It's 1942 and Laurence Clark is climbing into a plane, a Sunderland to be specific. He is part of the Air Force and has been selected to fly within the Australian Squadron, an elite few, flying in England during World War 11 But what happens when the fighting stops and you head home after three years abroad? Well, you start working for Australia's largest aviation company of course. @qantas hired Laurence just moments after his feet were planted firmly on home soil and he continued with them...

Tom and Bernie Underwood have called the Pilliga Forest home their entire lives. It was the early 1900's, that The Underwood family built a sawmill in Wooleybah, to cut the famously termite-resistant white cypress pine of the mighty Pilliga Scrub. Back then Wooleybah boasted a thriving mill, a school and a great community that sold pine all over the world. Now there is no mill, no school and the screaming saws of Mr Underwood's mill are silent. As we sit down with Tom and Bernie, they share...

With a quiet seat and gentle hands, Terry Hall is without a doubt one of Australia's greatest drovers, stockman and campdrafters. For over 50 years he has criss-crossed his way across our land, following age old stock routes and leading thousands upon thousands of cattle towards greener pastures. All the while leaving a legendary legacy in his wake. While on the road, his weekends consist of campdrafting, a sport where he - alongside his family - has won just about everything there is to win...

Decked out in a blue and yellow uniform of a firefighter is Burra, a 23-year-old Aboriginal boy from Brewarrina. Not only was he the first person on his fathers side to complete his Higher School Certificate but he is also the first crew leader of the newly formed All-Indigenous Mitigation Squad in regional New South Wales. Crisscrossing our way across vast North West New South Wales and flying over Australia's most hidden tourist attraction The Brewarrina Fishtraps, we stumbled upon...

Jamie Manning, or Dodge as he's known in the rodeo world is a cowboy, a rodeo legend, a family man but most importantly a survivor. Dodge - an apt nickname you might think as yes he too dodged death in 2014 when on his way home from work he was involved in a life-changing car accident. Leaving him with burns to 40% of his body, the accident resulted in the loss of a hand and a leg and put him in hospital for months on end. But even as he lay, recovering after countless surgeries, his...

Ben Brooksby is a fifth generation farmer from St Helens Plains in Western Victoria. When he was younger, he struggled with anxiety and other mental health issues, as do many others in rural communities. A simple social media post helped him to turn things around, after he shared a photo on Instagram showing himself naked in a truck full of lentils, he received a huge response, with other farmers wanting to share their own photos and stories. @the.naked.farmer movement grew, Ben met people...

Nestled among the banks of the Manning River in a beautiful home, complete with a private writing studio and overlooking luscious long green grass, lives Australia's most prominent author Di Morrissey. Name sounds familiar? It should be. Di has written 27 best selling novels, Barra Creek, Heart Of The Dreaming, Follow The Morning Star just to name a few, and her new 28th novel Before The Storm will be released next week on the 27th October 2020. Most of Di's books are set in the outback, on...

Dick Wagner, a Victorian man born and bred got the opal mining bug on a short holiday to Whitecliffs in Far North-West NSW. He relocated his family into the depths of the Outback in the hope of striking it lucky, and within a week he did! But Dick doesn't just stay in Whitecliffs for the stone, he loves regional Australia and everything it has to offer, which is apparent when listening to our chat with him. If you ever find yourself 100km north of Wilcannia, stop in at the pub, stay...

Da dum da da, da dum dah da 👰 🎩 Yes it's wedding season and there's no better way to kick it off than a chat with an outback wedding dressmaker ! Did you ever think you'd find a classically trained seamstress in the Outback? Well, forget Cinderella's fairy godmother, Melinda O'Donoghue is the real life version and she's made over 300 wedding dresses, during 2 decades working in the fashion industry. From working for top designers like Alex Perry, to relocating to the small country town of...

Why the moon is gradually drifting away from earth? How much does our galaxy weigh? And Is There Life Beyond Our Planet? Here we are, episode no.3 of Outback Stories, where we are talking to one of the Worlds most renowned astronomers. Fred Watson is known as the Master Of The Dark Sky, a man who has won a multitude of awards for his contribution to the world of astronomy. An English born gentleman who relocated to this great southern land, pursuing a deeper knowledge of the night sky and the...

From the skies as an Air Hostess to running the family farm, Terri Wheeler never thought she'd become a full time farmer. Along with many regional Australian women, Terri's story is about falling in love with a country man. After meeting her husband Gav, she moved from the city to the country where they began raising four daughters. But in 2010, Terri's life was turned upside down when Gav passed away on a remote dirt road 50 kilometres from the nearest hospital. Left to run the 12,000 acre...

This Bourke local needs no introduction, a reigning World Champion in the sport of motocross/supercross saw this living legend win 13 Australian Titles, a handful of World Titles, he's raced in some of the toughest terrain in the country (Finke Desert Race, Hattah Desert Race) all of this had him thrust into the limelight at the ripe age of 12. But suddenly, at 24 years of age he retired, leaving the sport in a tailspin. What is he doing now? Well, he's out the Back-O-Bourke flying a...

What makes an ordinary person extraordinary? Join regional journalists Lucy Samuels and Lucy Taylor as they fly across remote Australia, yarning to the unsung heroes of the bush. Walk alongside some of the unique characters that inhabit the back country as we chat to a world renowned motocross rider turned goat chaser, a burns survivor with an unbreakable spirit, a bush dressmaker that can make your wedding dreams come true... plus so many more. Buckle in!