I hope so. Wherever you are this morning, you can give us a ring. It's been a big week. There's lots to talk about. How's the veterinary business? Oh, it's very strong. Very strong. Big demand. And COVID, they bought lots of... A bloke rang me one morning during COVID and he said, I'm selling chooks, so chickens, but I want to buy more. He said, I can't buy them. He said, because...
In COVID, everybody bought everything. Now they're giving them back. Or not even doing that, just letting them loose. Yeah, this is the problem now because with the rental market the way it is and the restrictions that some landlords put on rentals... they won't take animals and so people are handing them back. So the shelters are bulging with stray animals. I think the problem is it's not like buying a shirt or a dress.
You can just, when you finish with it or you get sick of it, you can just put it in the cupboard. But you buy a pet, you've got 15 years commitment. And people don't often think about that when they go to buy a pet. They just fall in love with a little puppy or a little kitten in the pet shop. And it's an instantaneous decision without thinking about the long-term consequences. 1300 700 222. Good morning.
Who knows, but we will talk about Anzac. It's the biggest day in the year, I think, in Australia and still remains so. Lots of lovely stories, individual stories. You can ring us, 1300 700 222. But a mate of mine the other day reported, he rang me and said, He's done his ankle because he's been rock climbing. And I know, and I've fallen off a ladder myself, and people fall off fences and all sorts of things.
So there's some timely warnings here from some of the programs we've had and also a little bit there about the funeral of Jack Brabham, which was some years ago. It's a great story. You were just talking about falling off ladders. I'll go back a step. Two years ago in December... Off a ladder, didn't have a tie down.
Three broken ribs and a punch of luck. My wife, as I told you last Sunday morning, was up the top of Mount Warning here when you were talking about Karen. She works as a doctor's surgeon. They arrange for Father's Day to climb Mount Warning, as people can do. On the way down the start of the shower, so a few metres from the top of the mountain she slipped.
Thought she's thrown her ankle. 12 hours later, 28 rescue people. You were just talking a while ago. I hear about how good it is to volunteer. 28 rescue people with stretches and ropes and chains because the helicopter couldn't land.
She got back down with two badly broken bones, and that's four months back. He'd just been to the specialist this week, and he said, I might have to take that pin out because I can see it's sticking out the edge of your skin a bit. But give it another eight months, and we'll see what we're going to do. But, yeah, volunteers. I got their father's day to carry my wife down the mountain.
Laurie, tell me about, you talked about all those women that went up to Townsville. Tell me about Murray Rose. He just seemed like a lovely bloke. He was absolutely sensational. There's so many stories about Murray. Murray was known as the Seaweed Streak. He was actually English-born, come out to Australia.
And his mother was mad keen on vegetarians. So he was, when he was swimming at the time, he was strict vegetarian and she had seaweed, some sort of seaweed thing that she used to feed Murray. But he was poetry in motion. In the water, just absolute poetry. And you'd see he'd come down with his blonde streaks and the girls all going gaga over Murray and he'd just glide through the water. But a wonderful gentleman.
Usually the Northern Hemisphere winter brought plenty of Aussies to grief. And as I said, if you have a choice between shattering the ligaments at your knee, your cruciate ligaments, or breaking your tibia, it's good news for Kieran that he's actually fractured his tibia because bones mend much better than ligaments. His boots have got better, ski boots in the last 40 years. It's moved the injury from the ankle to the knee. You're far better to break a bone than to tear your ligament.
People don't recover very well from that. And you saw the change in pattern of injury from skiing, which essentially shatters ankles. tibia and fibula and knees to snowboards and snowboards brought a whole new range of injuries upper body spine head injuries broken arms broken jaw snowboard doesn't so much put stress on your knees as
You're a human missile kind of headed for a tree or something like that. Charlie Cooper, good morning. Good morning, Macca. Speaking of Jack Brabber, Macca, I went to his funeral. Tell me. It was a real celebration of his life, Macca. Where was it? It was up on Olsen Avenue, up the back of Southport. So how come you got invited to the funeral?
Or was everybody invited or what was it? Well, it was open. So, you know, I've had an interest in Jack Brabham for years because I'm a diesel fitter by trade and, you know, I love racing and motorbikes and cars and stuff. So his son, Geoff, Jeff got up and told an amazing story about how Jack had discovered that magnets could help with a prostate problem. So Jack being Jack, he went out and bought the best magnet he could, an industrial magnet.
And got a good result according to his doctor. Tom's a doctor. And so then he went and got another one. So then he had two of them. And you know what two magnets do together? Well, Jeff, his son, heard him screaming and apparently it had clamped onto his scrotum. This is not true. It's true. That's what Jeff said at the funeral. And everybody was uproarious. Oh, it was.
It was just the funniest funeral I've been to. And he said Jack was dancing around in pain and he was dancing around laughing his head off. And they had to get it off with big multi-grip pliers. Steve Murphy tells us that there's an estimated 20 million feral cats, and if you examine their stomach contents, they take three live animals every night. That's 60 million a night.
lizards, little marsupials, bilbies, everything. Australia Day should be about celebrating the really rare and unique animals and plants. that are found nowhere else. We're really like a Noah's Ark. We've got plants and animals, because of our isolation, that we should be protecting. And dealing with the ferals is just part of it. G'day Maka, Peter MacDonald speaking, how are you? Good thanks Pete.
That's good. Maka, this morning I'm from Barham. He talked about the rain. We've had 37 mil at our place. Our neighbours told me they've got 50 mil, which is fantastic. It's been really dry here. So for us, this is a real money-making rain. It sets a year off for us. Yeah, we've been doing it pretty tough, but this looks like it's going to be a fantastic year now. Isn't that great? Barham Kundruk on the Murray. Kundruk's on one side and Barham's on the other.
Yeah, that's right. We did a program there, I don't know, 15 years ago. Right, eh? Can't say I remember that. Anyway. Where were you, Pete? What were you doing that morning? I got a farm probably, yeah, I don't know, 15 years ago. So what did we talk in 2010? There was floods back then.
I'm not sure it was 15 years. It might have been even longer. But, yeah, we were just near the bridge, actually. Was it the library, Kel? We were at the library or somewhere where we did the program in Barham? I think it was a library there or something very near the bridge.
Yeah, in between the library and the bridge is a beautiful, yeah, lawned area there. That's where you would have been. And what are you up to this morning, Pete? Well, I'm heading over to Crang, hopping the plane. I'm going down to Bendigo to do some flying lessons. I'm an instructor. Oh, right.
travel down there uh most weekends um yeah i work for the mid murray flying club out of karang and swan hill And, yeah, we haven't got a chief flying instructor, so I have to go down, take a student with me and have a couple of students in Bendigo until I've got 60 hours of instructing up and then I'm allowed to work up here on my own. Well, that sounds interesting. You've got a bit of weather around, haven't you? I mean...
Not good weather for flying today, or is it? It looks like it's improving today. I was hoping to get down there on Friday and Saturday, but the weather was a bit ordinary, but it looks like it's past now. There's a bit of cloud around this morning. But you were just talking about Rex, you know, so he'd been down to Diamantina and over Lake Eyre. I run flights up over Lake Eyre up to Birdsville, so I think...
