In the 1980s Tim Bowden produced many of ABC Radio’s most outstanding audio documentaries. They were forerunners of today’s podcast genre, and led the way in oral history documentary-making in Australia. In the first of this two-part series, Tim told of his early career and the making of his iconic series ‘Taim Bilong Masta’, which examined Australia’s involvement in Papua New Guinea, pre-independence. Now in part two, Tim tells of his next, and arguably most important, series – ‘Prisoners of War – Australians Under Nippon’. More than 22,000 Australians became POWs after Japan entered World War II in December 1941. By the end of the war in August 1945, one in three of the prisoners had died. ‘Prisoners of War – Australians Under Nippon’ related the extraordinary and previously untold stories of many of those who survived.

Over the last month much of the east coast of Australia has been devastated by flooding, among the worst in living memory. We’ve seen stories of extraordinary efforts to evacuate desperate residents from rising flood waters, and the tragedy of people left homeless and towns swamped deep in mud. Once again, the ABC has been reporting around the clock and providing critical community updates, continuing its long tradition as the nation’s emergency broadcaster. For many alumni, the scale of the current devastation brought back memories of another disaster of epic proportions nearly 50 years ago, which wreaked havoc on Darwin. When tropical Cyclone Tracy tore into the northern capital late on Christmas eve and in the early hours of Christmas morning, 1974, the ABC was a crucial source of information. Most of the city’s homes were destroyed or badly damaged. Scores of people died and more than three quarters of Darwin’s residents had to be evacuated, including ABC staff. The ABC office was badly damaged and when Queensland-based broadcaster Peter Clarke was flown in to replace exhausted staff, he was faced with spartan, wartime-like conditions, regular power outages and a camaraderie that he’s never forgotten.

Long before podcast documentaries, ABC Radio pioneered the audio documentary genre with countless programs and series produced over several decades. Some of the most outstanding of these documentaries were made by Tim Bowden. He led the way in Australian oral history documentary-making with his iconic Taim Bilong Masta – a series looking at Australia’s involvement in Papua New Guinea, pre-independence – and with other landmark programs including Prisoners of War – Australians Under Nippon. In this first of a two-part series, Tim tells of how he fell in love with radio, his early reporting days and starting the PM program, and the serendipitous breaks that led to Taim Bilong Masta.  

Between 1941 and 1972 The Argonauts Club was one of ABC Radio’s most successful children’s programs. In 1956 it was attracting 10,000 new members a year. Many went on to have illustrious careers, like broadcaster Margaret Throsby, satirist Barry Humphries, broadcaster and writer Robert Dessaix, journalist and writer Anne Summers and composer Peter Sculthorpe, to name just a few. Open to any child between the ages of 7 and 17 years, The Argonauts Club inspired creativity and inquiry for a generation of young listeners. Wendy Borchers was one of them.

For many ABC staff it’s an ambition to become an overseas correspondent or cameraperson. It’s a rare opportunity to travel to extraordinary locations and cover major events. Yet the work of the foreign correspondent often means dealing with dangerous and life-threatening situations whether it be war, terrorists attacks, natural disasters or terrible tragedies. John Tulloh spent nearly 20 years assigning ABC correspondents and crew around the world. Their safety and security have been forefront in his commissioning. 

In the early hours of 5^th September 1972, the Munich Olympic Games were rocked by a terrorist attack. Eight terrorists from the Palestinian organisation Black September (BSO) seized members of the Israeli Olympic team, killing two in the initial attack, with nine more Israeli athletes and officials taken hostage – and worse to come. Six days earlier, John Highfield thought he’d finished his current affairs reporting assignment at the Olympics, but within hours he was back in Munich, an eyewitness to the dramatic events unfolding and becoming the first ABC journalist to report ‘live’ into a radio news bulletin.

There was a time when academics rarely talked about their work to anyone outside of the universities, a time when Australia was so genuflective to Britain and Europe that it lacked a distinctive cultural voice. 

And then came the ABC. Or more specifically, the radio service now known as RN – Radio National.

With the ABC celebrating its 90^th Anniversary in 2022, ABC Alumni is publishing a series of articles throughout the year, ranging from little-known history to recollections of significant and colourful times, and showing the many ways in which the national broadcaster has helped to shape the Australia we know today.

Sharon Carleton begins with the remarkable and largely forgotten story of ABC’s original flagship, the now world-renowned Radio National. 

Like many journalists who’ve honed their careers at the ABC, economics writer Peter Martin began in a small local newsroom and moved through the ranks to become a specialist reporter and a foreign correspondent. Having subsequently worked in commercial media, he has a renewed appreciation of the ABC, both professionally and personally. Here he reflects on his strong lifetime attachment to the ABC, and the lessons he’s learnt about both the skills of the profession and the responsibilities of being a public broadcaster. 

Throughout her long career, Caroline Jones AO has championed women’s rights in the media, and beyond. On screen she led the way in the 1960s as a reporter on This Day Tonight, then hit the headlines in 1972 when appointed as the first woman to host Four Corners. Other high-profile roles followed, including more than twenty years as the trusted anchor of Australian Story. But she’s also renowned for paving the way for other women in very practical ways, most notably through mentoring, scholarships in her name, and over the last decade as co-Patron of the Women in Media organisation. In this last story of our series commemorating 60 Years of Four Corners, Caroline looks back at those heady pioneering days when women were far from a fixture on Australian TV.