Episode list

Diana Bliss, international theatrical entrepreneur and wife of Alan Bond. Ms Bliss who has not been interviewed since her marriage to Alan Bond talks for the first time about the marriage and her husband's life in jail.

The arrival in Sydney of newly appointed Police Commissioner Peter Ryan and his efforts to reform the NSW Police Service then facing the scrutiny of the Wood Royal Commission.

This program features the stories of three "ordinary" men who put their own lives on the line in the most extraordinary way. All three are the recipients of civilian valour awards.

The Mouse That Roared Kylie Minogue is the guest presenter of tonight's first story. Sporting a new short haircut and a very English accent, Ms Minogue, who is recording a new album in London, agreed to introduce the story because of her high regard for the subject, Perth publisher Andrea Horwood. When Ms Horwood was a young girl, she was so shy and reclusive her nickname was "Mouse". But as a fledgling design student she started putting together a magazine on her lounge room floor. Seven years later, that magazine Australian Style is hitting the streets of New York and London, taking Australian ideas and culture to the rest of the world. PLUS: Dragon Tale: The second story is introduced by broadcaster and actor Annette Shun Wah. In contrast to the first story with its emphasis on the export of Australian culture, this story looks at a volunteer worker who has almost single handedly made the Victorian city of Bendigo an internationally significant centre for Chinese culture and history. His name is Russell Jack and, along with his wife, he has managed to raise millions of dollars for a number of landmark projects including the famous dragons of Bendigo, a major museum and Chinese gardens. Russell is a Chinese Australian who traces his ancestry back to the Victorian goldfields in the mid eighteen hundreds. His wife is Anglo-Australian.

Seize the Day A candid and surprising insight into the personal beliefs and family history of surgeon turned politician, devout Catholic and father of ten, Senator John Herron. As Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Senator Herron has one of the toughest jobs in Federal Cabinet. He's been characterised as a deeply conservative, patriarchal figure. Our story looks at the upbringing and background that have helped formulate his views. In sequences filmed at his home, Senator Herron talks publicly for the first time about being devastated when his first child was born with Down Syndrome. He describes it as the most testing moment of his life. He also talks about his intense attachment to the aboriginal affairs portfolio, about his Catholicism, his background, his marriage, and his decision, as a doctor, to go to Rwanda at the height of the refugee crisis and how that experience changed him. On a lighter note he confesses to a deep affection for Arnold Schwarzenegger movies as a way of releasing aggression. The story is introduced by Caroline Jones. PLUS: Alf Of the Antarctic The amazing story of ninety year old scientist, Alf Howard, the last survivor of Douglas Mawson's historic Antarctic expeditions through 1929 to 1931. Mr Howard still works full time, on a voluntary basis, as a computer programmer at the University of Queensland. Late last year he returned to the Antarctic. His recent visit is contrasted with amazing Film Australia footage of him in the Antarctic with Mawson. The story is introduced by Melbourne based marathon swimmer, Tammy Van Wisse.

The Portland Boy Rock musician Angry Anderson is the guest presenter for this week's first item in Australian Story. Angry introduces the remarkable story of Pat Comben, a former state environment and education minister in Queensland. Mr Comben grew up in Portland in the south of England. His family background was unhappy and abusive. His parents, he says, seemed to care more about the pet dog than him. He was, he believes on the verge of "seeing the inside of an English Jail" when he met a teacher who turned his life around. Pat had limited schooling and no encouragement to do anything with his life and he had had some brushes with the law over, among others things, the burning down of a school building. Of that incident he says only "I am making no admissions". At sixteen, fired with new belief in himself, he came out to Australia. He worked as a jackaroo on an outback NSW property, and then with a mining company before turning to study. He acquired a degree and went on to become a minister in the Goss Labor Government. Now his life has taken another turn. After leaving politics, he did a stint of cab driving. He is now director of the Wildlife Preservation Society and he is also training to become a deacon in the Anglican Church. In telling his story, we have filmed in Queensland and in England where we tracked down the teacher who changed Pat's life, Reggie Bullard, now eighty one years old. Pat credits Reggie with effectively saving his life, giving him hope and direction and exerting an influence that continues to this day. Pat's wife, Lyn is also interviewed. She says she sees hope in Pat's story for other kids from difficult backgrounds who just need a bit of help to make something of their lives. PLUS: Harold the Kangaroo Our second story is introduced by film maker Courtney Gibson. Ms Gibson telephoned the program about a man who lives in her suburb of Darlinghurst in Sydney. She thought he was an amazing character and a good Australian Story. We agreed and the result is "Harold the Kangaroo". Harold "the Kangaroo" Thornton is an artist and an irreverent thorn in the side of the Australian art establishment. He is now eighty-two years old and has just launched a major exhibition of his work. He is a major, unsung national treasure. His work has won praise from Ken Done and others but Harold is confined to the outer fringe of the art world, working out of a dingy apartment in inner Sydney but intensely alive, mischievous and fiercely independent.

Portrait of Mick Our first story is introduced by actor, Bill Hunter. One of Australia's best known and most controversial aboriginal leaders tells his own personal and painful story for the first time in a powerful and moving edition of Australian Story. Mick Dodson is a lawyer, best known through his work as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Social Justice Commissioner. He is a familiar figure on news programs where he is characterised as an angry and vocal spokesperson for the aboriginal cause. But he has never previously divulged very much about his own background and upbringing .. the key events in his life that have fuelled his anger and motivated him towards a key role in aboriginal affairs. Mr Dodson, and other family members, talk about the impact on the young Mick of the deaths, first of his father and then three months later, his mother, when he was just nine years old. He actually witnessed the shooting death of his father. "It fills me with sadness when I recall it, but I think the effects of that sort of trauma are lifelong and the secret is to come to terms with it, and know how to address it so that it doesn't dominate and dictate how you live your life .. but the hurt's still there, the pain's still there." Mick and his brother Pat were separated and fostered out to various relatives. Later they became the first and only aboriginal students at a boarding school in Victoria. "There were some tough times, particularly the first 18 months to 2 years. I had a really rough time there. I wanted to fight every bugger that called me names and stuff like that .. references to my ancestry." Pat went on to become a priest and later chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. Mick became a lawyer and later director of the Northern Land Council. His public persona is often characterised as that of an "angry" or "difficult" man but Australian Story has captured a very different side as well. We have filmed him at home and at play with his young son and his wife, who is an anthropologist. We see him playing cricket and we join him as he has his portrait painted for an entry in the Archibald competition. We also join him in the Northern Territory on a visit to the family who raised him after he was orphaned. He talks about his regret that he doesn't know more about his own people and his own traditions. PLUS: A Woman's Voice Christine Johnston is a singer/performer with a talent for using her voice in an unconventionally way. Her performances range from putting her own dramatic spin on songs by the likes of Laurie Anderson, to vocally interpreting works of art, sculptures and peoples' hair styles. Christine takes much of her inspiration from the performances she and her siblings put on as children for family, school friends and neighbours. Christine never speaks during performances and has a high sense of drama, underscored subtly by an outrageous sense of humour and childs' play. A tall, striking woman, her attire is often hauntingly medieval - her hair usually teased into some grand and outrageous shape. Behind Christine's rather bizarre style of performance we discover a warm character, a nurturing family and her triumph over childhood shyness. She communicates with a charming and generous spirit conveying a gentle integrity that audiences find very refreshing.