I mightn't be doing too much instructing for a little while. I'm getting a fair bit of demand. People wanting to go up. floods up there the water the water coming down it'll be as big as and some say bigger than 74 and i've got a lot of books about the 74 flood and the rumbling silence of Lakehead. The Dalhunties went there and who was the other bloke who wrote that lovely book about...
Like the big flood was 74, but they say this one, Pete, will probably be bigger. They don't know, but there's a lot of water coming down. Yeah, and that's created, yeah, so much interest. Yeah, I've been doing that live for quite a while now, and, yeah, the phone, yeah, just keeps ringing every night now. Yeah, it looks like it's going to be, yeah.
An amazing year this year. So, and you're a farmer as well, you've got a place? Yes, yeah, I've got a farm, yeah, just on the New South side. I've had to diversify, I've been a government buying all the water back for the environmental water. Yeah, just about made farming around here on the small blocks with irrigation unviable. So I've got to do something else. This was a passion I've got, and I'm trying to turn into a living. Well, good on you. Yeah, and I know lots of people...
Because I remember Dick Smith rang a couple of weeks ago and said, if you can get out there and see it, go and see it. Because once in a lifetime, 74, how long ago is that? That's 50 years ago, isn't it? Yeah, that's right. Basically when the last big filling was. But it's interesting, isn't it, to think about Donald Campbell and the Bluebird and the world land speed record on Lake Eyre when it just dries a crust. It was a crust of salt. It hasn't seemed to be like that for a long time.
No, that's right. No, it's nearly more consistent than the Murray for the last 20 years. It's amazing to think way out there in the middle of Australia and the water's got to travel so far. And what sort of – have you got your own plane, Pete? No, just hire a plane. Yeah, I thought about buying one a couple of times, but I thought whatever I'd buy to be either too big or too small. Yeah.
I replying them when I get a bit more established. I'll look at buying one when I've sort of nailed my market. But it's going to be changing nearly every week with the calls that I've been getting. Well, that's great. I mean, I think that's great to be there. I know they do flights out of Marie too over Lake Eyre and everybody wants to see it.
Sounds like we need a jumbo to take people to have a look. But, yeah, I remember a bloke ringing me years ago when I first started doing this program. A bloke said he'd just flown over Lake Eyre and you could see it.
If there's water coming down, Rex will be there before the pelicans. This is Rex Ellis, the late, great Rex Ellis. We'll talk about him this morning. Good on you, Pete. It's nice to know that it's raining around. I hope they're getting it widespread because it's been dry. We've had calls over the last couple of weeks. from people in South Australia and, you know, how dry it was there. And I know Victoria. So there's been a bit of widespread rain. So it's good.
Yeah, and for us to get 35mm, 50mm this time of year is just amazing. So the people that have missed out, if we're getting it, it's only a matter of time before they get it. All right, Pete. Good flying today and keep in touch, mate. Okay, good. Thanks very much, Macca. See you. Right now we're crossing to Rome, and now ABC reporter in Rome. Reporting on, of course, the passing of Pope Francis is Noel DeBean. Good morning, Noel.
Macca, great to talk to you. Yeah, you too. You too. Lucky. It'd be great. I've never been to Rome. Is this your first time or you've been before? Oh, no, I've been a couple of times before. I had to sing here for a choir and then... Another time I went with a group of friends. I can actually walk around the streets and know where I am, basically. I've been here enough to do that three times. That's nice. I was just noticing the other day or yesterday that the top streaming movie...
in Australia at the moment, is called Conclave. You know that. Ray Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini. For people who haven't seen it, it's a story about the selection of a new pope. And Conclave is going gangbusters. Academy Award winner, wasn't it? Well, I'm surprised anybody hasn't seen it. I actually watched it again on the plane over here. I thought, oh, I'd better watch that again because everybody loves it and it's got, you know, all the prizes.
And so I watched it again to remind myself what it was all about. It's a very good movie, Mecca. Yeah, I know. Great drama, great drama. But what's amazing to me is that... The media and people's interests move from this to this to this to this. It's just amazing and it's going gangbusters. People are even buying DVDs and all sorts of things to have their movie with them. Noel's dropped out. While we're trying to get Noel back, we'll talk to you. G'day, this is Macca.
G'day Macca, it's Gossie off the Cape Grafton. Hi Gossie, off the Cape Grafton, tell me. We used to be a fishing vessel, I rang you a few years back, and we were crayfishing up in the Torres Straits. Now we've turned the vessel into a mothership carting crayfish. Thursday Island to Cairns. Wow. And where are you at the moment? I'm just coming. We're about 20 hours south of First A Island. And I'll just have a boat peep where I am.
And we're just coming up to Cape Wearmouth, Restoration Rock, which is Portland Roads, for those who know, Chile Beach, that area on the land. And, uh, about another, probably another day and a half away from Cairns. Tell me this, did the prawn season open the other day in the golf? You'd know about those sort of things. Yeah, well, the prawn guys, yeah, the banana season's open at the start of April.
And we pluck one of the crew off the golf boats. He's the first mate on air. We only run a skeleton crew here now. We used to run 14 on air when we were running seven dories off it. Now we're down to... And he was one of the mates in the golf. So he's been talking to his friends in the golf. They're having a... Pretty sad year there on the bananas, oil reports. Yes. So, Gossie, the ship's called the Cape Grafton, your boat? Cape Grafton. Yeah, the Cape Grafton too. She's the next trawler.
Convert it to crayfish and so we got 20 ton of water on the rear deck and we're carting about four tonne of live crows down. And the crows come from where? Torres Strait. The Torres Strait. And these are, yeah, you die for these or how do you catch them? Yeah, they die. We take them off the individual boats that dive up there. The islanders will run to the factory up there and then they'll buy them from them there and then they go into a tank.
So we've got a mixed bag and then we've got a few of some of the boats that go out on the grounds and say have tanks on their boat. So we've got a gathering of boats and islander craze as well. Well, yeah. And what sort of a ship is it? How big is this, the Cape Grafton? Cape Grafton's just under 20 metres, and she's 200 tonne. Holds about 30 tonne of diesel and six tonne of unleaded. So we can give them a squirt of fuel, the boat.
And, yeah, it's owned by a fishing company called Kalis that sort of originated out of Western Australia. Yeah. And these are a painted crayfish, these ones, so it's a total dive fishery, Torres Straits and East Coast. And you drop these off in cans, is that right? Yeah. And then what do you do? Go back. Yeah, turn around, probably have a couple of days in cans, fixing bits and pieces that have fallen off. and turn around and grab a bit of freight and run it up to Thursday Island again.
And then the merry-go-round continues. All right, Gossie, good on you, mate. Lovely to talk to you. No worries. Go on you, Mac. You keep in touch. Good work. Okay, mate. Bye. Have a good one. Thanks, mate. Bye. That's Gossie on the Cape Grafton. I think we've got Noel back. Are you there, mate? So sorry. I got an incoming call from overseas. Very sorry. That's all right. Now, you were saying you haven't seen anything like this since the World Youth Day in Sydney. That was back when.
Oh, like it's years ago, like years ago now. Yeah, years ago. Cardinal Pell was still Cardinal when that was happening. Like it was bigger than Ben-Hur. And it was just enormous. And it was a bit similar because the people were like...
