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National Features & Documentary Series

National Features & Documentary Series

Written by: Community Broadcasting Association of Australia
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About this listen

From water and drought to coal mines in small towns, a neighbourhood's safe-injecting room to the Country Women's Association's brand of feminism, each year these and more stories are told by Australian communities in their own words through the National Features and Documentary Series.

City to the bush, coast to coast, since 2013 the NFDS has commissioned audio works from all over Australia by budding community radio producers.

Produced for the Community Radio Network at the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia with training and mentoring from the Community Media Training Organisation.

2026 Community Broadcasting Association of Australia Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Australian Radio Pioneer (Northside Radio, Sydney)

    Australian Radio Pioneer (Northside Radio, Sydney)
    Aug 19 2016
    By Jane Arakawa

    Listen to 'Australian Radio Pioneer Wound Up the Cat and Put the Clock Out'

    How and where you access your favourite radio programs is changing so rapidly that it can be challenging to keep up. It may be reassuring to hear that it was only about 100 years ago that radio was the new emerging technology, and an experimenter named Charles Maclurcan spent much of his time educating the general public on how to hear a radio broadcast signal.

    My passion for radio and the immediate, intimate connection it creates between us, lead me to discover more about this dedicated Australian radio pioneer and how he faced his technical hurdles and engaged his audience over various media.

    I learnt that Charles Maclurcan erected aerial masts on top of the first Wentworth Hotel located on Church Hill, Lang Street Sydney in 1911 and was communicating with incoming and outgoing ships. By early 1922 he was broadcasting an entertaining and engaging radio program each week with a program guide published in the weekly newspapers of the time. He was issued Licence No.1 in December 1922 and continued his broadcasts and experiments until 1927 when he was required to take over the management of the Wentworth Hotel until its sale in 1950.

    I discovered that some of Charles Maclurcan’s equipment was held by the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and also on display at the Radio Museum at Kurrajong, NSW. It was at Kurrajong that I first heard of an ongoing discussion among radio historians regarding which station can lay claim to holding Licence No 1 in Australia. Charles Maclurcan returned to his love of radio in his retirement and his passion and dedication resulted in the Australian Government declaring upon his death in 1957 that his call sign 2CM was never to be re-issued.

    Feb 1923 Josie Melville at Strathfield copyright 1924 - Charles Maclurcan talks to England copyright

    You will hear how Charles Maclurcan engaged his listeners through multi-media platforms of the time, why historians are debating who holds Licence No.1, and how his grandsons have respectfully and openly shared his story of radio with us.

    I now consider Charles Maclurcan to be Australia’s first multi-platform radio producer.

    If you wish to discover more about Charles Dansie Maclurcan’s radio programs, technical instructions, newspaper articles, long distance records achieved and his place in Australia’s radio history, you could start at the National Library of Australia (Trove), access reference material at the NSW State Library and Powerhouse Museum, read Ron Langhan’s book The First Twelve Months of Radio Broadcasting in Australia 1923 -1924 or Australian Radio History (5th Edition) compiled by Bruce Carty Phd and visit the Historical Radio Society of Australia.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    28 mins
  • Red Dirt In Bondi: The Story of Building Bridges (3MDR, Melbourne)

    Red Dirt In Bondi: The Story of Building Bridges (3MDR, Melbourne)
    Aug 19 2016
    By Meeghan Bell

    Listen to Red Dirt In Bondi: The Story of Building Bridges'

    "The facts are really not at all like fish on the fishmonger's slab. They are like fish swimming about in a vast and sometimes inaccessible ocean; and what the historian catches will depend, partly on chance, but mainly on what part of the ocean he chooses to fish in and what tackle he chooses to use – these two factors being, of course, determined by the Kind of fish he wants to catch. By and large, the historian will get the kind of facts he wants. History means interpretation." - E.H. Carr

    I was sitting in the packed auditorium as Gary Foley presented 'Life of Struggle' at the 2015 Marxism Conference in Melbourne. He commanded the stage, held the audience in the palm of his hand and I listened fiercely and took notes. He spoke passionately about the history of Aboriginal resistance in Australia, of which he played a central role and shared iconic images of his life including photos with rock star Michael Hutchence (pictured below). Foley also spoke about an album he'd been involved with titled, Building Bridges - Australia Has A Black History.

    Gary Foley & Michael Hutchence, Building Bridges 1989 Bicentenary January 26th 1988 Aboriginal Protests at Sydney Harbour

    It wasn't entirely clear then of course but as I listened to Foley talk, a seed was planted and once I'd been selected to participate in the CBAA National Features and Documentary Series, the 1989 Building Bridges album and the story surrounding its creation began to absorb almost every waking moment of my life.

    'Red Dirt in Bondi' is a radio feature set in Sydney around the time of the Bicentenary, 26 January 1988. The key participants in this feature are Aboriginal activist and academic Gary Foley, the Building Bridges Cultural Construction Crew featuring Jim George, Tony Duke and Denise Officer (Andrew McMillan passed away on 28 January 2012) and singer-songwriter, Kev Carmody.

    For a rookie like myself there were significant challenges in bringing this radio story to life including the historical nature of the topic and the complex relationship between black and white Australia since 1788. Not to mention attempting an interesting and thought-provoking radio feature in under 27 minutes.

    The story of Building Bridges, involving a small group of people with the support of the Australian Music Industry, is as relevant today as it was back in '88. It is vital to keep re-telling and sharing this piece of history so that we may move towards true reconciliation in this country and achieve justice for Australia's First People.

    I would like to thank Phil Ruck, David Miller and others from 3MDR for their amazing support, the CBAA and CMTO for the wonderful opportunity but most importantly to the 'Red Dirt in Bondi' participants Jim, Gary, Tony, Denise and Kev for sharing the incredible Building Bridges story.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    28 mins
  • Fairlight: How Australia Changed the Sound of Music (Artsound FM, Canberra)

    Fairlight: How Australia Changed the Sound of Music (Artsound FM, Canberra)
    Aug 19 2016
    By Paul Conn

    Listen to 'Fairlight: How Australia Changed the Sound of Music'

    Behind this strange claim is a story that started in a Sydney basement and ended up in recording studios around the world. Along the way, the sound of music (yes, the way music actually sounds) was changed.

    The best part is that it all started in Australia, just because two nerdy guys thought they would push the boundaries of technology 40 years ago without ever realising where it would lead.

    So what was this Fairlight? Its proper name was the Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument, or Fairlight CMI for short. As the pictures show, it was a plain looking computer with a keyboard, big floppy disks and monitor, but no hard drive or external storage. It was custom built long before today's mass manufactured personal computers, laptops, tablets and more. But this dull exterior hid what it could really do.

    It went from that Sydney basement through an amazing set of circumstances to the recording studios of Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, the Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and literally hundreds of other musicians. In the end, you could not listen to radio in the late 1980s and not hear the Fairlight's sounds on nearly every song.

    And then, in the 1990s it just disappeared.

    Image of Fairlight CMI Synthesiser Image of Fairlight CMI Synthesiser

    'Fairlight: how Australia changed the sound of music' tells the story of its strange rise, its immense success and its sudden demise, as well as letting you hear plenty of the sound effects and music it was used to create.

    If you enjoy the Fairlight story and would like to see it in action, here are some great examples:

    Herbie Hancock showing children on a Sesame Street program what the Fairlight could do (entertaining and clever)

    Pet Shop Boys performing Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money) live in the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test in 1986, with two Fairlights in the keyboards array and up on the monitors

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    28 mins
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