Woman For All Seasons Legendary 82 year old aviatrix Nancy Bird Walton introduces tonight's first story, which is about another remarkable woman pilot. Heather Innes, is a former Olympian, a former high ranked police officer and now a veteran bush pilot operating in some of the most rugged and beautiful terrain in Australia ... the islands of North West Tasmania. Ms Innes represented Australia in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne as a javelin thrower .. quite a feat for a young girl from a remote town in Tasmania with no sports facilities of any description. She later joined the police force and became a pioneer in setting up mechanisms in the force for dealing with child abuse, rape and child pornography. She rose rapidly through the ranks, at a time when women officers were still a rarity in the force, and ended up as a Detective Inspector. Tasmanian Supreme Court Judge, Pierre Slicer who is interviewed for the story says: "She was a good cop. She was hard. She was straight. She was fair. She had a lot of expectations placed on her shoulders. A lot of people I suspect were hoping she would fail." Ms Innes eventually did leave the force. She returned to her first love of flying and bought a little Cessna aeroplane to service remote communities on the islands of the north west. Press photographer Don Carter says: "I think I've flown with every bush pilot in Australia and a few overseas and she can handle a plane in rough weather better than any other person I've ever flown with." Ms Innes says of the islands: "They're touched by the hand of God. They have to be. It makes me feel just a dot in creation. And when I talk to pilots, when I teach young pilots, I say to them: 'respect these places, respect the islands, respect the winds, they're bigger than we are and they'll get you if you're not careful.'" And having said that I say to them: 'Now go and enjoy flying there because that's what makes good pilots.'" The story includes spectacular air to air footage of this most beautiful and little known region of Australia. Heather Innes was awarded the Order of Australia in 1993 for her significant contribution to Australian life on the sporting field, in the police, and in the air. PLUS: Sister Act The story of a young woman who has run away from home in order to leave the circus. Golda Ashton has had enough - she wants a life where she doesn't have to blu-tac her belongings to the bench. She celebrates her 21st birthday and farewells her friends and family from the circus - all of whom are mystified by her decision and predict that she'll be back.

Native Born The story of Neil Murray, a forty one year old farmer, singer song writer, poet and musician. He composed Christine Anu's big hit, My Island Home. Neil was born in western Victoria, of Scottish ancestry, and has recently returned to his own homeland on a small farm near the Grampians, after an absence of twenty years. He spent much of that time living with aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. He helped form the Warumpi Band, the trail blazing group who were the first mixed aboriginal / white band to penetrate Australia's booming rock'n'roll scene. Murray's experiences bridge two cultures in a fascinating and illuminating way. He has some interesting and unexpected perspectives on highly topical issues. We have filmed him on the farm in Victoria, with his wife and their two children. Our story also includes material with singers Christine Anu and Archie Roach. PLUS: Trials of Life Our second story is introduced by Brisbane based sportsman and popular poet, Rupert McCall. As Rupert says, it's the Babe style saga of farmer Pip Hudson and his never ending quest to win the national sheep dog trials, held ever year. We follow Pip and his beloved dogs through the vicissitudes of the event ... with unexpectedly hilarious and poignant consequences.

Rocks and Rollers This week's Australian Story offers a new view of outback Australia ... from the front seat of a Rolls Royce! We join nine of the classic cars and their devoted owners as they make their stately progress across Australia from Sydney to Fremantle. It's a trip organised by the Rolls Royce Owners Club to raise money for the National Epilepsy Association. It attracts a disparate group of owners and cars. The nine cars range from the former Australian Vice Regal vehicle used by Governor-General Sir John Kerr when he sacked Gough Whitlam, to a 1947 Silver Wraith found wrecked and abandoned in a Queensland paddock. The owners are equally diverse. They include builder and self made man Bob Green (who restored the Silver Wraith) and neurosurgeon Dr John Matthieson. They are accompanied by various friends and relatives. But, even in a Rolls Royce, things don't always go smoothly. There are breakdowns in engines and breakdowns in communication ... will they all make it to Fremantle with their relationships and their vehicles in one piece? PLUS: Silent Nights Film critic, David Stratton introduces the story of the only remaining silent movie picture theatre in Australia (and possibly the world) and the devoted couple who own and run it. Set in picturesque Pomona on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, Ron and Mandy West thrill new generations of picturegoers with such star studded epics as Rudolph Valentino's "Son of the Sheikh".

For the first time, Gina Rinehart, the only child of mining magnate Lang Hancock provides a candid insight into the multi generational family saga that has long fascinated Australians. She reflects openly about her childhood as the only heir of the man who was known as the King of the Pilbara .. at that time the richest man in Australia... and of being groomed to take over his business empire. She also canvasses the rift that developed when her father married Filipino socialite Rose Lacson and the reconciliation that occurred in the last few months of his life. She claims that her father was very unhappy and alone in the time leading up to his death. She says he revealed to her that his marriage was very unhappy. "I was always concerned about my father. I don't know what else I can say my reaction was. But I was certainly concerned for Dad. I wanted somebody in his life that would love him and would be a very good trustworthy friend and companion for him." Also interviewed, for the first time, is one of the new heirs, Mrs Rinehart's oldest son, 21 year old John Rinehart. John, back from several years overseas, is now being groomed to take over the family business in much the same way as Gina was by her father. At the time of Lang Hancock's death, his business affairs were in disarray. Mrs Rinehart talks about her restructuring of the "House of Hancock" over the last five years and her confidence in the future.

