Past Programs
History - 20th Century - 2008
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Colin Thiele
11/12/2008
Australian writer the late Colin Thiele began writing fiction for children and young adults nearly forty years ago, when he published his first book The Sun on the Stubble, which drew on his own childhood experience in the German farming settlements in South Australia's Barossa Valley.
Thiele has since written over ninety books, including non-fiction and biography. In this program Colin Thiele talks about his interest in writing for young people, his long teaching career, and his passion for the Australian environment, which has provided the setting for some of his most popular fiction, including Storm Boy and Blue Fin.
Colin Thiele died in 2006
Margaret Gleeson
06/11/2008
Margaret Gleeson was born in 1945, and raised in the model 'garden suburb' of Daceyville. Daceyville was the first purpose-built public housing project in New South Wales, a roomy suburb complete with civic facilities, fair rents and priority to returned soldiers.
There was such an unusual air of security and stability in this largely Catholic working-class community that Margaret grew up feeling sorry for the poor folk who actually had to buy their own homes.
Kim Scott
30/10/2008
This week on Verbatim, we're joined by the award-winning author of Benang, Kim Scott. He tells his story of personal reconciliation and the struggle to understand his family's story of living in Western Australia in the 1930s and 40s during the time of Chief Protecter of Aborigines AO Neville.
1919 Spanish Flu
16/10/2008
Nurses and doctors recall the Spanish influenza epidemic which swept Australia in 1919. At least twenty million people died of the flu around the world, including twelve thousand Australians.
In the first half of that year, normal life in the country came to a standstill, as desperate governments tried to stem the spread of the disease.
Lester Bostock
11/09/2008
Lester Bostock is considered a founding father of the emergence of Indigenous media in Australia. He helped set up Radio Redfern, was involved in the creation of the first Indigenous theatre group, and was also the first Aboriginal presenter on SBS Radio.
Lester Bostock was born in 1934, and spent his childhood on the Box Ridge reserve in northern NSW. He went to school on the reserve, where his teacher was the untrained wife of the reserve manager. He left school at thirteen, and returned to education as an adult. Lester attended Tranby Aboriginal College in Sydney, and ended up teaching there himself.
Fred Daly
04/09/2008
Fred Daly was born into a large family in Currabubula, NSW, in 1913. After the death of his father, the family fell upon difficult financial times, and Fred's older brothers decided to sell the family property. Fred and his mother came to live in Sydney, where he left school and, in the midst of the Great Depression, got a job as a bicycle delivery boy.
In his early 20s, Fred Daly joined the Australian Labor Party, and in 1943, became a minister in the wartime Curtin government, making him, at the time, the youngest member of the House of Representatives. He went on to hold the NSW seats of Martin and Grayndler. His 32 years in office earned him the title 'Father of the House'.
Fred Daly died in 1995. Well known for his wit and humour, his political career has been documented in many books, including his own memoir The Politician Who Laughed.
Hermann Black
28/08/2008
Sir Hermann, or HD, Black was born in Sydney in 1904 and claimed Scottish, Irish and German heritage. He attended Fort Street high school and became a teacher himself, before being offered a position, in 1933, at his old alma-mater, the University of Sydney, in the Department of Economics.
Throughout his time at the university, HD Black was also an economic adviser to Treasury, and was a popular presence on the ABC radio program The World We Live In. But Hermann Black's early life was not one abundant with opportunity, nor material comfort.
Oodgeroo Noonuccal
21/08/2008
In the fourth program in a series exploring memories of childhood, the poet and activist Oodgeroo Noonuccal recalls her early life growing up on her tribal country, Minjerribah, or Stradbroke Island, off the coast of southern Queensland.
She was born in 1920 and was given the name Kathleen. As an adult Kath Walker took on her Indigenous name, Minjerribah is the traditional country of the Noonuccal people.
Oodgeroo was one of the first Indigenous Australian writers to be published, and her work has received many accolades and awards, including an MBE which she famously returned to the government in 1988, in protest against the Bicentennial celebrations.
Edward Oleszkiewicz Part 2
12/06/2008
Towards the end of the Second World War Edward Oleszkiewicz piloted Lancaster bombers out of Britain. Later when he migrated to Australia he had some interesting encounters with Australian officials who attempted to expel him to East Germany, even though he had fought for the Allies.
In 1943, at the age of 21, he was recruited into the Polish Air Force and trained in Britain as a bomber pilot. Edward's missions flew over Hamburg and Bremen, cities that were already destroyed. By 1944 he claims they were needlessly dropping surplus bombs.
After the war he was given 10 minutes to decide whether to emigrate to Australia. He took his chances here and worked for the Hydro Electric Scheme in Tasmania. However when the authorities would not allow him to socialise with guests at his work camp he and his workmates quit. This led to the threat by the Department of Immigration to send them back to East Germany. After they proved that they had fought for the Allies they were allowed to stay, and Edward went to work at Woomera Rocket Range.
He spent most of his life in Opossum Bay, Tasmania, where he used his skills in building and electronics to make a living. There, under the shadow of Mt Wellington, he was also able to pursue his passion for landscape painting.
Edward Oleszkiewicz Part 1
05/06/2008
Edward Oleszkiewicz had many adventures as a teenager fighting in The Middle East during the second world war. While it was a matter of life, death and harsh conditions he managed to have some laughs as well.
His parents were Polish, although he grew up in Romania. In 1940 he fled the invading Nazi army by being smuggled onto a boat which eventually led him to Haifa, where he joined The Polish Carpathian Brigade.
He fought as a rat of Tobruk, alongside the Australians, under General Leslie Morshead. This required keeping your head down and your wits about you, as they were constantly under seige.
There Edward gained the nickname 'Grenade Eddie' because of his fondness for using hand grenades in all sorts of situations. He also witnessed a memorable encounter between an Australian gunner and a British captain that saw the gunner affectionately call the captain 'Shorty Pants'.
After the war the Australian government invited these Polish Rats of Tobruk to immigrate to Australia because of the relationship they formed on the battlefield with the Australian soldiers.
