It Has Happened Before

It Has Happened Before is a 1943 Australian verse drama written for radio by Dorothy Blewett. It aired in July and was repeated in September.[2]

The play was one of a number of verse dramas produced for ABC radio that came out of a competition for verse drama, won by The Golden Lover.[3]

ABC Weekly called it " an arresting document of our times. It tells of the love story of an Australian girl who meets a distinguished German- Jewish thinker in Europe and falls in love with him."[4]

According to Austlit the play:

Is one of Dorothy Blewett’s lesser known yet insightfully poignant pieces... It draws on the experiences of WWII and the collateral damage it inflicted upon British (and Australian) society at the time. Thematically It Has Happened Before focusses on the Jewish refugee crisis as it unfolded in the pre-war years, yet it also addresses the experiences of women embroiled in the conflict and the sentiments of the broader public at home. It explores the relationship that Australia, a federated yet still psychologically dependant nation, had with the war and its victims, exploring how a far off member of the British Commonwealth was affected by the state of European turmoil. The title, It Has Happened Before, is a reminder of the continuing historical discrimination that Jewish people faced in the lead up to and during WWII and the recurring cultural tensions and bigotry Blewett presents in the play. [5]