Norm's Army This week's Australian Story features an ordinary Australian family with an extraordinary and heartwarming tale to tell. The story starts in the sixties in the jungles of Vietnam and ends in the beautiful Channel area of Southern Tasmania where a "rainbow collection" of adopted children are growing up together in the family of Norm and Lorraine Cairns. In 1968 Norm Cairns was an infantryman serving as a member of the "Tunnel Rats" near Nui Dat. After an all night battle with the Viet Cong, he shot a man who was lying on the ground, trying to pull the pin out of a grenade. When he searched the body, he was devastated to find a photo of the dead man's wife and children standing outside a little grass hut. He says "It just about buggered me". Norm was so traumatised by the events of that day, he decided to "atone" in some way. And that was the catalyst for the arrival into the Cairns family of baby "Kim", an emaciated four month old baby who turned up at a Saigon orphanage, half dead, in a shoe box. Kim is now a bright and beautiful 22 year old nurse whose ambition is to work for an overseas aid agency. And it is through her eyes that we hear the full story of the Cairns family ... how Norm and Lorraine lost their own first baby at the age of five days and how they adopted Kim and subsequently four other needy children from third world countries. Two biological children bring the tally to seven. Norm and Lorraine describe themselves as very ordinary Aussies, but their adopted multi-cultural kids charm everyone they come into contact with. The family has experienced the usual range of struggles, but the kids, natural and adopted, have grown up very close and protective of each other, and with a robust outlook on life. They talk of experiencing racism from time to time and how they deal with that in their own quiet way. Norm says "I'm not into any of this multicultural business at all. I just think we're all Australians." PLUS: Folk Hero The second story is introduced by the host of ABC radio's enormously successful Australia All Over, Ian McNamara. It is about Mark Schuster, a Queensland based folk historian who has dedicated his life to preserving Australia's rich tradition of folk music. Mark travels country towns with his accordion, encouraging local people to recall the tunes of sixty or seventy years ago. So far, the 38 year old computer map maker has taped 300 hours of traditional bush, folk and dance music. The National Library in Canberra has been busy collating the material and Mark hopes eventually to release a CD of the folk tunes he has gathered.

Lamb's Tale: This is the amazing riches to rags story of Keith Lamb, whose hugely successful glam rock band, 'Hush', was a household name in the seventies. With their outrageous platform shoes, satin flares and flowing scarves, 'Hush' were favourites on Countdown with hits like 'Boney Moroney' and 'Glad All Over'. Keith also collaborated with Status Quo on several of their hit singles. But when Hush broke up, Keith's career went into a decline. He eventually ended up destitute and alone, wandering the streets of country Victoria. At that point, in a remarkable coincidence, a woman called Louise Howland re-entered his life. As a teenage rock fan in country Victoria, she met Keith Lamb and 'Hush' at the height of their success. She was given tickets to one of their concerts and was struck by Lamb's charisma on stage. Eight years later she was working as a psychiatric nurse in Melbourne. A neglected, hungry and dazed man was admitted to the hospital. Louise was shocked to realise that this wreck of a man was in fact Keith Lamb. He had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Louise befriended Keith and got him out of hospital and back into the community. He has made a substantial recovery and is hoping to get back into the recording studio. In one of many strange twists in a story that is both bizarre and sad, Louise describes how a Melbourne police psychiatrist first made the decision to commit Lamb to a mental hospital. "Keith thought that Status Quo owed him royalties for songs he'd written which in fact they did, only they didn't know how to contact him. So he wrote out a cheque for four million dollars and deposited it in a bank in Melbourne. Sometime later he tried to withdraw two hundred dollars and the police were called. "The strange thing was that the police psychiatrist thought Keith was deluded because he claimed to have thirteen gold records. And of course that wasn't a delusion, it was perfectly true!" The story includes classic archival footage from the ABC's A Big Country which, during the seventies, captured the fan frenzy surrounding 'Hush' as part of a story about their roadies. The guest presenter for the story is Alan Lancaster, Sydney-based founding member of the rock group, Status Quo. As Lancaster says in his introduction "the life of a rock star is pretty crazy. You live in a vacuum, cut off from the rest of the world. You learn to deal with success, to enjoy it, to need it... but you're never prepared for failure". PLUS: Where Eagles Fly: The second story in tonight's program is about another form of "rescue". It is introduced by actress and animal rights campaigner, Lynda Stoner, and is about a young married couple in Western Australia who have devoted their lives to providing sanctuary and hospital care for injured birds of prey. They are Katie and David McCreadie and for the last four years they have spent every cent they earn on their "Raptor Retreat". We join them as they travel to the north west of the state to release a magnificent and rare giant sea eagle which has just recovered from its injuries.

Lady Jane: Racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse introduces the story of "Lady Jane" - Jane Slack Smith the twenty six year old girl from the bush who has become the first woman qualified to run an open cut coal mine in New South Wales. She earns $100,000 a year and when she's not in grubby overalls deep underground, she listens to Beethoven, owns a racehorse and does fund raising for the Royal Blind Society. The coalminers in the Hunter Valley dubbed her Lady Jane because of her flaming red hair and her posh private school background. Her parents, who breed thoroughbred racehorses on a farm outside Dubbo, were horrified when she first chose to take up mining engineering. So why did she want to work underground? Because, she says, she'd been told she couldn't do it. Until 1989 it was actually illegal for women to go underground in New South Wales and one of her university lecturers had said "women shouldn't be in mining". At first she met a lot of resistance. Some men refused to work with her and their wives were hostile too. But in time, Jane won acceptance and became a sort of unofficial counsellor and social worker among the miners, helping to organise things like open days for families. Now she's making her way up the corporate ladder at Ulan Mines near Mudgee in the Hunter Valley. As a graduate, she was always destined for management, but she has just spent ten months on the nightshift as one of the regular crew on the coalface. This is a profile of a truly remarkable and very engaging, young Australian woman on the cutting edge of social change. PLUS: The Good Sport: The story of Bill Brown, who along with Sir Donald Bradman is the last survivor of the famous Australian Ashes team of the 30's. Now in his eighties, Bill remains the embodiment of the old sporting virtues of modesty, fair play, and team spirit.

