The Ulster Soldier's Daughter -archived

Jane’s tragic childhood of first losing her mother and two sisters by the age of nine, made her resilient with a maturity way beyond her years. Living in the bustling and transient English army camp of Devonport Barracks helped Jane to adapt to her experiences in life.
Her stepmother Julia in Ireland raised a daughter of a soldier, who travelled to the various outposts of the British Empire. She taught Jane teaching skills that she was to use in her later life.
After her marriage in London to Louis, a Bavarian merchant, Jane with her son Oscar followed her husband in a small schooner across the treacherous seas to the colonies of Australia. They made this perilous journey with no other company but a stowaway who was looking for his El Dorado in this remote adventurous land.
Within a few years of living in Brisbane, a tragic shooting accident on a country property cut short Oscar’s life. This horrific event changed Jane’s life forever. She threw her energies into the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and Suffrage Movement to overcome her grief.
Drawing upon her life experiences, Jane next takes on the role of Matron of the Industrial Home for Destitute Women. Sheltering the battered wife and children of one angry lawyer, Jack Evans, Jane’s life is placed in danger by exposure to his wrath.
Daughter Thekla accidently discovers twenty years later the circumstances of her violent conception.
Matron Jane’s personal logbook and adoption records discovered in the rafters of the Industrial Home finally unite Mavis and Billy, children of the despicable Jack Evans.

  • Project Type:
    Screenplay, Television Script
  • Number of Pages:
    88
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Writer Biography

Carmel Joyce was exposed to the power of the written word when, at the age of eight, she wrote a letter of youthful protest to her local council. Much to her surprise, her letter resulted in action on the issue she’d raised. In later years, Carmel, tagged the ‘black sheep’ of her family, began researching her family history. Research and the stories she uncovered quickly became her passion. Within twenty years, her research was so abundant that she felt compelled to write and publish at least one novel. As a result, novels, 'The Queen’s Own Ulster Soldier', 'The Bosuns' Quests for Fairer Skies', and 'The Cornish Captains of Industry', were born from some of her many research collections. She has a kaleidoscope of historical facts and stories stored up and plans to write and publish more novels and feature screenplays based on them in the future. (STOP PRESS! -already finalist in two Film Festivals, with first feature screenplay).
Carmel has an Associate of Business Management – Justice Administration, is A practising Justice of the Peace (Qual.) She taught Technology for four years in England, 13 years TAFE in Queensland, owner of retail fabric/haberdashery shop for 6 years. Bank teller 7 years and current Director for REA Pty Ltd and PCC Pty Ltd . Success just continues to add to her already happy and satisfied life!

Add Writer Biography
Writer Statement

Carmel truly believes; if you want to understand a culture, read of their past. If you want to enjoy the present, appreciate one's past. If you want to know and understand where you are going as a person or a nation, draw upon the past, practice in the presence of them and look to the future with relish!