Red Dust Tapes
OVER 55 YEARS AGO multi-award-winning journalist John Francis interviewed ageing Australian Outback characters, before their voices were lost in the red dust.
THIS IS UNIQUE Aussie history.
NEARLY ALL lived largely solitary lives, in the harsh and lonely inland, on the edge of deserts, in a world of searing droughts, and occasional fierce floods.
THEY WERE prospectors, sheep and cattle men, boundary riders, drovers, railway workers, truck drivers, Aboriginal groups, and isolated but hardy women.
AUSTRALIA'S AVIATION HISTORY also started in the red dust. You'll hear interviews with some of Australia's most famous pioneer airmen (many of whom started flying in the First World War), who used aircraft to make the Outback a little less lonely.
JOHN ALSO interviews the descendants of other unique characters, reads fascinating tales from Australia's Outback past, and spins tales of his own red dust adventures.
WEBSITE: www.reddusttapes.au
Red Dust Tapes
Both families were miners. Together they created musical gold
SEASON 1, EPISODE 7
Last edition we met Sis McRae, the all-night fiddler from the early part of the 20th Century. Sis had just one child, Margaret McRae, who married Jim Coad.
Both families had mining backgrounds. With Margaret and Jim this continued, with their barytes mine at Martins Well in the Flinders Ranges.
But it’s what they achieved above ground, out there in the back country of South Australia, that is truly remarkable.
Seven children, seven highly talented multi-instrumentalists. Including Peter, Virginia and Lynette. As Peter Coad and the Coad Sisters, these siblings – with the addition of fellow South Australian musician Jim Hermel, are almost constantly on the road, mixing and matching to form four bands, writing and performing Australian bush ballads, Bluegrass and Rock.
But what is most dear to their hearts is the Australian sound, drawn from Australian outback stories, many reflecting their own isolated bush upbringing.
As you will hear in this episode of Red Dust Tapes, Granny Sis McRae’s violin, dating from the 18th Century, plays on, in the talented hands of this intriguing family.