Accidental Hero: Introduced by Caroline Jones, this is the amazing story of Josh Yeldham, the young Sydney film maker and painter who, at the age of 23, picked up an Emmy award and an Oscar nomination for his very first film. Josh, the son of two prominent Sydney business people, based that successful first film Frailejon on his own real life experiences in the mountains of Venezuela when only the intervention of a hermit saved him from probable death. He made Frailejon on a tiny budget by persuading twenty friends to pay their own expenses to fly to South America and film the movie. Somewhat disconcerted by the instant acclaim that followed, Josh took off, alone in a combi van and headed into outback New South Wales. He ended up bogged and stranded with water supplies fast running out. Once again, only the intervention of chance passers by saved him. He was befriended by people in the district and took up residence in an abandoned double decker bus where he started thinking through ideas for his next film ... a project involving acclaimed young actor, Claudia Karvan. Some of his elaborate storyboards for the movie made their way into a Sydney art gallery where they promptly sold like hotcakes as works of art in their own right. Of his propensity for turning accidents into successful art, Josh says, "If you travel, you're ultimately an observer until you have an accident or a collision or a situation that just throws you into other people's lives." Actor Chris Johnson who played Josh in Frailejon says "I think Josh has a touch of craziness about him.. good craziness or eccentricity. I mean he's a stable member of society but he's touched by something that is exciting, the kind of thing that was able to take twenty people up a mountain." But at the heart of this moving and beautifully photographed story is a father-son relationship. Josh's father, Tony founded Sydney's successful Squire Shops. When Josh was young he was very tied up with his business. Mr Yeldham recounts his own strong reaction to Frailejon which he interpreted as "a son saying to his father, hey here I am and where were you. What were you doing when I needed you. "And I was really rocked. Every father thinks he's great and doing the right thing so when it dawns on you that you've been neglectful in many areas ...it was a huge shock to me. I could hardly leave my seat in the theatre." PLUS: A Girl Like Alice: A short story about Alice Bennett, a young woman who shares her father's passion for photography.

The Player AFL Legend Ron Barassi introduces this Australian Story about a man with a remarkable flair for managing football teams. He is Richard Colless, Perth born former footie player, businessman and chairman, first of the West Coast Eagles and now the Sydney Swans. The normally very private and self-effacing Colless is credited with providing the acumen that turned the Swans from a national laughing stock to the toast of the town. He first came to prominence in W.A. where he was the founding chairman of the West Coast Eagles who became the first non Victorian team to win the AFL premiership. He is also one of the key figures in the drive to turn AFL into a truly national code. It took several weeks to persuade Colless to front the cameras. He loathes personal publicity and has never told his own story before. The program includes testimony from Swans players such as Andrew Dunkley and Paul Roos. Among other things they note Colless's immense attention to detail and his affection and concern for players to whom he has become a father figure. Colless himself, is the definitive self made man. When Richard was only two, his father died, and he and his sister were raised by their mother. His skill as a footballer was spotted and that, in turn, provided contacts and opened doors into the business world in which he has excelled. Colless has gone on to develop a formidable reputation for what he describes as "start up and turnarounds" in the arenas, of both sport and business. PLUS: Heart of Gold: Our second story is introduced by country music star Troy Cassar-Daley, and is the story of Jimmy Hooker, a gold prospector who lives in isolated bush in the Northern Territory. Jimmy had almost no education, has no family, and lives, quite literally under a gum tree in the bush with only a wild horse for company. But he has a talent for bush poetry and a local school teacher has befriended him and recorded some of his work and published it.

Born to Run Comedian, actor and lampooner of politicians, Gerry Connolly introduces the story of the youngest woman ever elected to Federal Parliament. She's twenty seven year old Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, a Democrat from South Australia. In a year that's further entrenched public cynicism about politics and politicians, most notably with the Senator Woods affair and the Mal Colston affair, she seems to represent a new breed and a new approach. But to what extent is she having to compromise her professed ideals to succeed in a Parliament dominated by middle aged men and bound by tradition and convention? And is there substance to go with the glamorous and trendy image she has cultivated in the media? Among those who provide candid insights are Senator Stott Despoja's mother, Shirley, herself a campaigner for social justice, her brother Luke and her journalist boyfriend Mark Ludlow who says: "Occasionally you do kind of feel a bit overwhelmed by what she has done and where I am at this stage of my life ... It's very hard managing a relationship because obviously the hours that she does work, it's very hard to fit things in." Luke Stott Despoja says: "Maybe she's inspired enough people, young women, young men, to say if she can do it that's good enough for me. It can be done. If she inspired one or two people to get rid of some of those fat dudes on the seats in Parliament House then she done a good job!" PLUS: Jesse's Town Jesse's Town is set in the beautiful Southern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia and is the story of Jesse Martin, a retired farmer who has taken his love of Australian memorabilia to a quite extraordinary extreme. Somewhat to the horror of his wife, Jesse has built an entire replica historic town in his backyard and opened it as a private museum. Surrounded by free roaming farm animals peacefully cohabiting, it all resembles a scene from the hit movie Babe. But as the story unfolds, we learn of a tragedy in the past, that fuelled Jesse's passion for collecting.

The Outback books of best selling author Sara Henderson have captivated Australians and made Sara a national icon. The remarkable, larger than life saga of the Henderson clan, has been well documented, not only in books, but on film as well. For the first time, Australians will hear an alternative version of the Henderson history through the eyes of Sara's very publicly estranged daughter, Bonnie and Bonnie's half brother, Washington neurosurgeon Fraser Henderson. It's the first time an interview with Mr Henderson has been broadcast. Bonnie Henderson, now thirty four, is one of three remarkable Henderson daughters, renowned for their physical strength and endurance and their bush skills. In circumstances, which in many ways parallel those of her own mother, Bonnie, the most accomplished of the three Henderson girls, now lives with her own three daughters, on a property south of Darwin. She provides for her family through her work with horses, and as a saddlemaker. She is also a former national aerobatics champion. In our story, she explains the origins of some of the tension and conflict in the famous family. But she makes it clear that she has hopes of a reconciliation with her mother. Our report has been filmed in the Northern Territory and the United States and includes access to remarkable historic footage of the Henderson family at Bullo River Station.

