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Australian Walkabout, billed as a "series of fact features telling the enthralling story of Australia to-day," was broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Commission for three years beginning on at 9:15 on Thursday, 15 May 1947, on 'Interstate' national stations 2FC and 2NA, and state radio stations 3AR. 4OG. 5CL, and 7ZL. The inaugural broadcast was Moonta, South Australia's "Little Cornwall".

Ethos

The Broadcasting Commission magazine and radio schedule ABC Weekly announced the debut of Australian Walkabout in an article 'Recording History' by the editor in the 16 August 1947;  

"Actuality broadcasts during the war years developed a new technique in radio.  Many vivid first-hand descriptions of the battle front in both Europe and the Pacific are remembered. These broadcasts of the fighting forces were supplemented by actuality broadcasts of the home front.  We heard descriptions of their work by men and women at their benches; from shipyards, aircraft factories, and food-processing plants. This technique, in an improved form, is now being followed in the A.B.C. series Australian Walkabout. Instead of presentation being confined to a city studio, broadcasting equipment is taken to the country, where first-hand interviews are obtained and local history recorded. It is a matter for regret that much of the story of the early days of Australia died with the passing of the pioneers. Australian Walkabout is designed to record the past history as well as the present. In the identical setting in which events took place, scenes are re-enacted with fidelity to detail. One week we journey over the air to Geraldton; the following week we are in Hobart or Townsville, or Wagga. City dwellers thus come to know districts which to many have only been a place on the map; country people are taken by radio into the cities. All this should bring about a better understanding between the widely separated people of Australia, and a better appreciation of each other’s problems."

Subject matter

The program used wire recorders to capture live sound and its "authoritative" documentaries were recorded and broadcast all over Australia. Among them were some created by the journalist Colin Simpson, which he taped in Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands, recording "Aboriginal rituals and songs never before heard on Australian radio... along with Australian birdlife." For "Death Rite for Mabalung," broadcast on the interstate network on 15 March 1949, Simpson recorded a mourning ceremony at Delissaville, in the Northern Territory. In another of Simpson's recordings in Tasmania;

"Listeners will be taken through the huge modern paper mill where great logs come in, six feet across and 370 years old, are cut up in a matter of minutes, then ground to pulp to go through a remarkable machine process in the paper mill."

Other contributors included Dymphna Cusack who in 1947 wrote and presented Newcastle : Blood on Coal; Bulletin cartoonist Oswald Pryor, who contributed to a series on copper mining at Moonta, South Australia; novelist George Farwell ("Mildura : They Built Upon Sand").

Episodes

The broadcasts include;

• 1947, 15 May, 9:15 pm: Moonta, South Australia's "Little Cornwall", on the copper mining town
• 1947, 19 June, 9:15 pm: Wagga Wagga, by Colin Simpson
• 1947, 26 June, 9:15 pm: Geraldton, history, WW2 evacuations ahead of feared Japanese invasion. Produced by John Cairns, written by poet, playwright Alexander Turner
• 1947, 21 August, 9:15 pm: Lismore, pres. Colin Simpson
• 1947, 30 August, 9:15 pm: Newcastle : Blood on Coal, pres. Dymphna Cusack
• 1947, 18 September, 9:15 pm: Bendigo, The Golden City by Fitzmaurice Hill, broadcast from the Melbourne Showgrounds
• 1947, 25 September, 9:15 pm: The Derwent Valley : Paper and Pride, on the Australian Newsprint Mills at Boyer, by Colin Simpson
• 1947, 16 October, 9:15 pm: George Farwell pres. Mildura : They Built Upon Sand, on the Chaffey Brothers' irrigation project
• 1947, 30 October, 9:15 pm: Tasmanian Tiger Country, by Colin Simpson
• 1947, 6 November, 9:15 pm: Lord Howe Island, recorded by Frank Legg, with P.M.G. sound recordist Dave Tapp
• 1947, 4 December, 9:15 pm: Yallourn

Response

Australian Walkabout was frequently the subject of congratulatory letters in the ABC Weekly, some remarking on the educational value of the program. The ABC responded in 1948 by bring the broadcast forward an hour to 8pm so that children could listen.

Demise

The series ran until March 1949. In 1958, after the advent of television broadcasting in Australia the ABC produced a TV version with a similar remit, also called Australian Walkabout sponsored by the British Broadcasting Corporation, filmed by Charles and Elsa Chauvel and produced by the BBC's Alan Sleath.

References

1. ^ "Starts This Week : Australian Walkabout". ABC Weekly. Vol. 9, no. 19. 10 May 1947. p. 23.
2. Australian Broadcasting Commission (1939). "ABC Weekly". ABC Weekly. OCLC 37165046.
3. "Recording History". ABC Weekly. 16 August 1947. p. 2. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
4. Walker, David (1986). Dream and disillusion: a search for Australian cultural identity. Canberra: A.N.U.P. p. 257. OCLC 782001803.
5. Virginia Madsen, Radio Documentary, austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
6. "Aboriginal Death Rites In Unique Radio Walkabout". ABC Weekly. 12 March 1949. p. 14. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
7. ^ Simpson, Colin (20 September 1947). "The Derwent Valley : Paper and Pride, by Colin Simpson". ABC Weekly. Vol. 9, no. 38. pp. 5, 10.
8. ^ "Thursday September 4 : 2FC - 2NA". ABC Weekly. Vol. 9, no. 35. 30 August 1947. p. 15.
9. "Cartoonist in A.B.C. show". ABC Weekly. Vol. 9, no. 19. 10 May 1947. p. 20.
10. Simpson, Colin (14 June 1947). "Wagga Wagga Walkabout". ABC WeeklyVol. 9 No. 24 (). Vol. 9, no. 24. pp. 20, 15. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
11. Phillips, Gail, "Turner, Alexander Frederick (Tony) (1907–1993)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2022-06-19
12. "Geraldton". ABC Weekly. Vol. 9, no. 25. 21 June 1947. pp. 15, 26.
13. "Recording History". ABC Weekly. 16 August 1947. p. 28. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
14. Hill, Fitzmaurice (13 September 1947). "Bendigo - The Golden City". ABC WeeklyVol. 9 No. 37 (). Vol. 9, no. 37. pp. 5, 10.
15. Farwell, George (11 October 1947). "Mildura - They Built on Sand". ABC Weekly. Vol. 9, no. 41. p. 10.
16. ^ "Walkabout Tells Tales of Tasmanian tigers". ABC Weekly. Vol. 9, no. 43. 25 October 1947. pp. 10, 21.
17. Belford, D.C. (13 March 1948). "Letters to the Editor : Australian Walkabout". ABC Weekly. p. 28. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
18. "Photo: B.B.C producer Alan Sleath, Charles Chauvel and Elsa Chauvel edit film for "Australian Walkabout"". ABC Weekly. Vol. 20, no. 37. 10 September 1958. p. 42. Retrieved 18 June 2022.

• Australian talk radio programs
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio programs
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming
• 1947 radio programme debuts
• 1950 radio programme endings