The increasing diversity of activity outlined in the introductory article to this feature creates some difficulties even for the factual enterprise which follows: the noting of significant events, and even the listing of first productions of Australian plays, is necessarily a selective one, determined partly by debatable criteria and partly by a lack of consolidated sources of information. The compiler was able to draw on the invaluable resources of the University of Queensland's theatre research project in compiling the list of first productions up to the end of 1983, when (lamentably) its funding was withdrawn; and the scale of the task of selection is indicated by the fact that those records, for the period 1977–83, include 4342 distinct productions of Australian plays. Often, of course, it takes a longer retrospective view than is possible in this feature to establish ‘significance’, and, regrettably, there are likely to be some notable omissions. The demise of Theatre Australia in 1982 and the aborting of the University of Queensland theatre research project in 1983 were disastrous for people involved with theatre, and for theatre research in particular; they leave a vacuum which must cause continuing concern, and will create mounting difficulties. Both were indispensable sources in compiling this chronology. The research assistance of Doreen Dougherty from the Monash University English Department was absolutely vital in its preparation, as was the co-operation of Veronica Kelly and Alrene Sykes from the University of Queensland, and Katharine Brisbane of Currency Press.