The Last Tentman The moving and powerful story of fourth generation showman Fred Brophy and his family. Fred runs a tent boxing troupe that tours Queensland and the Northern Territory. He's the last exponent of a colourful tradition which was once commonplace all over Australia. Fred, the son of a sideshow operator and a trapeze artist, is steeped in show tradition. But his family's itinerant lifestyle meant he missed out on any kind of formal education. Young Fred wanted to go to school and when his family was passing through a town, he would often turn up at the local school and ask to be placed in a class. He was usually dumped at the back of the room and left to cope as best he could for the week or so before the family moved on again. Fred himself is now the father of three children, and although life has been tough for all of them, the family is making big sacrifices to see that the children do get an education and the chance to pursue their own dreams. But that means that Fred is often on the road, on his own, away from the children and his beloved wife Sandi who he met seventeen years ago at the Brisbane Exhibition. Despite all the hardships and the separations, the couple have raised three bright, well adjusted and achieving children, who are making the most of the opportunities their parents have struggled to give them. PLUS: A Secret Life Sid Roby is 70 years old. When his wife Hilly died 12 years ago, her death exposed a secret that the two had shared for decades. Sid was unable to read or write. So at the age of 60, Sid went off to TAFE to learn to read and write, and discovered a talent for writing. He has now become a published poet

The Sound Barrier: The story of a former high flying businessman on a mission to teach the world to sing. Michael Dale was a gifted opera singer with what looked like a glittering career ahead of him when a freak accident resulted in him losing his singing voice. Forced to abandon singing, he entered the publishing business and ended up test driving high performance sports cars. But he couldn't get music and the joy of singing out of his head, and a chance encounter with a famous conductor resulted in him discovering his talent for teaching others to do what he could no longer do himself ... sing. Michael now works full time at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as a singing coach. His "clients" range from rock singer Tim Finn, to top opera singers, to taxi drivers. Michael believes everyone can sing. He says it's a birthright and a way of bringing joy into people's lives. He runs regular workshops for adults who believe they just can't sing and who are amazed at the transformation that can be achieved. He has also recently started working with terminally ill people. Michael says: "I'm on a crusade to get Australia singing. People enjoy singing and when they sing together they tend not to be at one another's throats." PLUS:The Sunshine Twins: The story of Dorothy and Moya O'Brien, colourful and cheerfully eccentric twins, who 21 years ago set up a centre which is unique in Australia. It's called the Sunshine Remedial and Welfare Association (SWARA) and it provides work and companionship for intellectually disabled people of all kinds. The centre is a much loved institution in Brisbane and is still run by the twins, who are now elderly ladies. Dorothy and Moya always wear pink and say they see themselves as "twin souls".

Concerto for Don: This week we feature the story of a man whose career has been synonymous with classical music in Australia. The distinguished conductor Richard Bonynge will introduce the story of Don Hazelwood, who has been concert master of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for the last three decades. Next month the SSO will hold a gala concert in tribute to Don Hazelwood at the Sydney Opera House. But, as our story reveals, Mr Hazelwood is leaving the orchestra to embark on the most important and challenging journey of his life. His wife, Anne, a clarinettist, who has played alongside him for forty years, has recently been diagnosed with incurable cancer. Anne Hazelwood has inspired and amazed all around her by facing up to this news with incredible courage, spirit and humour. Indicative of her spirit, was her decision, upon receiving the prognosis, to throw a big party for her friends and family. She has continued to travel and perform with her husband despite increasing incapacity because of the advance of her illness. Don Hazelwood is a farmer's son from the bush, but his children and grandchildren have all inherited the family love of and gift for music. Our story is a warm and moving portrait of a loving family coming together to face up to a most confronting crisis. It is also a journey through the history of classical music in Australia since 1950. Among those interviewed for this story are highly successful contemporary composer, Peter Sculthorpe and, from London, Sir Charles Mackerras, the internationally renowned conductor who regularly performs with the greatest orchestras in the world. PLUS: Dream Run: A tale of two sisters with vastly contrasting careers in front of a microphone. Quentin is a very successful dream analyst of Sydney talkback radio. Her shows have twice jammed the North Sydney phone exchange, so popular are her sessions. The other lives in Japan where she is, of all things, a Sumo wrestling commentator. The recent visit of the Sumos to Australia reunited the two sisters.

Film maker and author Pamela Traynor introduces the story of two amazing and indomitable young Australians, Allana Arnot and Mark Bagshaw.

Her Excellency: Australian television viewers who've enjoyed the behind-the-scenes action in the British documentary series The Last Governor get a rare chance to peek behind the velvet curtains of one of their own Government Houses. Queensland's outgoing Governor Leneen Forde relaxed normally strict protocols to allow Australian Story to film an intimate portrait which provides some illuminating and, occasionally, amusing insights into the role and lifestyle of a State Governor in the 1990s. Mrs Forde is only the second female Governor in Australia ... and the first woman to take on the role in Queensland. It was a controversial appointment. "I suspect there were some very conservative elements in this state that didn't approve of a woman having the position. It was a job that did belong to certain parts of society, and where had I come from, for goodness sake." Never afraid of speaking out on social issues, Mrs Forde has overcome some formidable hurdles in her unusual and colourful life. Born in Canada, she grew up near the Australian Embassy in Ottawa. A chance meeting on the ski slopes led to marriage to the son of a former Australian Prime Minister. "I always thought that my ambition in life was to marry Prince Charming and to live happily ever after." But Gerry Forde became ill and died leaving Leneen alone, at the age of 31, with five young children to care for. "I soon learned that I wasn't just mother to the children any more. I was mother and father. I had to make decisions that I formerly would have left to Gerry. I am much more like Gerry Forde used to be than I am like Leneen Cavanagh ... because I had to be both." At a time when women were still a rarity in the professions, she obtained a law degree and was eventually offered a partnership with a leading Brisbane law firm. With quiet determination and an irreverent sense of humour, Mrs Forde has consistently pushed the boundaries for women in public life. Also interviewed for this profile is the 'Vice-Regal Consort', retired NSW detective superintendent Angus McDonald. While Mrs Forde was the second female Governor in Australia, Mr McDonald was the first male spouse. Angus sees himself as part of a very nineties phenomenon ... retired, "unreconstructed" men whose wives now enjoy high professional status. Mrs Forde describes her second husband as her "bonus in life". They met in unusual circumstances, when he was involved in investigating the murder of her niece. PLUS: The Makeover Man: The outrageous story of Richard de Chazal, fashion designer, stylist, photographer, and Glamour Guru. Richard has forged an international reputation, winning fashion awards and making over celebrities such as Joan Collins. But his teenage years were spent in more modest circles. After a childhood in what was then Rhodesia, Richard was transported to remote, aesthetically-challenged Mt Isa. His obsession with glamour began as a rebellion against the laissez-faire approach to fashion in the outback. As a 16-year old school boy Richard shot to notoriety with his first fashion parade, held in the Mt Isa Civic Centre (our story will show surviving video footage of this seminal moment). Today, every bit as outrageous, he still sweeps back into town twice a year, when he administers back-to-back makeovers for the enthralled women of Mt Isa. Richard says he is perversely grateful to Mt Isa - by teaching him what true ugliness is, he learnt to appreciate beauty. Now he repays the town by transforming its ordinary citizens into paragons of glamour.

