The Bombora

The Bombora is a 1957 Australian radio play by Coral Lansbury that was performed on the ABC. It was very highly regarded. The ABC production was broadcast on the BBC in September 1958. It was one of the first ABC productions for this to happen.
The play was also broadcast in New Zealand.
It was first produced in 1957, then produced again in 1962, 1966 and 1969.
Lansbury called it a "thriller" adding "Leslie Rees and I decided there'd been enough about Scotland Yard and the FBI, we'd have an Australian thriller for a change." It was set against the background of the pearling industry. Lansbury researched the underwater scenes with the help of then husband Bruce Turnbull who was a spear fisher.

Premise

A drama set in a pearling town. Glen Baker, an American, visits the coast with his wife Beryl who was once a barmaid in the town. Baker is investigating the wreck of a Japanese pearling ship which sunk in 1941, apparently with some pearls aboard. When the local tide is low and the "bombora", or whirlpool, is quiet for a few hours, the ship can be approached. Baker asks a local diver to help; the diver was once engaged to Baker's wife.