There was no, like, nobody was taking drugs. Nobody was drunk. Everybody was happy. Like, it was very nice. The police would have loved them, honestly. In fact, the police did love them because there were a lot of police there. And I was watching, like... from yesterday um there was like security checks beyond you know beyond nuclear war you couldn't get into the square without metal detection and checking and i saw and then um there was
Sorry, I saw a policeman with one of those guns that shoot down drones. So they were... No, they do. They had the drone shooting guns. Yes, they sure did. And they had special binoculars for looking at snipers. There were weapons there I didn't even recognise from special forces. And that was partly about, you know...
I think there were 50 world leaders, presidents like Trump was there, Macron was there, President of Argentina was there, et cetera, et cetera. And then there was 164 delegations from countries. Well, that was also sort of weird because I was like...
Why did they all come here, you know? I thought it was a bit unpopular because he kept saying the wrong thing as far as they were concerned. He was saying, you know, everybody should be kind, everybody should be nice. And I thought, why would they all be there? But they were there and President Trump was there shaking hands, like, furiously. I'm Catholic by background, and I've got to say, it's a great experience to be there and to see...
I was just going to say that to you. It sort of seems to me like it was a Like a Jimmy Buffett concert, you had to be there. It's all very well to see on TV, but you had to be there. And what an experience. I'm talking to Noel DeBee, ladies and gentlemen. He's an ABC reporter. He's in Rome for the passing of Francis. You had to be there, Noel, it sounds like. A wonderful experience for you. Look, it was part of it being there, I've got to say, but I have to say, when the mess first started,
I just thought, you know, you're right at the back of the square. So I walked over to our next position where we had to do the next cross. And I was, you know, watching it. And I've got to say the television experience was better. Because if you're watching it on TV... you get much better shot than if you're down the back you do but there is there's something wonderful about being in the crowd something
I'll say. And I think one of the great things about the passing of Francis, if you know what I mean, that other significant event, I saw a picture of Zelensky talking to Trump, which hopefully can only be good, hopefully. And Francis has brought them together. Well, he did. It's a jargon word, but geopolitical. The Pope is a strange person in one sense, that he has churches in France, churches in Spain.
churches in Tonga, churches in Australia, churches in New Guinea. I can just keep going on and on. and that the pope has to balance all of the social issues of those churches and he's aware of the wars he's aware of the you know the the trouble in each of those countries because he's got nuncios these are the official representatives and you know the schools, the churches, the universities. all the parishes that report back to the Nancy and that comes back to the part.
And I've got to tell you, the Pope has a very good idea of what's going on in the world. Perhaps even better than the CIA, I might say. Perhaps even better. So it's a big worry for the Pope to know what's going on. Noel, it's great to talk to you, and I think people who haven't seen it will go and see the Conclave after what you've had to say, and I think it'll be worthwhile.
For everybody to have a look at the conclave, the election of the new paper. There's a few issues in it, Mecca. I've got a warning, there's a few issues. I kept looking and going, is my TV wrong? You know, I kept trying to... the colour on the TV. I found out later on, the director decided he didn't like the red the Cardinals wore, so he toned it down to burgundy. So I warn, I warn your listeners, when they look, that red's just not right.
Noel Dubin, good luck and nice to talk to you this morning. You'll have a nice time still in Rome. Lots of people around. Yes, we'll talk to you when you come home. Good on you, Noel. Great privilege to talk to you, Maka. Love your program. Good morning, Maka. It's Andrew. I'm calling from Birdsville just to let you know how much water is out here. It's looking absolutely amazing. Yeah, tell me.
Well, I'm from Toomba and I've got a seven-year-old daughter and I said to my wife, this is a once-in-a-generation flood. We've got to do what we can to get her out here. So we loaded up the plane. last Wednesday and flew out to St George for the night. And Wednesday, on Thursday, We headed out across the floodwaters. We stopped at Thargaminda for fuel and at places like a war zone. But the people have all got their chin up and starting to clean up and getting on with life.
We then kept going west and stopped in at Nocundra. on Nakatunga Station, where the mozzies were something to behold. We were interestingly listening to you talk about tennis earlier. My wife and I were first visited Nakundra probably 15 years ago, and we talked about going back there to play tennis one day. We had a game of tennis on Thursday afternoon as the sun was going down. on the banks of the Wilson River, but I must say the only winner was the Mozzies. They were savage.
Yeah, I had it. Go on, sorry. Go on. No, I'm right, I'm right. You've got something to say. Well, we got up then early on Anzac Day and we streamed the...
The Anzac service in the dark. My daughter thought that was just wonderful. Had the last place blaring out across the... the flood plain um and then we flew across the inner minka uh across the cooper flood plain and and i tell you what there's a lot of water still to come down that that system it um it's just absolutely amazing how much water is coming down from the north And Old Indeminka, which is normally at this time of year full of tourists, had a sum total of about...
12 people and half of those were SES workers or... or helicopter pilots flying supplies out to the stations that are still cut off. And many, according to one of the young fellows who'd evacuated his family to Inaminka from Gigi Alpa, just about 100 miles to the west of Inaminka. That's great names. Yeah, great names. He was there with his two-year-old son and his partner, and he thinks it could be 10 or 11 months before he can get home. And he had amazing stories about the rising floodwaters.
His station complex is right on the banks of the Cooper, and he watched the water steadily rise, and he evacuated his partner and son, and he stayed on a little bit longer and built a bit of a levee bank. Probably not going to beat it. He called for the chopper and when the chopper was on its way, the levee broke and he thought, well, that's it. Everything's going to be gone. But he flew back a few days later and flew over the station.
And would you believe that when he left, that was the absolute peak. And so he was in some way saved. The house survived. And we flew over it yesterday and sent him some photos. And I think he was relieved to see it. everything's still in one piece. A couple of things, Andrew. You said you were in a minko. Does the dig tree go under in a flood like this? Oh, my word, it's gone under. I think at the moment there's...
There's nearly 12 metres of water over the causeway, 11.5 metres of water over the causeway. Wow. The poor old dig tree. I hate to say it, but it may no longer be where... where it's supposed to be. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. The other thing, I spoke to Peter in Barham this morning. He's a flying instructor and he's also a farmer and they've had some rain down there, which is really good because it's been dry. But he said...
He's a flying instructor. He goes down to Bendigo and places and teaches kids to fly, and then he'll be able to do his flying up around Barham and teaching people. He said he's getting lots of calls now because everybody wants to go and see what you're seeing and they want to fly over it. And he said the phone just never stops because people have heard. We've had Dick Smith on a couple of months, a couple of better.
three weeks ago telling us about this flood and how he'd done a ring around and the water over the causeway at Inaminka and Cooper and all the sorts of, all those inland rivers are just going bananas. It's a wonderful event. You know, we live in the suburbs and most of us, we live in the suburbs and we potter around. But out there and where you are now, there's a great...
a great seismic shift happening. It certainly is. I mean, if anyone hasn't been here to Birdsville, I mean, the sun's just come up now. I'm out pre-fighting the plane before we head home to Toowoomba today and the sun's just hit the sand dunes to the west of town. And against the backdrop, they just look absolutely amazing. And the little courthouse across from the pub, they've recently done that up and with its whitewashed walls and its... It's red iron roof with the sunset.
Belting down on it in the early morning, it's something that's very special. I'll say, Andrew, it's a great report too. 74 was the last big filling. And we're just saying to Peter because... When I was a kid in the 60s, Malcolm Campbell did his world land speed record attempt on Lake Eyre, and it was a salt lake. And it seems since that time...