A special edition of the program featuring a harrowing and multi-faceted account of the impact of heroin addiction on an average, middle class Australian family. Using remarkable and powerful home video footage, diaries, letters and the contrasting personal accounts of six different family members and friends, the program pieces together the life and death of a boy called Guy. Guy, brought up in Sydney, died in Brisbane on Valentine's Day this year. Guy's mother, Pat introduces herself in the story by saying: "I'm Pat Assheton. I'm the mother of a son who's considered a leper in society." We first meet Guy as a well-adjusted extroverted fourteen year-old clowning for the camera at a family barbecue. Later we see him as an emaciated figure quoting from Hamlet (he learned many of Shakespeare's plays off by heart during a brief spell in prison) "To be, or not to be..." Finally we see him dead in an open casket at his funeral. Guy seemed to be improving when he suddenly overdosed. In raw, frank and painful interviews, which produced tears on both sides of the camera, Guy's friends and family are uncompromising as they talk about what happened and why. They spare nothing in their descriptions of Guy's descent from straight-A student to hopeless addict, prostituting himself, pimping his girlfriend, stealing from his closest relatives. They tell of a teenager with an incredible zest for life who loved Shakespeare and wanted to be an actor. But he had a taste for money too and ended up working as a croupier at the Gold Coast casino. He started using marijuana to help him cope with night shifts and eventually got involved with a girl who was a heroin addict. In trying to help her, he got hooked himself. Around the story of Guy, there are other stories and conflicts ... Guy's divorced parents, both in new relationships, adopted completely different attitudes to the problem. Guy's mother, Pat found herself caught in a 'love triangle' between her son and her new partner. Guy's father and his new wife refused to have anything to do with him after Guy started stealing from them. His father now deeply regrets his actions. He says: "I'm sure I wouldn't take the hard line attitude again. In essence what you're doing, you're slamming the door on your own child. The hard line attitude doesn't work. I took the hard line and in essence that hurts me because maybe I assisted in killing my own son." What also emerges is an intense frustration with the actions of the authorities and a seeming inability on their part to deal either with the causes, or more importantly, the consequences of heroin addiction.

A Wing and a Prayer The inspirational story of Marion McCall, wife of the Anglican Bishop of the Willochra area in South Australia. Her husband's diocese takes in nine tenths of the state. Three years ago as the youngest of her five children approached adulthood, Marion decided she needed a new challenge. Her husband was away a lot of the time driving round his vast diocese. So she hit on the idea of becoming a pilot so she could be with him and fly him around the bush. The idea captured the imagination of the local community who came up with the idea of purchasing shares in the Bishop's wife to raise the $10,000 or so needed for flying lessons. At first Marion was "scared to death" and convinced she was going to die every time she landed or took off. But now she is a qualified pilot and has obtained her night licence. Marion's next plan is to raise funds to buy a plane for the diocese. A charming but candid portrait of the life of the rural clergy and their continuing importance in the bush. PLUS: His Own Trumpet Singer and trumpeter Vince Jones is one of Australia's best known jazzmen. He's been performing and recording for years but has rarely talked about his private passion... the environment. Our story reveals a surprising serious side to Vince Jones ... not the Mr Cool of the late night jazz clubs but the committed greenie who puts his principles into practice ... sometimes at considerable personal cost and risk.

Broken Heart: Introduced by opera singer June Bronhill, who was brought up in Broken Hill ... a heritage reflected in her choice of stage name. Broken Heart is the story of a man and a town. Peter Black was originally a Sydneysider who was sent to Broken Hill as a "punishment". Along with two other ringleaders of the NSW teachers strike in the sixties, he was posted to the outback mining town to cool his heels. Instead of hating it, he fell in love with the place. He got involved with the local community and for the last seventeen years he has been the mayor. It has been a time of monumental change in this historic part of Australia with the decline of the mining industry but the rise of a strong tourism trade and a thriving film and arts community. Broken Hill has been used as the backdrop for movies such as Mad Max and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. In a charming, amusing and character filled story, we see Broken Hill through the eyes of its most loyal resident. PLUS: To "Di" For: The story of Australia's best selling female author Di Morrissey. A former Fleet Street journalist, diplomat's wife, and television presenter, Ms Morrisey always had a burning ambition to write books. She struck gold with her very first effort Heart of the Dreaming and is now up to her seventh book ... all of them best sellers. Twice divorced, she now lives alone at Byron Bay where she has a house on two hectares of land. Di's uncle and mentor Jim Revitt says: "She lives in a fantasy land - fairyland - which is a wonderful place to come from if you're a creative writer in popular fiction. It's a world she's got populated with a million lovely characters and a thousand plots but it sometimes runs completely out of control!"

