The Thorn Birds

Factual error: During the huge thunderstorm which causes the fire you can see that it's actually a bright, sunny day with only a mild overcast. Several times you can see the sky in the shots and though sometimes lightning bolts are visible there are only a few light clouds on an otherwise blue sky.

Factual error: When Stu finds Paddy he has burned to death. Yet his clothes are still intact and not very scorched at all.

Factual error: Dane's funeral is held at Christmastime, but people are wearing winter coats. (December is summer in Australia.).

Factual error: During the huge thunderstorm which causes the fire you can see that it's actually a bright, sunny day with only a mild overcast. Several times you can see the sky in the shots and though sometimes lightning bolts are visible there are only a few light clouds on an otherwise blue sky.

More mistakes in The Thorn Birds

Ralph de Bricassart: How will we live without him?
Meggie Cleary: We will. Your God gathers in the good ones... and leaves the living to those of us whom fail. Your greedy God! There is no peace with him.

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Question: Fee tells Mary she has two deceased sons. She tells her this before the deaths of Stuart and Hal. I don't remember any other of the Cleary children dying in the novel, what two sons is she referring to?

Answer: When Fee was very young, she had an affair with a man and became pregnant. To avoid a scandal, she was quickly married off to Paddy Cleary, a good and honest man, but someone far below Fee in social class. The eldest son (from Fee's previous relationship) never felt that he fit into the family, and both he and the second eldest son left home early on and met premature deaths. Neither character appears in the TV series, they are only mentioned. Stu and Hal are killed later in the story.

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