It hasn't been a salt lake. I mean, it's been bits and pieces, but there's always been some water in it. Sometimes it's been just a big, large salt lake, like Gairdner, Lake Gairdner. And then Lake Gairdner, the last time they did there, they have a... an event over there on Lake Gairdner in South Australia.
They had rain all over that too, and there seems to have been rain. It obviously goes in cycles, but the 74 was huge, was a huge filling, and there's been books written about it by the Dalhantys. The rumbling silence of Lake Eyre and pictures of it and surf in Lake Eyre and big cliffs and stuff like that.
This is, again, they say this is probably maybe a bigger filling than 74, which will be an event to, yeah. Well, having been out here previously and read about the 74 flood, particularly the one that went down the Cooper. And reading some of the weather reports at the time, they thought that would never happen again. It was just an absolutely freak.
weather occurrence to put that much water down the cooper well well this time it's probably two to three meters higher again than that 74 level so it just goes to show that uh
Things are always changing and we can never write off what happened in the past. Exactly. It's a big circle. Life's a big circle, Andrew. Good on you, mate. Okay. Have a great day. And listen, tell all your listeners that the people out here are... got the doors open and they're ready for the tourist season and as soon as those roads dry out
Everyone needs to get out and have a look at this. I mean, we were at a big red last night, and the growth, the greenery in between the sand gins is absolutely amazing. Andrew, did you fly over Lake Eyre in a plane? No, I have previously, but not on this trip, unfortunately. My daughter's got to get back to school tomorrow and I've got to get back to work and my wife's got things to do so we've got to get home to Toowoomba today.
Maybe later in the year, if we can find a few spare days, we might try and get out and see the water in the lake. Wouldn't it be nice to see that water tumbling into the lake down the channel? It certainly would. Oh, unbelievable. All right, mate. Good on you. Nice to talk to you. Thanks, mate. Bye now. Thanks, mate. Bye. Hello, Maka. Yep. Rob. How are you? Yeah, good, Rob. Where are you? We're at Managora Station in Northern Territory fishing.
Fishing. Where's Managora Station? Okay, Boralula. It's about 100 and... No, I sat at Boralula. Yeah, and every time I get a call from Boralula, I sing that famous song. How are things in Boralula? Yeah, go on. Yeah, it's lovely here at the moment, Matt. We had a bit of rain overnight. The fishing's not too bad. But you talked about before, about the rivers changing. I've been coming here for 10 years. and what used to be sand on the corners now is taken over by the mangroves.
So those sand belts over here on the riverbank have gone now, just taken over by mangroves. So the mangroves eventually take back over what was destroyed by cyclones, yeah. By cyclones, there you go. And Rob? It's Managora Station. Is it Managora? This is correct, yes. Managora. And who owns that? Stevie Anderson is the owner. We have those two mudcrabbers on the river here that work consistently every day.
so they work out of here um and we basically haven't got many tourists in here this year normally we would have i would probably see probably 10 or 15 camps and this year it's only down to about four So the river's good, but the road's very, very bad. The corrugations are terrible. The road hasn't been fixed in the last two years because of the cyclone. Yeah. So it's pretty tough getting out here. Yeah. And how are you contacting us this morning, Robbie? We're doing it through that Starlink.
Yeah, so my brother, he's got starlings, so I'm here with me two other brothers and a mate of mine. So we come up here and fish every year for the last quite a few years. And if I don't mind, Mac, I'd like to say hello to my father, Alan, and my mother, Faye, they'll be down in Cobram, and they'll be listening to this, and they'll be getting a bit of a laugh about all this, I'm sure. Have you?
Have you caught any fish, Rob? Yes, we have, Macca. We got some nice barra early. Things are quietened off a little bit now. But there's barra and dew and golden snapper and mangrove jack. And you're from where? Hamilton. Hamilton, Victoria, yeah, Macca. And what do you do down there? I'm a concreter, Macca. All right, I came, I saw, I concreted. And you're busy? We are busy down that way. Yeah, when I get back, I will be in Oimacca. Yeah, yeah.
And doing what sort of concrete? Are these for houses or new buildings or what? Yeah, houses and residential. Mainly residential I do, Macca. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we always get a chance to listen to you on a Sunday morning. Have a bit of a laugh in some of the stories you tell. And you went from Hamilton to Borralula straight up the middle, did you? We did, Macca, yeah. It's the best way through.
Probably a more easier way than going through Queensland. Yeah. Yeah, you miss all the towns and that by coming up the middle. So it's not too bad, yeah. And you miss the floods too. Well, they had 200 mil here two days before we got in here. Unfortunately, quite a few blows got bogged. trying to get in i was one of them um it wasn't very exciting for a little while there i can say nice to show you but um yeah and i had a lot of rain here early
And then I had a lot of rain late, and it's still raining here last night. So it's still, the wet season's still hanging around, yeah. All right, Robbie, nice to talk to you, mate. No worries, sir. Thanks very much, Macca. Good on you. Bye. See you, mate. This is the All Over News. This is the all-over news and I'll take you travelling. From Ray Cushet, he says, I'm from Sydney but I've lived in Vietnam for over 10 years.
I often listen to you at the weekend and it's great to hear all the names and the places I visited in my previous career before moving overseas. Mate, the 30th of April marks 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War, and that's next Wednesday. Sitting in the shadows of Anzac Day, I feel that Australia may not see the significance of this day. Some 75,000 Aussies were sent to Vietnam from 63 to 73, and around 820 died.
I also won a writing competition in Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate the end of the war. I know this day falls on a Wednesday this year and I hope you can make mention of this moment. So many Aussies were affected by the war and on this day veterans and their families who also suffered. We'll sit quietly and mark this moment that the madness of war has ended.
My father was in the war and I, like so many, have a sad story, but I chose to stand above it and give myself to the development of Vietnam. I am now locked into this country with a new wife and a lot of purpose. It's been a long road. Anyway, hope you can do a little for everyone involved.
and I'm pleased to say he's on the line from Ho Chi Minh City. Living in Ho Chi Minh City, which is another name for Saigon, is that right, Ray? That's correct. And why are you living in Vietnam, Ray? Do you think your father served in Vietnam? Yeah, well, I suppose, you know, for me, it's more than 50-year history. You know, my father was here in the early days of the Vietnam conflict.
Beatdown was a big part of my growing up in Western Sydney and changes in life in my early 40s found me coming here for a holiday. Here we are, a bit over 10 years later, and yeah, it's been a decade here living and working in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon in southern Beekner. And what do you do there, Ray? Teach a trainer. So I started teaching English, which a lot of people do. It was a bit of a second career, but that turned into more of a corporate trainer.
So teaching people communication skills and also I also write for a couple of local newspapers here in Saigon and also in Hanoi. So I do a bit of writing, which is pretty exciting stuff. Now, next Wednesday is the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Is that marked in Vietnam like it will be in Australia? This is a massive event, Mecca. Literally 12 million people live in Ho Chi Minh City and the city will come to an absolute standstill.
It's the most significant event in Vietnam's history now in the past 50 years. It's a pretty big thing, you know. Probably overshadowed a little bit in Australia by the Anzac Day ceremonies, but it's also a pretty important day for a lot of Australian families. There's a lot of people out there that listen to you and a lot of people around the country.