I Had A Dream: John Ribot, the former Superleague CEO, tells his own story for the first time. As the central figure in the greatest upheaval in the history of rugby league in Australia, Ribot talks openly about the impact of the game's great schism on himself, his family, friends and colleagues. Among those interviewed are Ribot's wife and son, who provide highly personal perspectives. Other contributors include former player Peter McWhirter and advertising guru John Singleton. At a time when rumours continue to fly about his past and future involvement with Superleague, and the nature of his role, John Ribot attempts to set the record straight. PLUS: Great Scott The hilarious and touching life and times of Dr. Margaret Scott, Tasmanian based academic, novelist and comedian. This is the story of an extraordinary woman who has realised her full potential late in life. A former Cambridge academic, Dr. Scott was "discovered" as a comedian when she appeared on an ABC "Great Debate" and was an enormous hit with a scene stealing performance, marked by perfect comic timing. "In the first debate I did, my knees were literally knocking and I had to hold onto the lecturn so the people wouldn't see I was shaking really violently". Margaret Scott lives in a former orchardist's homestead on the beautiful Tasman peninsula.

The headlines spelled it out bluntly. "The public hanging of a rugby union coach" ... "Wallaby coach jumps ... before he was pushed." The epitaphs were being written for Greg Smith, the Shakespeare loving former English teacher, whose two year reign as coach of the national rugby union team had just come to an abrupt and ignominious end. But as the drama peaked, a team from Australian Story had already been behind the scenes filming for three weeks. The story they wanted was the universal, human story of a man and his family undergoing an agonising ordeal in the public spotlight against the backdrop of national sporting expectations and a very hostile press and public. Surprisingly, given the pressure he was under, Smith readily agreed to being shadowed by our team, here in Australia and overseas, as the Wallabies played two crucial matches (against the All Blacks and the Springboks) in the countdown to the ARFU Board meeting which was due to decide Smith's future. The result is a close up and intensely personal profile which reveals a very different Smith from the press caricatures. And for the first time, some of the personal stresses Smith was under in that critical three week period are revealed. Our story is not a sports profile, but a close up look at a man undergoing an agonising ordeal in the public spotlight against the backdrop of national sporting expectations and a very hostile press and public.

The Good Life: Greg Donovan sprang from obscurity to stardom two years ago when he became one of the big winners on the long running television quiz show Sale of the Century. He was as unlikely a contestant, let alone a winner, as it was possible to imagine. He had no television; he lived with Lucy, his partner, in a very basic house in the bush without electricity; and his "mutton chop" sideboards presented a rather unkempt appearance. He was persuaded to have a go at Sale after he saw the show at a friend's house and found he could answer all the questions. What followed rapidly became television history, as Greg cleaned up night after night in front of a television audience of millions. But two years later did fame and fortune change Greg Donovan and his partner Lucy? What happened to the cash, the car, the sofas? .... Do they still believe in the simple life? Has Greg's dream run with one of the supreme icons of materialism changed his values? Some surprising answers on Australian Story. PLUS: Spirit of Arnhem Penny Tweedie is a renowned British born freelance photographer who has covered wars and natural disasters in some of the most remote and difficult corners of the planet. We find her in Arnhem Land where she is completing an ambitious year long odyssey through remote regions photographing and recording the lives of families she first met twenty years ago. Ms Tweedie's stunning images of landscapes and people are supplemented by beautiful and joyous footage captured by the ABC camera crew.

The Comeback King: The World Masters of Business Conference in Australia last month attracted front page publicity all over Australia ... not least because of the presence of General Norman Schwarzkopf and other international guest speakers. But the best story of all was the one that wasn't told ... the story of the convicted bank robber who organised the whole extravaganza. His name is Graeme Alford. His story almost defies belief. Mr Alford was a successful Melbourne barrister but a weakness for alcohol and gambling brought him undone. Soon he was drinking 30 or 40 pots of beer a day, gambling away his money, and eating his way to a weight of nineteen stone. His need for money for his gambling debts led him to commit fraud and eventually armed robbery. At his lowest ebb, a prison psychologist described him as a tragic figure. He'd even been diagnosed with brain damage. He was a hopeless case. But it was actually in jail that he started to make his way back. He analysed what had gone wrong. He set himself goals and came up with a personal philosophy he called "mental toughness" ... a merciless regime of self improvement. He got his weight down, he got his IQ up, he kicked his alcohol dependency. The real struggles began when he got out of jail. But a decade or so later, Graeme Alford has made it back to the top of the heap. He's now remarried, prosperous, and in demand as a businessman and motivational speaker. PLUS: Out of the Blue: The amazing story of Dave Hole ....West Australian blues musician who has become a cult hero in America and Europe after spending most of his life in obscurity.

Upon a White Horse: South Australian rider Gillian Rolton entered the history books at the Atlanta Olympics last year when she rode to gold in the three day event despite suffering fractured ribs and a broken collar bone in two falls on the cross country course. Her raw courage won the admiration of millions all around the world. But on Australian Story this week Gillian reveals the extent of a personal crisis that, this year for the first time, made her seriously consider abandoning the sport she has loved all her life. Gillian's close friend Anna Savage was killed at a three day event in May. Gillian was riding in the same competition and also had a fall that day. But while she survived unscathed, her friend was killed. "The realisation of Anna's death really made me for a few days sit down and reassess where I was coming from and what I was doing," she says. "For a few days there I certainly did think of giving it away but Greg (husband) and I talked about it and spoke about it and we thought, well Anna certainly wouldn't want us to not keep going." Ms Rolton also reveals the tough tactics of her coach, Wayne Roycroft. She discloses that he alone was unimpressed by her gallant ride at Atlanta. "He came up to me and he was absolutely like thunder. He said 'well, you couldn't help the first fall but why the (expletive), (expletive) did you come off the second time.' And I just sort of pulled my shirt back and there was this bone sticking up and he said 'oh mmm, you better get to the hospital then. But don't take any drugs, we'll probably need you to ride tomorrow." Roycroft says: "I didn't realise she was quite as seriously injured as she was until the doctor picked up her arm and I could hear her collarbone crunching, so then I felt a little bit bad about what I said to her." Gillian also talks about setting her sights on "a perfect round" at the Sydney Olympics even though her superb white horse Peppermint Grove will be too old to compete again. PLUS: As Time Goes By: Barclay Wright, owner of the only factory in the world which still makes piano rolls for pianolas in the traditional way. Barclay is so completely committed to keeping the tradition alive that he even sold the family home to keep the business going and turn it into a living museum.

