Clip description
Bill Peach takes us for a meander through the Flinders Ranges of South Australia. Along the way, we learn that the white squatters who settled the area in 1851 welcomed the artist Hans Heysen to stay with them while he was painting the hills and ancient gum trees of the area. The clip shows the sites where Hans Heysen set up his easel as he painted the landscape, intercut with a series of the paintings he created while living at the property, though somewhat compromised by the aged film stock. From a chopper over Lake Frome, Peach tells of an Aboriginal Dreaming story that explains the great expanse of salt that makes up the lake. Aerial shots show the river gorges of the Flinders Ranges.
Curator’s notes
It’s hard to imagine that this arid and rugged landscape could support a farming community, but George Hunt Sr took over Wilpena Station in 1924. His son, George Hunt, still runs the property, much smaller these days than the original 931 square miles. With carefully chosen digressions, Bill Peach keeps his audience fascinated throughout this travelogue with a difference.
Bill Peach was already an Australian institution when he began his wanderings for Peach’s Australia. He’d been the inaugural presenter of This Day Tonight, Australia’s first nightly current affairs program and was known for his unflappable on-air style as stories failed to materialise or a tape broke on air.