They have a pretty special connection through the conflict of the 60s and 70s. And, you know, to mark 50 years of peace is pretty special for a lot of people. And what's the feeling amongst Vietnamese? I mean, I know it's 50 years on. It's a bit like Australia and the Turks seem to get on pretty well. And I suppose the same thing applies to Vietnam.
There's a lingering sadness, I suppose, because of all that happened. Yeah, look, there is. Well, there is very much a forward-looking culture here, and certainly one of the great learnings I had was when I came here. I really learned how to, you know, close the door and look forward and not look back. And they're very good for that. You know, it's a strange thing because it's a case of two countries came together.
One was a winner, one was a loser. And whilst the whole passion and the culture is moving forward... There's a strange complexity with it which I find very interesting to look at. A hundred million people live here and I suppose it's a hundred million different stories as to how they feel about these events. For most people, it's one country. It's moving forward. It's a pretty special day. Tell me what it's like living in Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City.
Oh, it's very different to Blacktown, let me tell you. You know, I spend all my life in Blacktown. It's a city that's noisy, a little bit dirty, very hot. Traffic everywhere and an amazing experience. You know, I strangely said to my son when I came here on a holiday, I just felt like I was at home. And a year later, I moved here. So, you know, you either love it or you don't. I know people come here.
that are from around Australia, you know, or parts of Australia, and they come here and, you know, they say, I want to get out. I've had enough. I've been here for two days. And other people come here and just fall in love with it. It's a pretty special place, and it's not the same place.
You know, my uncles and my father were in 50 years ago. It's a very different country now. There's two different countries still. It's very, very different in culture up north. Pound for pound, I'd probably say... North a better experience, but for Aussies, the South really has that wow effect because you get to go to Longtown and you eat that.
see those places where the war was, and that's a bit of a big thing for Australian tourists down the south, you know. Lots of memories for lots of Australians. Full of stories, it is. It's amazing. You say you tune in over there. Do you get homesick at all? It's a fleeting experience. I miss being able to jump in my Falcon and go up to Katoomba for a day. That's what I do miss.
I don't have a car here, so I drive around on a little scooter, a little motorbike. And I miss those, especially in the wintertime, you know, this time of the year when it's getting a bit cooler, I miss being able to go up the bell line of road and have an apple pie and a coffee, you know. But it's fleeting, you know, the wonderful purpose and experiences I've had here. You know, I've done ultra marathons. I've ridden my bicycle across the country. As I said before, I write for two newspapers.
I teach people how to communicate. It's been a wonderful 10 years of my life, you know, and I'm very thankful for the opportunity. Well, it's nice to know you're listening there in Ho Chi Minh City, Ray Cushet, and thanks very much for sharing your experience with us. All right, Maka. All the best, mate. Talk to you going. This is the All Over News and an email from Luke Doyle who says, Morning, Maka.
Lost in all the hype about the Pope this week was the sad passing of our local legend Rex Ellis after a long battle with cancer. Wondering if you could give a shout out to him and see who might have a story about him and his camels or his channel country canoe tours or whatever.
We have a little band that his daughter Catherine sometimes joins in singing and playing, and through her I've had the pleasure of meeting Rex a few times. Last time was at St Andrew's Market outside of Melbourne. He had a dingo by his side and looking every part a bushy. Pretty sure that I've heard you talking to him a few times over the years. Yes, you have, Luke.
They don't make them like Rex anymore. Absolute legend of his time. Condolences to Catherine and extended family who are gathering for his funeral in Adelaide this weekend, says. Thank you, Luke. And a little grab. We had a talk about all sorts of things, but we ended up talking about dancing and going to a dance. And listen to what Rex said about that.
You know, we had country dances where I grew up every Saturday night. I mean, blokes just stood around the doors, you know. But, I mean, some of the most courageous things I've ever done, never mind crossing deserts for bloody camels, just walking across a desert of a dance floor and asking a girlfriend.
Dancing and getting knocked back. Getting a knock back, yeah. I think Rex was a good dancer too. Anyway, I thought I'd talk to a bloke who's an adventurer himself and a bushy, Jock Schmearsen, who we've talked to many times, who knew Rex very well. He's on the line. Good morning, Jock. How are you? Yeah, good day, Macca. Sad time. Sad time and an interesting request.
I think Rex would be chuffed to be thinking he'd be put in the same box as the Pope. If you can summarise Rex's life, he did tours and camel tours. He did all sorts of things. The real McCoy, wasn't he? Well, you'd say, in essence, he was a desert rat. Probably goes into the Tourism Hall of Fame of all-time adventure operators, alongside the Malcolm Douglases and a few others, but he was more than that. To me, it was the essence of what Australia was all about. He was irreverent.
ingenious, he was adventurous, he had a great thirst of adventure. He could turn his hand at almost anything. Very good with fencing wire. Love dingoes, of course, but look. What he did, he brought the camel back into perspective in Australia. So when the cameleers were finished and the camels were no longer acquired, Madigan was probably the last one in 1939 or whatever to cross the desert with the camels and the Simpsons.
Well, Rex resurrected camels and he started to do desert camel trips based out of Birdsville Pub. And he was also the publican of, at one time, the Birdsville Pub and the Inaminka Pub, two of the most outback pubs of all time. And I guess that he filched some of that information from the last of the old camera operators' cameleers. So doing things with packed camels, Rex was responsible for what we have left today. He did a crossing over the whole continent for the bicentennial.
He ran his regular camel trips in the desert. He ran them on Kangaroo Island. He ran the Flinders Ranges. He trained up a whole lot of people, one of whom is protege Andrew Harper, now runs desert expeditions. But I think that the thing that Rex really gravitated to was boating the desert rivers. When the Warburton, the Diamantina Georgina came down floating the Lake Eyre or the Cooper on its rare occasions, Rex was there in a boat. In Birdsville, there's a saying.
You know, he had many adventures in Lake Eyre. He took high-paying profile people, judges, lawyers, dentists and the ordinary folks, but people just loved going with wrecks. It wasn't smooth. It was rough and ready, fixed with fencing wires. Navigation was interesting. And of course, you know, he did many trips in the lake and in later years got into a whole lot of issues about... access, whatever else. Well, Rex had a supreme distaste for the ever-encroaching bureaucracy.
And I think that that sort of epitomised a bit of that old Australian spirit. You know, even to this day, the very day before the Sunday that he died, I texted him as a sort of advert in about the Desert River. It didn't have his usual moniker on it. I got the sad note from his grandsons who'd taken over the business to say they were running it and Rex had passed.
I can see him thermaling up there with the pelicans. He wrote numerous books. He was a great storyteller. He was a great yarn spinner. And he just epitomised every essence of what the outback, the bush... And to me, the quintessential, if you could bottle it essence of Australia of old was, that was wrecked.
So he's in a league of his own. Even to the last days of the occasional monthly dinner we'd have with a few desert rats and reprobates, he'd walked into a Chinese restaurant, bring his pet dingo in with a bow and put it under the table.