The Homecoming: Kieren Perkins introduces the story of Sallyanne Atkinson, the one time Brisbane TV weather girl, who married a neurosurgeon, produced five children and went on to become one of the most prominent women in Australian public life. Australian Story started filming with Mrs Atkinson in Paris in July as she prepared to leave the job she'd held for three years as senior trade commissioner. The rest of the filming was completed in Brisbane upon her return home. Sallyanne Atkinson, now fifty five, is at a turning point in her life, professionally and personally. She is divorced from the husband she married at the age of 21. He has subsequently remarried. Mrs Atkinson talks frankly about loneliness and the challenges of building a new life as a single woman. PLUS: Family Tree: The story of 34 yr old outback artist, Jonathan McCord from Mundubbera in Central Qld. A former professional rodeo rider in the U.S. Jonathan tried his hand at lots of different trades from modelling to cabinet making before returning to the family property. There he combined his love of the bush with his cabinet making skills to create furniture out of cast off objects from tractor tyres to skulls. A touring exhibition of his surprisingly beautiful work is being put together.

Master of Illusion: John Seale hit the headlines earlier this year when he picked up the best cinematography Oscar for The English Patient. But he already had an impressive string of international box office hits to his name: Witness, Rainman, Dead Poets Society, Gorillas in the Mist etc etc. It's a long way from his first job in the ABC stationery department in a basement at Gore Hill in Sydney. Seale had to badger his way into the cinecamera department .. eventually working his way up to camera assistant. Now he calls the shots. And he chooses his own jobs. Right now he's taking a long break at home with his wife Louise, also a former ABC staffer, and that gave Australian Story a chance to spend time with him for this profile. Seale reveals his other great passion .. boats. He is an accomplished boat builder and he's currently working on his latest craft, a thirty five foot yacht called Illusion, which he's been working on for twenty years. He crafted some of the deck beams on location during his earlier years in film. Seale describes some struggles on the way to the top. In the early days he and Louise struggled to exist between films. At one stage they had three mortgages and the staple diet came from their chooks and a little vegetable garden in the back yard. PLUS: All You Need is Love: This story follows the preparations for a fire event at this year's Northern Rivers Folk Festival. The organiser of this event is Jyllie Jackson. Jyllie was an internationally successful fashion designer in the late 60's and early 70's. These days Jyllie is recovering from a recent 'burn out' from work, but has had the courage to organise this event.

The story of David Byrne is one of the great untold stories of recent Australian history. David Byrne is the former Augustinian monk and Liberal Party politician, who in partnership with Noel Pearson, created the Cape York Land Council and changed the face of black politics in Australia. Until now Byrne has firmly refused to tell his own story but on Australian Story he recounts, for the first time, the details of his amazing journey from the monastery, through Parliament House and onto the wilderness of Cape York. In part, it's a great adventure story ... complete with hardship, strandings, encounters with crocodiles, culminating in Byrne's yacht running aground off Thursday Island. But at the heart of the story is the unlikely friendship between David Byrne and Noel Pearson .. the friendship that was to become the foundation for the immensely influential Cape York Land Council.

Lost and Found: Ron Barr is an "ordinary" Australian who has achieved extraordinary results with teenagers in trouble. Twelve years ago he established an organisation called "Youth In Search" centred around a series of camps designed to provide emotional support and healing for young people, many of them from the most horrendous backgrounds involving all forms of abuse, drugs, crime and so on. Seventeen thousand kids have gone through the program since it was founded and many of them have gone on to lead productive and worthwhile lives. We meet some of those "success stories" in tonight's program. We see how "In Search" works and we learn about the international interest that is now being generated. Despite this growth and volume of work "In Search" still gets no government funding and survives on the generosity of one anonymous donor and the hard work of Ron and Judith Barr plus one full time helper. For the first time Ron and his wife Judith tell their own story.. a story that traverses Ron's early childhood and, later, troubles within his own family when a beloved son developed schizophrenia. "Lost and Found" is a deeply moving story with profound implications for society at a time of seemingly intractable problems involving teenagers. PLUS: The Promised Land After the shearing strikes of 1891, a group of disillusioned Australians led by journalist William Lane left home to seek out a new Utopia in Paraguay. The so called "New Australia" experiment had fallen apart in disarray by 1908. But in 1966 Peter Wood became the first descendant of the Paraguay Utopians to return to Australia.

The exclusive inside story of the "coming out" of Dorothy McRae-McMahon, the high ranking Uniting Church Minister whose public declaration that she was gay created intense controversy earlier this year. Ms McRae-McMahon is still fighting to hang on to her ministry. Speaking publicly for the first time Ms McRae-McMahon's family agreed to be interviewed for this story, including three of her four children, her ex husband and her gay partner. They provide an, at times, astonishingly frank insight into a family coming to terms with a personal crisis that became a public controversy.

Roads Less Travelled: A classic rags to riches story with some of the most exotic locations in the world thrown in. Tony and Maureen Wheeler arrived in Australia twenty five years ago, newly wed and flat broke. They had been travelling in Asia for a year and decided to collate their travel diaries into a book "Across Asia on the Cheap". It was the start of something neither of them would have imagined in their wildest dreams. Quarter of a century later their independent publishing company Lonely Planet is the biggest and most successful independent publisher of travel books in the world. The guidebooks feature regularly on best seller lists and are equally popular with both the designer suitcase set and the backpacker brigade. In our story, the Wheelers candidly recount the early struggles, the tribulations of travelling through third world counties with small babies in tow, and the pleasures and pitfalls of success and prosperity. The program features some of the controversies the Wheelers have been caught up in .. from incurring the wrath of Jeff Kennett over their description of the new Melbourne casino .. to Germaine Greer quoting extensively from the books on a British TV comedy show. Also featured is new footage shot in Burma two weeks ago by Tony Wheeler. PLUS: Without A Trace: The story of Viv Hodge, mother of 22 year old Tabbatha Hodge who went missing from the Sunshine Coast more than two years ago. The case is one of the most baffling police have ever come aross. Tabbatha disappeared on the eve of a big birthday party she had been planning. In two years no trace of her, her car or any of her belongings has ever been found.