Tag: Macca

It opened like a front bar on a Sunday morning: people leaning in, swapping notes about work and weather, prices and patience. From Brisbane’s flight path to snowy Perisher and the salt air at Tathra, the calls piled up into a portrait of Australia right now — inventive, weary, funny, stubborn, hopeful.

“It’s Like a City With No Petrol Stations”

Brendan, under Brisbane’s early-morning freighter traffic, runs a cottage industry with a grand title and a very hands-on reality: boutique spare parts for personal electric vehicles. “About twenty percent goes to the States,” he said — a market that can’t get parts thanks to tariff tangles. “It’s like having a whole lot of cars and no petrol stations.” He does it largely alone: “Had someone last week work one day and never came back.”

Macca riffed on prices doing the long march upward — the $20 litre of oil, the coffee that’s quietly dearer, the grocery total that no longer makes sense. “We’re earning more,” he said, “but the money doesn’t buy nearly as much.”

The Beach That’s Beautiful Until It Isn’t

Down in Loch Sport, Steve had a fisherman’s bulletin from Ninety Mile Beach: spring is the crankiest season — wind, a slick of fine weed that makes casting a farce. His YouTube channel Steve Outside posts a Friday weekend outlook and a Tuesday mid-week update. “If you’re driving two or three hours,” he said, “you’d like to know before you go.” He’s walked other long beaches, too — Eighty Mile Beach in WA — but he knows when to tell people to stay home.

UV Light and Underground Rivers

Jason’s crew had come up from Victoria to reline Ipswich stormwater pipes — 375, 600, 675 millimetre mains. “We pull a fibreglass liner in, inflate it, then cook it with UV,” he said. Rain can stop a whole day’s work. He’s noticed something else: “You don’t see rubbish on the roads up here. In Melbourne, it’s truckloads.” Sunday was the day off: a designated-driver run to Kingaroy with his brothers. Between jobs he hunts for Tillandsias — air plants that cling to trees and power lines, “no soil, no roots,” a small, stubborn kind of magic.

Strawberries Don’t Taste the Same Anymore

A throwaway lament — “Why don’t strawberries taste anymore?” — turned into a proper paddock-to-plate reckoning. Doug Moore, once a Navy clearance diver, grew strawberries through the 1980s. He remembers NSW’s lethal yellow disease and the scramble at the Gosford research station to find clean plant stock. In came selector varieties — including lines imported from South Africa — that solved one problem and created another. “They picked for keeping quality,” Doug said. “Not sweetness.”

That choice echoes down the cold aisle today: big, glossy fruit that can ride a truck and sit in a fridge, but rarely sing on the tongue. Doug’s rule of thumb is old-fashioned and accurate: pick or buy to eat today or tomorrow. Beyond that, you’re bargaining with texture, sugar and scent.

Callers added their fieldcraft. Gail in Melbourne said she watches with her nose: “If you can’t smell it, don’t buy it.” Macca linked it to roses and tomatoes — breed for beauty and travel and you bleed away the thing itself. And later, Rick — a grower straddling the Yarra Valley and Queensland — gave the production view: tunnels and hot houses let you coax softer, sweeter fruit, but outdoor crops often need tougher skins to survive. “Some of the best-tasting varieties are harder to grow,” he said. “Keep buying though — the Victorian season’s on and I need the income.”

The strawberry became a metaphor for half the morning: cost-of-living, trade barriers, design choices that travel well but land thin. What’s the premium now — flavour or logistics?

Hay Like Money in the Bank

On the Fleurieu Peninsula, Taz called between bales: half the usual rainfall, perfectly timed, and the shed is filling fast. “Hay in the hay shed is money in the bank,” he said, channelling his grandfather. At 70, he’s still camp-drafting — “a disease” he laughs — sorting a beast from the mob and running a clover-leaf pattern around pegs in 40 seconds. The family worries. He saddles up anyway. “You only live once, mate.”

Sugar, Flood Debris and a Thin Labour Line

In Ingham, Pino Lenza started at 3 a.m. with daughter Zara and young Preston. The harvester eats cane and, this year, whatever the floods left behind: kegs, pods, 44-gallon drums, timber. Miss a scrap and it jams in the base cutters. He’s short of reliable hands and thinks seasonal workers should have a different tax bracket so they can follow the harvests without getting smashed on PAYG. Costs? “Since COVID, everything just keeps going up — tyres, engine oil, filters, labour.” Sugar prices are ordinary. Break-even is a good week.

White Roofs at Perisher, A Stage at Tathra

Photo Credit: Tathra Hotel

Cliff looked out over Perisher Valley: roofs sugared white after a snap change. After 35 years at The Sundeck — the country’s highest hotel — he’s sold and turned to the coast, where the Tathra Hotel now has a pocket-sized theatre. He invited Macca to play. “I’ve written that down,” Macca said — the kind of promise that turns into a community night within months.