The mate of the year was horrified and said, sir, sir, you cannot have the dog. Rex was cool as a cucumber, looked him in the eye and said, mate, this is a dingo, not a dog. Not that they kept the dingo in the restaurant. He had to move it out. But that was classic Rex. here would be chuffed. We've got the biggest flow into the rivers ever.
coming in, probably bigger than 74 at the rate it's going. His grandsons are out there still trying to keep up the spirit of this particular man who, if I had to go back and say, what is Australia all about, wrecked. if you bottled it, is what the real old Australia was about that's disappearing, sadly, as we sort of go into the new age. So still a few like him around, Andrew Harper and others.
and they're worth cherishing. So he had a grand life, and I think he did extremely well. I think on his last trip down the lake a year or two ago, when the warbird was running, He actually got fined by the National Park for, of course, transgressing into the Sacred Lake. So he paid the fine. This is just, you know, there's nothing wrong with bureaucracy that's done right. But this creeping bureaucracy over our whole country, you'll know.
you know, blocking climbers, climbing walls in the grand dins and things like this. And, you know, it's just more and more sort of intrusion, lockdown, and Rex absolutely hated it. So I guess the other thing when I think of Rex, what I think of, I stood at the dawn service the other morning and I thought Rex would be exactly that person that went off to Gallipoli of those Bushmen, that flower of Australian youth. Rex had every element of that in him.
Jock Smearson, you've summarised it wonderfully and great to talk to you, mate. Thank you for that. Goodo, Macca. See you and say hi to Lee. I will do, mate. On the line is Lynette Silver, and Lynette Silver's our military correspondent, one of them. Pam Cup is the other. We should get Pam on the line too, Kel, this morning. Lynnie Silver is in Borneo. Good morning, Lynne. Hi, Ian. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. How's things in Borneo? Well first of all it's not raining. It's very nice.
And secondly, I heard a little, before I came on air, I was listening in, I heard a lady say that they'd gone and had an Anzac Day service under the gum trees. Well, we had our special Anzac Day service with the relatives over here. on Anzac Eve and we burnt the gum leaves as usual and the whole of the scent of the...
Australian bush was wasping through the jungle trees and it's just so emotional. It's really wonderful. It's a lovely smell that, isn't it? You know, again, sometimes you come outside if you've been inside and you can smell. bushfire somewhere or not bushfire, but maybe they're burning off or whatever you can smell. It's a lovely, distinctive Australian smell.
Yes, well, in the First World War, the diggers used to burn gum leaves on the fire at night to remind them of home. And then the soldiers who went to Malaya, and they were there a whole year before the Japanese attack. They were homesick, so the wives and mothers would send them across and they'd burn it on the fire at night. So I decided to reintroduce the...
tradition here when we held our first Anzac Day service. 26 years ago I've been coming here for Anzac Day. First date, my husband and I, Neil, we ran the Anzac Day services on our own. Standing in the middle of nowhere with about 16 POW relatives, a bit of... Washing lines stretched between two trees the first year with flags draped over it until the Australian government saw the photographs I'd sent them and said...
what's this? And I said, it's a washing line. I said, you can't have that. So they put up a couple of flagpoles for me. And we continued on that until, with your help, and the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC in particular, I broadcast each year and talk to somebody. usually you, and the profile was raised sufficiently for the government to provide funding to hold a second Anzac Day service in Malaysia, because the normal one is over in Kuala Lumpur.
And it's been going ever since. And this year was the 80th anniversary. So consequently, there were about 300 people at least at the service. Not all Aussies, of course, but the locals all turned up. That's fantastic. I had a call this morning from Vietnam, from a bloke who lives there. He used to live in Australia, but he lives over there now. And he said Wednesday, of course, is the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in Vietnam.
And he said, it's a huge day. He said, the whole city stops, Ho Chi Minh City, which is the old Saigon. He said, the whole city stops. Cathartic time for Vietnamese. Not so many, certainly for those who are involved in it for Vietnam, but in lots of ways it's forgotten, isn't it, Vietnam? By some? Well, it is a bit. And the locals over here were ignored by Australia for a very long time. We were so wrapped up in our own misery of losing 1,800 Australians with six survivors.
and 641 British just wiped out. We kind of forgot about the locals, and now they come along, and on Anzac Day itself, on the dawn service, we had Mr Lagan, whose father was among one of those executed. But this year, I've had a big group. We've got 25 people with some sort of connection to the story. And I've got somebody here might like to talk to you, Ian. His name is Steve. And his grandpa...
was one of the people sent on the second march up to Ranau. Because there were three marches, as you know. Sorry, he went the first march. And he made it all away. Steve would like to tell you a little bit about his grandpa, if that's okay. Yeah, that's fine. That's fine, Lynne. Lynne, I just want to say, are you still here, Lynne?
Yeah, absolutely, yes. I just wanted to say what a little trooper you are and how wonderful it is that you, the things you've done for... our recognition and just our information informing us because you need to be informed about what happened in wartime.
And it's just pause for a reflect, I think, like Anzac Day and like Easter. Pause for a reflect, I think. Time to reflect about all sorts of things in life. And you need to do it when you look around this mad, mad world we live in. But you're a champion, Lynn. But put on Steve and I'll go on to him. Well, thanks there, Ian. So that's a nice pat on the back. Bye.
I couldn't get this story out without the help of the ABC because I'm just a little voice living over in Sydney, 22 million, 25 million people in Australia. And Australia all over is the best way for me to get this story right. you know, all around. And before I put you on to Steve, we have a very young student from a little place called Boyup Brook in Western Australia. Yeah, I know it. Amalia, she entered a competition held by the local RSL.
to do an essay and a presentation on Thundercone and she won it and the prize was to be able to come with my group for Anzac Day Tour. with her mother, and she's wide-eyed at everything she's seeing over here. So it's a wonderful opportunity to teach the younger generation through people like the local RSLs and the Lions Club over there, which sponsored her. Anyway, I'm going to give you Steve now. All right, Lynne, good on you.
Morning again. G'day, Steve. This is the first time you've been over there with Lynne. This is my third time with Glenn. All right. I brought my youngest son this year. And why do you keep turning up, Steve? Tell me. It's difficult to quantify. I've been twice with my father. It's a story that should never be forgotten. Beautiful country, but terrible story. So this time, yeah, I definitely wanted to get my son interested in the story.
And this is the story of your grandfather, your father's father, your grandfather. Yeah, my father's father. I had three children, Jim, Bill and Betty. My father Bill was only seven when his father went off to war. And if you don't mind me reading, I've got a letter that my grandfather wrote to my father just before his eighth birthday. This was in November before the Japanese had even invaded Malaya. And he wrote...
I miss you all very much. Do you miss me when you were listening to the wireless, when Jim and Betty, yourself and me, would all lie on the rug, snuggled up together? I often think of them times, Bill, when I get lonely here. I will never, ever leave you all again. One lesson is enough. It's pretty hard. Steve, you've lived with that story.
It's pretty hard for everybody to imagine the horrors of that time. You just can't believe it. And this generation that I grew up in and subsequent generations... Not only have you got no idea, but you can't have any idea. And it was just a different time, wasn't it? Nobody had any money. It was a different time. People grew up and if they had any money, they saved it and that was the sort of era and people joined the army because they had no money and said, oh, here's a job.
and all the sorts of things and we're much more informed now, I suppose, about life and that's why I think you'd struggle to get people to go and... you know, join armies and go off and do things because, you know, life has been too good, but I'm not sure it will be in the future. But I don't know, Steve, do you think about all those things? Yeah, well, my pop was actually a fitters labourer for the Sydney County Council, so I don't think he was struggling to feed the family or anything.
