney Hippodrome Synopsis The story opens with a bushfire in which all the bush creatures are bought out into the open. Then it deals with the wanderings of princess Wattle Blossom, who falls into the hands of the Bush Gnomes, a proud race with a terrible way of doing things. The Lord High Gnome decrees that the Princess shall be turned into a bunyip, and this