Heather Ewart swaps four wheels for two with mixed results, when she heads to Evandale in Tasmania, Australia’s home of penny farthing races.
Presenter Heather Ewart swaps four wheels for two with mixed results, when she heads to Evandale in Tasmania, Australia’s home of penny farthing races. The annual event brings an eclectic mix to the historic village, ranging from a world record holder to a novice from Hong Kong who has only had a few hours practice.
And then there are the locals who have been riding penny farthings ever since their feet could reach the pedals.
But there’s more to Evandale than the tricky two-wheelers. Heather discovers a community that’s passionate about preserving its rich history in all sorts of ways, anything from turning the town’s heritage verandahs into a music festival to restoring old homes when it was more common to knock them down.
One of Evandale’s most ambitious restoration projects is Clarendon House, where Heather meets farmer Neville McKinnell. He has fond memories of growing up in the mansion, even though when he lived in it, it was falling into disrepair. Seven decades later he’s still farming the land around the grand home.
Evandale is also known for its famous local artist John Glover, who is described as the father of Australian landscape painting. Long after his death he continues to inspire artists, including Evandale newcomer Kataraina Koroheke who shares her own inspiring story with Heather. After being diagnosed with keratoconus, she’s now legally blind but has found a way to pursue her love of painting. Kataraina has also adopted an unusual pet – a sheep named Gerald!
Heather Ewart heads to the South Australian outback to check out two mining towns that are chalk and cheese – Roxby Downs and its unruly cousin, Andamooka.
Heather Ewart heads to the South Australian outback to check out two mining towns that are chalk and cheese – Roxby Downs and its unruly cousin, Andamooka. These towns are just 30 kilometres apart but seem worlds away from each other.
Andamooka is a frontier opal mining town that evolved with barely any rules or regulations, but tons of character. It carries an unmistakable whiff of the Wild West. Heather meets local identity “Cal the Stoner”, who moved from Melbourne to Andamooka to devote himself to his art. Cal’s stone sculpture “The Andamooka Tiger” was years in the making and is now on the tourist trail. Heather’s mind boggles at Cal’s tales of playing heavy rock to birds in his garden and she winds up at an impromptu party in his psychedelic bar.
Nearby Roxby Downs was only built in the 1980s to service BHP’s vast Olympic Dam mine. On the surface, it’s a far neater and more orderly town, but Heather soon finds that the locals here also take pride in being different and making their own fun. Mine worker and artist Monte Clements makes elaborate costumes and invites Heather to model for a photo. The results are otherworldly!
Production credit: Executive Producer: Brigid Donovan. Series Producer: Louise Turley.
Back Roads visits Camperdown in Southwest Victoria, a town nestled between dormant volcanoes and majestic crater lakes. Guest presenter, Kerry Staight discovers a community that embraces its Scottish heritage, whilst also supporting locals going their own way.
The Robert Burns Celtic Festival celebrates Camperdown’s unlikely connection to the famous Scottish poet. Guest Presenter Kerry Staight throws herself into the festival by entering the shortbread competition, where she is outcooked by a class of year eight students. Undeterred Kerry gives haggis, another Scottish delicacy, a go while enjoying the many musical talents on display including some young bagpipers.
Kerry also learns of the local Aboriginal heritage, in particular Wombeetch Puyuun, who was the last of his tribe to live on Country. Dr Vicki Couzens shares the story of this local Elder and the unlikely friendship he forged with Scottish pastoralist James Dawson. It’s a relationship which was instrumental in saving the local indigenous languages from being lost.
Camperdown is home to some unique characters who aren’t afraid to go their own way. Lawrie Voutier owns the local scrapyard, making his living from other people’s rubbish. Surprisingly, behind his rough and ready demeanour, Kerry discovers his true love is antiquities. It’s a passion that has led to one of the biggest private antique collections in Australia including 1000 clocks and 800 Mary Gregory vases.
Another local who is breaking with convention is Tony Dupleix, a farmer who has potentially established the first cemetery in the world where the deceased are buried upright. There are no coffins or headstones. In fact, this environmentally friendly cemetery looks like a typical paddock.
Back Roads guest presenter Anna Daniels heads to the central Queensland town of Theodore for its 100th birthday. She finds a town honouring its past, but also safeguarding its future, proving anything is possible in the bush.
Back Roads guest presenter Anna Daniels heads to Theodore in central Queensland for its 100th birthday party. While the event celebrates the past, Anna finds this small town is also looking ahead and has big ideas on how to attract young people to the bush.
First up, Anna meets two young outback women who are proving anything is possible out here. Bella Hanson and Toni Lamb, both 22, launched their hit “Cowgirl Channel” podcast from the kitchen table on a local cattle station. The idea was to talk about things that matter to young women in the country and connect with those who want to give rural life a go. The besties tackle everything from the reality of dating in a small town to the drinking culture in the bush. Technology allows them to chat to guests all over Australia and study for their university degrees, without leaving the farm. The Cowgirls are proving if you have a good idea, you can make it happen anywhere.
While it’s tough to get young people to move to the country, Anna meets a local who’s done more than most to turn that around. The town’s much-loved GP, Dr Bruce Chater, has trained more than 500 medical students and interns in Theodore. He tells Anna it’s about showing them the joys of rural practice, in the hope they’ll choose to work in the bush. But after 43 years, Bruce is retiring. Luckily for Theodore, one of his proteges is stepping up and taking over.
Back Roads journeys to Kandos, in New South Wales, a town famous for making cement, where Heather Ewart finds an unlikely arts festival is reshaping the community.
Presenter Heather Ewart heads to the curious town of Kandos, on the edge of the Great Dividing Range. It was founded in the early 20th century to supply cement for buildings like the Sydney Harbour Bridge. But when the cement works abruptly closed in 2011, Kandos faced a grim future.
Heather meets American born artist, Alex Wisser, who launched the Cementa Arts Festival in Kandos in 2013. Contemporary artists and visitors flocked to the town, but local “Nanna” Ellen Riley tells Heather many residents initially struggled to understand the eccentric newcomers. When Alex took the advice of former cement worker, Jack Pennell, and connected more with locals, things started to turn around. Now artists and residents work side by side to redefine the town’s identity.
Heather gets swept up in the creative energy of the festival, even posing for an ‘aura’ portrait. She also meets artist and resident Gab Bates, who is collaborating with the local footy team, to combine sport and performance art in her ambitious project “Scrum”. Heather eagerly jumps in and experiences the power of art in bringing people together in unexpected ways.
Heather then heads out of town with Peter Swain, a Dabee Wiradjuri man, whose ancestors survived the Dabee massacre, a devastating chapter in local history. Peter shows Heather incredible rock art created by his ancestors, which tells the story of the land and the people who have lived there for thousands of years. Through Peter’s eyes, Heather gains a profound appreciation of the spiritual and artistic heritage that exists alongside Kandos’s new and evolving identity.