Back in those days, he did have family who had been to the First World War and other family members. My dad suspects that there was also the white feather theory. He'd had relatives that had fought in the other world war. He had like a slight obligation to do his part and they probably didn't think.
the full gravity of the situation for all we know. He probably thought that he was going to Europe. Yeah, and nobody realised it. Look at the carnage in the First World War and everybody went off, you know. you know, the gun over their shoulder and not thinking about the absolute horror of any war. It doesn't matter where it is. I mean, you can see even what's happening in Ukraine at the moment. I mean, it's just... disgusting and you wouldn't think that could happen in
2025, would you, that people had learned from it? No. But we don't, humans don't, we're dumb. We're all dumb because we just keep, people, it seems that humans seem to like to kill, Stevie, but you've obviously... told your son the story, and what does he think about it? How is he? It's bittersweet, a double-edged sword. You want to learn about it, but it's... can at times be quite difficult to digest. Yeah, I see. And we're yet to, I think, personally, the most...
The hardest time is we're yet to get to now, where the jungle camp one was, where my grandfather died. I'm not sure how I'll take it again. I've already been here twice. It still stings, and I know it will this year. Yeah. All right, Steve, nice to talk to you, mate, and good luck with that, and thanks for your thoughts. Okay, thanks, Ian. Bye. Lin, are you there still, Lin?
Yeah, I'm back here. I've got the phone back. We share it between us. It's just a little... You know what? I've got this phone over here and it does two things, Ian. It takes calls and I can call somebody out and that's all it does. The gadget that Alexander Graham Bell reinvented, well, I've got one of those. All right, I see. All right, Lynne. Well, good to talk to you, Lynne, and thank you for that.
Okay, and I'll be in to see you to have a go of my little trophy when I get back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Your name's carved on it. Lynn's talking about the all-over Australian of the Year. Yeah, that'll be fine. You look after yourself. It's warm over there, I suppose. I don't know how you stand it.
No, no, it's not too hot. It's only about 28, 29. It's okay. Oh, that's right. And balmy, the breeze is balmy. It's steamy. It's always steamy here. But as Steve said, the hardest part for some of them has yet to come because... Tomorrow we leave following the death march route.
all the way and we've got people who died along the way and then we've got people who died at the end and eventually we end up down in Lubbun War Cemetery where of course that's where they all are. So we started in Singapore when they were soldiers. We follow them all the way around with their terrible story and end up where they all are now, all beautifully looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. And the locals love to see you by the sound of things.
I think I've got more friends over here now than I have at home. But yes, we've helped to put the locals on the map as well. which is a very good thing. And they felt a bit neglected over here, especially since 14% of the population died in Japanese occupation. and a large number of them were tortured and eight were just simply executed.
You know, we're now getting that part of the story across, which is really good. And I don't feel so embarrassed now. I did initially coming over here, but the locals were so neglected. But now they've got equal measure with us and they share our grief. because it was a shared experience, and consequently the camaraderie between the locals and Australia is still existing to this day. Good on you, Lynne. It's amazing. Yeah. Okay, thanks, Ian. Joel's in Darwin. Morning, Joel.
Good morning, Macca. How are you, mate? Yeah, good. What's happening in Darwin? I've got the day off, so I'm lucky enough to work up here at this time of the year. And it's beautiful weather at the moment, mate. 24 degrees and very balmy. What do you do? I'm a crane operator on an Australian-owned gas plant. But, yeah, just touching on the last caller, The Japanese own a gas plant right next door. Isn't that ironic, mate?
Well, it is when you think about it. But, you know, we're great friends with the Turks now. We seem to be. Of course we are. And one time we were killing each other, so. Yeah, yeah, how the world has changed, mate, yeah. I'll say, so you've been in Darwin for how long, Joel? Just the three weeks now and yeah, enjoying it up here. We've been going to the Mindle Beach Market.
They just opened the other night and it was very packed. There was a lot of people there. Well, because they get closed all wet season, do they? They do, yeah, yeah. So they've opened up now and I think they run until October, I believe. Yeah. Oh, we love Dalton. Lots of food options. We have a lot of Asian influence. Yeah, it's absolutely. Amazing up here. So, Joel, tell me this. You're a crane operator, but what, do you fly in, fly out, or you live up there? What's the story?
Yeah, yeah. So we're originally from Adelaide and it's pretty cold there at the moment. But yeah, I just got a phone call from a mate and said that they need some workers. So I said, oh, it's the right time of the year to... go up there, and yeah, they've put me up in a camp, and I've actually flown the missus up to come hang out with me at the moment, and yeah, we're just working up here. So how long is the job?
I think it's only two or three months what they plan, but these things always run over. Yeah. Yeah, but I'll be happy if I get to maybe the end of the dry season. Yeah. Yeah. And the money's good? It's not too bad. Yeah, it's high risk work. But yeah, it's also a pretty good lifestyle after work. So yeah, we try to go fishing every night. We're trying to catch some...
Some of the elusive barra and dodge the crocodiles. Yes, exactly. We were in Darwin last year. Was it last year, Kel? Yeah, last year, and September, October, which was a bit warm. But I was always wondering about... building and people who work in Because people who labour out in the sun, builders, whatever they do, tough place to work in Darwin, I reckon, especially in the hot season. And buildings have got to go ahead all the time. So people are doing it.
But, I mean, are you air conditioning in your crane? Yeah, the room's lovely. I like to get out the crane, otherwise I put on a couple of kgs. Yeah, it's challenging with the conditions because everything needs to be cyclone rated and they need to make sure it's all structurally sound. But to be honest, Darwin is so laid back. Everyone's just...
Pretty cool and there's not much traffic and, yeah, everyone's in a good mood, I reckon. That's good, Joel, and nice to talk to you this morning, mate, and keep up the good work. So the gas plants where, on the other side of the harbour or where? Yeah, it's on the other side of the harbour. I actually rang you because I used to work in the middle of Australia, near the Coopers Creek. And I know they've got a rain event there at the moment for the same sort of gas company.
It was just amazing to see the desert turn into an inland ocean flowing down the Coops Creek. I'd say. Yeah, it was a pretty... pretty awesome event and yeah i'd love to go over lake air one day so yeah big shout out to all the moomba boys that are working in the middle of australia and pretty much they're they're in the wetlands at the moment so
Oh, it's a lot of water. I think the rain stopper, there's a lot of water in Aminka and down the Cooper. The Cooper's coming down. It's great. As big as 74, an amazing event that's happening out there. I was there in 2010 and you pretty much needed a ferry to get across.
Yeah. They're going to be doing that again. They're going to be doing that again. The ferry will start shortly. Good on you, Joel. Got a fly. Nice to talk to you. Good on you, Macca. Good luck. Take care, mate. Bye. See you, buddy. Morning, Macca. Good morning. Dave McKeown speaking here. I just heard you talking about wrecks earlier on and the camels and that. Then I jerryed that. I boxed him in 1998. You boxed him? In 1988 at the Mount Isao Irish Club.
Tell me the story. Was this a fair nincomum? What were you? semi-professional boxer or something, were you? Yeah, my bloke pulled out and he wanted to do... He wanted to do four... He did four two-minute rounds with me because he wanted to promote his camels. I wondered why he'd want to... He didn't seem to be like a bloke who was...
