29/08/2026
I loved this show so much
There are television themes that do more than remind you of a programme — they seem to carry you straight back to the room where you first watched it. For many Australians, the opening notes of Against the Wind can still do exactly that. First broadcast on the Seven Network in 1978, the 13-part historical miniseries was filled with hardship, romance, rebellion and the struggle to build a life in the harsh early colony of New South Wales. With Mary Larkin and Jon English at its emotional centre, it became one of those grand Australian television events that viewers genuinely became invested in from week to week.
The story begins in Ireland in 1798, where young Mary Mulvane, played by Larkin, is caught up in the brutal realities of British rule. After trying to recover her family's seized cow, Mary is convicted and sentenced to transportation to New South Wales. Her journey across the world is frightening and degrading, and the Australia awaiting her is hardly a land of opportunity. She arrives as a convict with few rights and little control over her own future, yet Mary possesses the determination to survive circumstances designed to break her.
In the colony she meets fellow convict Jonathan Garrett, played by Jon English, and their developing relationship becomes one of the great strengths of the series. Around them are memorable characters including Polly McNamara, played by Kerry McGuire, Will Price, played by Frank Gallacher, and Gerard Kennedy's Dinny O'Byrne. Their personal stories unfold against real historical tensions, including convict unrest, the Castle Hill rebellion and the growing power and corruption of the military establishment. Rather than presenting early colonial Australia as a neat historical picture, Against the Wind showed how difficult, uncertain and often unfair life could be for the ordinary people caught inside it.
For many viewers, Jon English was a revelation. Already familiar as a rock singer and stage performer, he brought a rugged warmth to Jonathan Garrett that helped make the character enormously popular. His performance earned him the 1979 Logie for Best New Talent, but his contribution extended beyond acting. Together with Mario Millo, English also worked on the soundtrack, and “Six Ribbons” became inseparable from the series, reaching No. 5 on the Australian singles chart. Even decades later, hearing that song can immediately summon images of horses, rough colonial roads, simple cottages and Mary and Jonathan struggling towards a better life.
Watching Against the Wind today feels like opening an old family history book and discovering that the people inside it can still breathe. The production may belong unmistakably to 1970s television, but the emotions have aged remarkably well — homesickness, injustice, love, resilience and the determination to create something better for the next generation. For Australians who watched it when it first appeared, Against the Wind was more than another historical drama. It was one of those rare television experiences where the characters, the landscape and the music became tangled together in memory — and all these years later, “Six Ribbons” can still make 1978 feel surprisingly close.
