Opal miner Franko Albertoni was born in 1883. He was 88 when John Francis interviewed him in 1971, but still jumping around in the crushing heat like a little pixie.

In 1920 Franko and his brother were among the very early miners at the Coober Pedy Opal Fields in South Australia. Then in 1930 they were among the first 12 to dig for opal in Andamooka.

Franko was still living in the same mud and stone hut they had built there. A hut so tiny he just had room for one chair, and so dark, he cooked over his open fire by feel. His prized possessions were his button accordion and tin whistle.

Franko was scathing of his ‘lazy’ older brother George, a womaniser who lived in the city and made a lot of money gambling. Citing the poem, ‘Paddle Your Own Canoe’, he preferred the simple joys of digging for potatoes in earth so dry and hard he had to use a use a pick, and drawing a little muddy water from the well he dug when he was 70.

Also in this episode, goat carts and drought years in the Flinders Ranges. And before we meet Franko, we go underground in search of opal.

It was 1919, and Charlie Gill was 12 when he started work on a cattle station east of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. It was a tough but joyous life for a boy.

Charlie was an acute observer, with the memory of a steel dingo trap, and a great way with words. In this 1968 interview he talks of sleeping rough when mustering, of dealing with cranky camels, on the dingo hunt, the joy of working with cattle, and why donkeys are sweeter than mules.

As a 21 year-old Mr Gill joined the police force. He recalls the hard line he was forced to take with the hordes of desperate swaggies heading west during the Depression years.

This is the first edition of Red Dust Tapes, where former radio documentary maker John Francis takes us on a journey through Outback Australia to meet now long-gone, colourful characters whose lifestyle has now all but disappeared.

Are you intrigued by Australian oral history? You’ll really love RED DUST TAPES.

Soak up the voices and the stories of Outback old-timers who were born over 130 years ago.

Here's a quick trailer of RED DUST TAPES, which will be available weekly from mid-April.

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