Born to fisticuffs, but anyway, so you fought him, and you're a semi-pro, Dave. Did you give him a hiding, or what was the story? No, I just worked along him. He thanked me for that later, too. Was he trying to promote, it was 1988, he did a camel ride for the Bicentennial, didn't he, across Australia or something? Yeah, and he got in and boxed me for two-minute rounds. Unbelievable. And when I heard you talking about him this morning, I said, that's the same bloke I boxed in the eyes are.
Yeah, well, Rexy passed away. He'd do anything to promote his camel. He was a great promoter of camels. He brought the camel back into prominence here in Australia because they came out with the Afghans. Beja Dervish was his name, and some of those, and, you know, they grew dates. Oh, a great debt of gratitude to the Afghans who came out in the early days and they brought the camels and then they were sort of let loose.
And Rex, amongst others, realised the value of camels and he wanted to promote them and he used them when he did his little trips out into the bush. Yeah, so I thought I'd ring and tell you that little story. Yeah, I think they have the camel races in Boullier every year still now. Dave, what was your fighting name? Dave McKeelan. Dave Smacker McKeelan. From the eyes I was born.
I was born there, actually. Are you a big, tall bloke, or what's the story, Doe? Oh, no, I'm about 5'11". I was a light middleweight. And did you do that for a living, fight for a while, did you? Oh, no, I didn't really do it for a living. Worked in the mine up there and yeah, I was part of the boxing association in Mount Isa and yeah, we did a fair bit of traveling around Australia, Melbourne, all different places. And what are the scars from your boxing life, Dave? Oh, no, no.
None really. It was actually good, you know, like it was good discipline and you learned the discipline side of it and, you know, there was no sort of... Fighting outside the ring. It was all inside the ring. Yeah, and training hard and all that sort of thing. Yeah, and still doing it today at 61. Still training? Yeah, I did 10-2s last night, actually. With who? Me. Oh, with you. 10-2 minute... 10-2s, 10 two-minute rounds. Yeah, running on the spot, punching in the air.
Oh, well, as long as it's keeping you fit and healthy, Dave, that's the main thing, eh? Where are you now? Where are you living? I'm in Nooseville now. In Nooseville. Yeah, I lived in the Isle for 42 years. Now I move the news of all. All right, Davey. Thanks for your call and thanks on behalf of Rex for not belting him up, you know.
He'd do anything to promote his camels. He's a great bloke, Rexy. Great bloke. Yeah. No worries, Macca. Thank you. Thanks, Dave. Bye. See you. Bye. Annabelle's in Melbourne. Morning, Annabelle. Morning, Macca. How are you? I'm fabulous, really, considering I haven't had a coffee. Annabelle, come on. I'm very sorry about that. You sound sorry too, Annabelle. I'm terribly sorry. What's on your mind, though? As a non-coffee drinker.
Macca, I'm willing to tell you about the most wonderful couple of days we've just had in Morven opening the second stage of the Vietnam Nurses Memorial. Uh-huh. You might remember I came and spoke to you about 10 years ago about a collection of stories about the Australians who nursed in Vietnam. And where did you talk? Where was that? Where was I when you talked to me? It was in Sydney. I came into the studio in Sydney, actually with one of the nurses.
One of the army nurses. Vaguely. I remember it very vaguely, like most of life. It was a while ago. Anyway, since then, the Malvern community embraced the opportunity to actually establish a memorial here, and Moreland, by the way, is in southwest Queensland, not in Victoria, but let's be very clear. It's in our east of Charleville in southwest Queensland. And we've... last year opened the first stage of the memorial, which is a permanent photographic exhibition.
and embracing all of the nurses who went to Vietnam. So that includes Army, RAAF and civilian. And it's been really interesting this morning hearing your earlier callers because for a number of reasons. One, because... of the way this community has got involved in this, so the community involvement thing. But also one of your callers was talking about civilian Vietnamese and we had Australian nurses who...
provincial hospitals in Vietnam, and they were actually looking after South Vietnamese civilians. So there's a really wonderful tie in with your earlier conversations. But the thing I really wanted to tell you about was the RAAF nurses. We've just had six nurses here and a couple of dozen veterans. mostly Vietnam veterans, but with a couple of others as well. And we had our first ever dawn service.
And the nurses who came here were able to see the names of all of them on honour boards, which are framed by... fledgling as yet, native Australian plants in three gardens. Good on you. And the honour boards name all of the nurses who went as well as we can. confirm at the time at this point in time so we'd love everybody to come and see them because not enough people as one of your earlier callers said not enough people know about vietnam but really not nearly enough people
And nurses who went to Vietnam. No, I was just thinking... For anyone who's around in the 60s and 70s in Australia, cathartic time for everybody, you know, and whether Marble got called or not, you know, all those sort of things and people who went. It was a crazy time for families as well, and the way return servicemen were treated, and it was just a terrible... Well, any worries, I suppose. We talked earlier, somebody, about the white feathers and all that sort of stuff.
It's a very divisive time war, isn't it, for all of us? But I think that sounds like a wonderful thing you've done in more than Annabelle. Look, it really is, and it's been thanks to the whole community that it's actually happened. Some people in particular have got very involved, but it's been a really wonderful thing for this community as well. because I think embracing...
this opportunity has, you know, connected people within the community really well. And it was so wonderful to have the nurses here. One of the nurses, because many of them have felt or not unrecognised, but like unseen really. And they were for a long time. The RAAF nurses weren't recognised until 1992 and they were recognised before. the United States before Australia because 32 of them actually flew with USAT for 60-day rotations.
doing milk runs down through South Vietnam, evacuating American wounded. And when they were not doing that 60-day rotation, they were based in Butterworth and doing Medivacs in and out of Vietnam, bringing Australians out and home to Australia. And the civilian nurses who were non-military weren't actually recognised until 2020 for their service. So this is our way of... saying, really, welcome home. We see you and thank you for your service.
Lovely stuff. Lovely stuff, Annabelle. And I've got a little letter here. Where was it? I can't see. about something similar, and we get so much stuff here, there's stuff all over, from Paul Napier. We just spoke about this charity, My Church, Our Lady of Fatima in Peakhurst, who's supported... Sister Mary Trang, Superior General of the Congregation of Lovers of the Holy Cross of the Nga Trang Diocese in Vietnam.
And we've got a real connection now with Vietnam, haven't we? And also with Turkey, and it's funny, and Japan and places. That's quite bizarre, isn't it? It's really quite bizarre. There's some hatreds that go on forever in the world. But with Australia and these other countries, it's a completely different thing I've been looking for. Why are sand distracted?
There was a concert at the Opera House during the week on Thursday night, just before Anzac Day, and Normie was there, Normie Rowe with Little Patty and a whole lot of people, and it was pre-Anzac Day. And Nomi, of course, went to Vietnam. And he sang this song, which I'm going to play. But Annabelle, thank you for your call. It's lovely.
I'll play this. Can I just tell you quickly before you go that all these Vietnam veterans, as you know, we've had this big weather event in Western Queensland as well, which we didn't have here because we're on the eastern side of Charleville. But the veterans actually, in the time that they've been here... ran a raffle and raised $3,400 to go to the flood appeal. And, you know, that is just typical of veterans who give so much back. Vietnam veterans...
because there are some of them still alive in particular. And, you know, that, again, has been a wonderful thing that's happened in the Malvern community. So we really appreciate that. Thanks for calling, Annabelle. Thanks. on the ABC podcast.