Archive for the ‘Radio’ Category
Hermannsburg Life
Artworks
- ABC Radio National
12 minute segment
Executive Producer: Debra McCoy
The former Aboriginal mission town of Hermannsburg, 130 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs, has a long history of contemporary art practice—from the evocative watercolours of Albert Namatjira in the 1930s, to the quirky, colourful ceramics of the Aranda women’s pottery group today.
In August/September 2007, Brisbane’s Artisan Gallery hosted an exhibition of new works by the Hermannsburg Potters entitled Hermannsburg Life: 17 years of contemporary art exploration.
The segment explores the exhibition and the role of art in the life of the community.
Participants
- Eliza Tee—Exhibition curator
- Trish Barnard—Senior Curator, Indigenous Studies, Queensland Museum
- Simha Koether—Art Coordinator, Hermannsburg Potters
Music
- Ekarlta Nai (CD)
Ntaria Ladies Choir
(Hymns sung in the Western Arrarnta language—the native tongue of Ntaria or Hermannsburg)
More info
Making “Lotte’s Gift”
Exhibit A
- ABC Radio National
20 minute program
Executive Producer: Julie Copeland
Commissioned by the ABC Regional Production Fund
Lotte’s Gift is a new work by Australian playwright David Williamson. It is the product of a collaboration with German-Australian classical guitarist Karin Schaupp.
This “drama with music” tells the story of Karin’s little-known but extraordinary grandmother, Lotte Reinke—in her day, an acclaimed coloratura soprano, whose performance career was thwarted by the times.
The work portrays three generations of remarkable women, born into very different worlds, and the very different paths their lives took. It is an epic account of a diva’s unsung potential finally being realised through her virtuoso guitarist granddaughter—whose own success would never have been fulfilled without the lifelong tuition of her mother, Lotte’s daughter, Isolde.
This making-of documentary tells the story of the creation of this unique new work, and elaborates the very local, very timely story behind the work.
Participants
- David Williamson
- Karin Schaupp
- Lotte Reinke
Music
More info
Gold or Sunshine: which is the coast with the most?
ABC Coast FM (Gold & Sunshine Coasts)
- Five x 5ish minute episodes
Executive Producer: Anthony Frangi
Commissioned by the ABC Regional Production Fund
AFL or rugby? Melbourne or Sydney? Holden or Ford? Big smoke or small town? The beach or the bush? Long board or short? Boardies or budgie smugglers?
There are some great rivalries in Australian culture. But no rivalry rivals our own great debate …
Which is the coast with the most? The Gold or the Sunshine?
In this five-piece series for ABC Coast FM (ABC Local Radio on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts), some passionate local coasters talk about what it is they value about their coast … What makes it home? What concerns them? What about the negative perceptions? And what about that other coast?
Please note, this program contains a light-hearted reference to the late, great Steve Irwin. The program was recorded and produced just weeks before Steve’s untimely death. While we considered re-editing the program to remove the reference, after much debate we chose to leave it as it was—in good humour and in sympathy. Because, let’s face it, the Sunshine Coast is a lesser place without him.
Listen/download MP3
- Episode 1
Dr Jen Carter: fourth generation Sunshine Coaster, geographer and social sciences lecturer
Dr Patrick West: Gold Coast academic and lecturer in creative writing and cultural studies
- Episode 2
Dr Jackie Holt: Sunshine Coast work/life balance guru
John Witheriff: Gold Coast golden boy and lawyer - Episode 3
Patsy Rowe: Gold Coast etiquette queen
David “Ghostboy” Stavanger: Sunshine Coast slam poet laureate - Episode 4
Lois Levy: Gold Coast social worker, teacher and conservation activist
John Mainwaring: Sunshine Coast architect - Episode 5
Final/conclusion
Music
- The music featured in this program is by Sunshine Coast band OKA, from their album “Music Makes Me Happy”—on the One World Music label.
Mary River Sans Frontières
The Deep End
- ABC Radio National
12 minute segment
Executive Producer: Debra McCoy
In 2005, French-Australian environmental artist Francois Davin—a resident of the Mary Valley’s Kandanga—lured a number of like-minded artists from a symposium in Noosa to something of an artist-in-residence/farmstay on his home turf.
In the process, he inspired local farmers to look at their river in a way they never had before. This was well before Premier Beattie got his beady little eyes on it.
The Queensland government’s plan to dam the Mary at Traveston Crossing encouraged Francois to relaunch the project with renewed vigour.
Participants
- Francois Davin—environmental artist
- Elaine Brandley—grower
- Maree Edmiston-Prior—artist
Music
- Mary Must Never Be Dammed
Steve Dennis
More info
Dig, dig, dig! Yowah 4490 ½
Street Stories
- ABC Radio National
30 minute program
Executive Producer: Claudia Taranto
Commissioned by the ABC Regional Production Fund
The evocatively, enigmatically named Yowah is a remote opal mining town in south-west Queensland. This shanty town has evolved slowly since the first mining lease was signed in the late 1800s. It’s now home to about 60 people.
Yowans will invariably tell you they “came for the opal and stayed for the lifestyle”. A curious concept.
Yowah can hit 50 in summer and drop well below zero in winter. While this generation of diggers enjoys electricity and running water, phones and TV, there’s still no pub.
Even more curious, many of the locals have no interest in opal.
Man needs space to feel free. You can be desperately lonesome in a crowd, but in the outback you can be alone without ever feeling lonely.
Johnny Kovac in White Man in a Hole by Rena Briand (both residents of Yowah)
Participants
- Dave Broome—Yowah Nut Café proprietor, miner & cutter
- Sharon O’Hare—teacher
- Peter Broome—Manager, Yowah Rural Transaction Centre
- Uwe & Verena Barfuss—Queensland Opal Mines, Yowah
- Eddie Maguire—collector, artist, miner & cutter
- Ojai Maguire—home school student
- Ossie & Carol Nelson—Yowah Museum proprietors, graziers-cum-miners
Rohan you bastard: the life and times of an outback cop
Street Stories
- ABC Radio National
30 minute program
Executive Producer: Claudia Taranto
Commissioned by the ABC Regional Production Fund
Re-versioned for ABC Local Radio
- Five x 5 – 6 minute episodes
Broadcast: November 2005
The role of the police officer in the small and remote rural community is both official and social, formal and informal. The position and mere presence of a cop are essential to both the general administration and social order of the town. At the same time, the individual is an integral and familiar member of the community.
Rohana Samarasekera is a policeman in the tiny border town of Hungerford—population 12. Senior Constable Samarasekera—or “Rohan” as everyone from Cunnamulla to Thargomindah affectionately knows him—is widely liked and respected. And he loves the country, the people and the job.
Outback towns—and outback cops—are not always so lucky.
Listen/download MP3
Local Radio version
Participants
- Senior Constable Rohana Samarasekera, Hungerford Police
- Jenny & Mark—Rangers, Lake Bindegolly National Park
- Dogger Dare—proprietor, Oasis Motel, Thargomindah
- Peter & Margaret—visitors on a motoring holiday from Sydney
- Scott & Paula Fraser—Nooyeah Station
- Senior Constable Jeff Donoghue, Thargomindah Police
- Peter and Margaret Dunk—the “King & Queen” of the region
- Peter & Rhelma—publicans, Royal Mail Hotel, Hungerford