Letters from Everywhere

The inbox sounded like a town meeting: Spotify up to $15.99, Adobe up 11% (“the dollar”), arguments for the old BOM layout at reg.bom.gov.au, and a nod to Weather Chaser founders Kath and Paul Barrett in Frankston for building clearer radar tools when users got lost in the redesign. Brett in SA pointed at the trade shortage: “Why would you do an apprenticeship when you can make $72/hour pulling beers on a public holiday?” Another note listed the four aluminium smelters — Tomago, Bell Bay, Boyne, Portland — just to set the record straight.

The Bells of Remembrance

Noel Bridge wrote from the Hawkesbury, rallying churches — St Matthew’s in Windsor (our oldest Anglican church), Ebenezer Uniting (1809), Windsor, Richmond, Kurrajong Heights — to toll their bells until 10:59 a.m., then fall silent for the 11 a.m. minute. Macca replayed historian Les Carlyon, who gently pressed a truth we often duck: 8,700 Australians died at Gallipoli; over 50,000 fell on the Western Front. If memory were proportional, Remembrance Day might eclipse Anzac Day. But myth, like a strawberry variety, is something we once chose — and now live inside.

“Larry” to Christchurch

Harness-racing lifer Kevin Seymour rang from WA en route to Christchurch. His pacer Leap to Fame — “Larry” — is the richest Australian pacer ever, nudging $4.7 million, eclipsing Blacks A Fake. The New Zealand Cup is two miles at Addington, a 25,000-person day with a field that includes Republican Party, Merlin, and Kingman. There’s even an AI-generated song about Larry by Robert Marshall. “My wife heard it and burst into tears,” Kevin said. The talk slid, as it must, to what AI means for real songwriters — clever tools that remix the world, and the uneasy theft some artists feel.

Guitars, Break-ins and the Line in the Sand

Nigel Foote came down from Blackheath with two Martin guitars and a story: a dawn break-in, a Holden Commodore with “GUITAR” plates gone in seconds, the keys later found in another stolen car. The cop’s bleak comfort: Commodores are theft magnets now that Holden’s closed and parts are scarce. Nigel played “Both Sides Now” like a benediction anyway — proof that one thing AI still can’t counterfeit is the air moving in a room when a human hand makes a string sing.

A caller named Susan said it plainly: “What AI does is steal from every artist’s life’s work.” Macca’s line in the sand was simple: live. Be in the room. Know it’s real.

Ordinary Sunday Doing Extraordinary Things

A ten-year-old named Ily from Mansfield — a student at Mansfield Steiner School — tucked a phone under her mum Fenella’s elbow and played “Down by the Sally Gardens” on the violin. She busks sometimes and once made $102 in a session. Asked why she plays, she shrugged through the line: “I just do it for fun.”

And there it was again — the strawberry test for everything: if you can smell it, it’s worth taking home; if you can hear it in the room, it’s worth remembering.

Listen to the podcast episode here.

Disclaimer: ‘Australia All Over’ is a program produced and broadcast by the ABC Local Radio Network and hosted by Ian McNamara. Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara, the ABC, or the ‘Australia All Over’ program. This weekly review is an independent summary based on publicly available episodes. All original content and recordings remain the property of the ABC. Our summaries are written in our own words and are intended for commentary and review purposes only. Readers can listen to the full episodes via the official ABC platforms.

It was another Sunday stitched together the Macca way — easy, curious, and full of life. From Nhulunbuy’s tropical edge to the cool valleys of Yackandandah and the wheat fields of Brookton, callers chimed in with stories of travel, work, music and memory. There were yarns about old cars and missing church bells, about vineyards, fiddles and faraway cemeteries, all bound by the familiar warmth of voices meeting in the early morning.

Dave from Nhulunbuy

The morning began in Arnhem Land, where Dave Mitchell rang from Nhulunbuy to talk about jobs and the future of local industry. “I just wanted to say hello to our friends at Tomago Aluminium Smelter,” he said, lamenting the loss of Australian manufacturing as overseas ownership grows. Macca listened as Dave traced how decisions at the top can ripple through small communities: “Unless we start to look after ourselves a bit better, our grandchildren are going to really suffer.”

Their chat drifted, as Macca’s often do, from heavy themes to lighter ones. Dave reminisced about a young singer Macca once played on air — “You warned us she was unusual, but gee she was enjoyable” — and how musical careers can flare and fade quickly. They laughed about meeting performers in Tamworth and then moved on to Dave’s pride in local success stories. “We’re still rocking along up here with King Stingray,” he said. “They’ve gone from strength to strength.”

Before hanging up, Dave thanked Macca’s unseen crew: “They’re a well-oiled single-sail machine.” He also recalled Macca’s visit to Nhulunbuy back in 1999, when he’d kept a copy of The Yackandanda Panda poem from that trip — a reminder of how long these Sunday voices have been crossing paths.

Andrew from Congarinni

Further south, Andrew was up before dawn shifting cattle near Congarinni, west of Macksville, after returning from Europe. He’d spent time in Normandy, where a visit to an American war cemetery left a deep impression. “It was absolutely stunning, very solemn,” he said. “You can’t turn your back on history — what they achieved over there was incredible.”

