Australian Plays

{{Short description|Australian anthology TV series}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

{{Infobox television

| image =

| caption =

| genre = anthology

| creator =

| producer = Eric Taylor

| writer =

| director =

| starring =

| composer =

| country = Australia

| language = English

| num_episodes = 12

| camera =

| runtime = 70 minutes

| channel = ABC

| first_aired = {{Start date|1969}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1970}}

}}

Australian Plays is a 1969-1970 Australian anthology TV drama series that aired on the ABC.{{cite news|date=23 October 1969|page=45|newspaper=The Age|title=Drama Sheds Mothballs}} It consisted of six original Australian dramas.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107900206 |title=Australian plays on ABC-TV. |newspaper=The Canberra Times |date=27 October 1969 |accessdate=29 July 2015 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}}

It was the first Australian drama play since Lucullus in Sydney and Cobwebs in Concrete in Melbourne.

It was the first Australian anthology series since Australian Playhouse and was described by the ABC as "representative of contemporary Australian writers and the development of Australian television drama today." It was produced by Eric Taylor. It was meant to be followed by a series Company of Eight which will have a regular repertory company of eight actors.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19691011&id=6i4gAAAAIBAJ&pg=1538,4243828&hl=en|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|title=Six Australian Plays in ABC Series|page=121|first=Valda|last=Marshall}} Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/60-australian-tv-plays-1950s-60s/|magazine=Filmink|title=60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s|date=February 18, 2019}}