He and Macca talked about unity and disunity in the modern world and how Europe still carries the echoes of its past. The tone then lightened when Andrew confessed to a recent “pathetic” motorbike spill near Menindee. A patch of bulldust sent him airborne, and he ended up thanking the “lovely nurses at Menindee District Hospital” and the Royal Flying Doctor Service for piecing him back together.

Ernest on the Newell Highway

Cruising between Jerilderie and Narrandera, Ernest was towing a vintage Alvis car — “A-L-V-I-S, built in Coventry” — and revelling in the quiet of the Newell. “After Spain’s mountain passes and endless roundabouts, it’s lovely driving here,” he said. He’d just finished a touring rally through the Pyrenees and felt grateful to be home, where the horizon stretches “to ground and sky and nothing in between.”

Dennis Jagmic in Perth

Macca’s conversation with Dennis Jagmic stretched longer, the tone that of two old hands swapping stories over the vineyard fence. Jagmic, now a Swan Valley vigneron and accountant, once kept wicket for Western Australia and South Australia during the 1970s. “We were amateurs back then,” he said. “Forty-five dollars for a Shield game — four days’ work — but we loved it.”

He grew up across from Houghton Vineyard, playing backyard cricket with Tony Mann, who would go on to play Test cricket. Later, Jagmic found himself second in line behind Rod Marsh. “Everyone said, you’re wasting your time here, so I went east,” he recalled. After a stint in Adelaide under Ian Chappell’s captaincy, he still rates Chappell “number one — a man’s man, hard but fair.”

These days, his challenges come from a different field. “The wine industry’s had a wild ride,” he said, citing export troubles with China and rising production costs. “I’ve got people from the Pacific Islands working for me now — locals just don’t seem to want to do the manual stuff.” He worries that schools push university over trade and that “determination counts more than a degree.” For Jagmic, whether in cricket or on the vines, “you’ve got to have it in the heart.”

Tricia Flannery of Mangrove Mountain

Children’s author Tricia Flannery started writing during the pandemic, drawing inspiration from the casuarinas on her 70-acre property at Mangrove Mountain. Her self-published series The Adventures of the She-Oak Critters uses real photographs of local flora and fauna. “It’s all Australian,” she said. “I refuse to have them printed overseas.”

She writes for children aged four to ten, encouraging them to look up from screens and into the bush. “So much out there is cartoonish,” she said. “I wanted something real — where they sit around the fire and look at the stars.” Her next book will take the critters from country to city, sailing down the Hawkesbury to the Harbour Bridge. “The bush is spiritual,” she added. “It’s peaceful. Friends come here and feel it straight away.”

Peter Denahy from Yackandandah

Peter Denahy checked in from Yackandandah, still bleary after a U.S. trip. “I lost a day on the way back — the universe owes me October 31,” he joked. He’d spent weeks performing around Tennessee and North Carolina under a new entertainer’s visa, playing Nashville’s legendary Station Inn thanks to Kristy Cox and The French Family Band.

He met bluegrass icons like Larry Cordle, writer of Highway 40 Blues, and James Monroe, son of Bill Monroe. “The musicians are phenomenal,” he said. “Kids over there play fiddle like pros.” For Denahy, the trip was a reminder of why he plays: “It puts a firecracker under you — you come home wanting to write.”

He’ll soon appear at Majors Creek Festival near Canberra and later at the Yackandandah Folk Festival. “They got the songs and the humour,” he laughed. “I just had to explain the word ‘dunny’.”

Jean from Paterson (near Gympie)

Jean Davis, 80, rang to help listeners navigate the Bureau of Meteorology’s redesigned website. “You can still get the old one,” she said cheerfully, giving the link reg.bom.gov.au. The new site, she complained, “took away all the town names.” Macca agreed that sometimes “change for the sake of change” leaves people worse off. Jean hoped that if enough users went back, “they might be wary about turning it off.”

KJ in Blackburn South

Among the most heartfelt calls came from KJ, walking through the early sun in Blackburn South. He arrived from India in 1993, after years working in oil and gas. “Slowly you change and become Australian,” he said. “My heart says this is where I live.”

KJ described the courtesy and openness he’d found in Melbourne, contrasting it with a recent tram encounter where someone told him to “go back.” His calm reply: “This is my country. I’m here.” He spoke too about rapid immigration growth and the importance of balance — “Criticize the policy, not the people.”

Macca called him “my Australian of the Year,” saying KJ’s story captured the essence of belonging. “We’re all Australian-made,” Macca said, echoing the old song.

Tim from Mollymook

Driving home from Kangaroo Valley, Tim smiled about an evening spent playing cards with his grandchildren. “These kids don’t use devices,” he said. “They made up a game with three cards in five minutes.” For him, a deck of cards teaches imagination, patience and arithmetic — “a one-stop shop.” Macca agreed: small games, big lessons.

Cheryl from the Blue Mountains

Long-time racing fan Cheryl called ahead of Melbourne Cup Day, relishing the theatre of it all. A former costume-maker, she loves “the whole spectacle” but treats it like a science. “You whittle them down — horses that don’t stay 2,500 metres can’t win,” she said. She praised jockeys Jamie Kah and Rachel King and promised to study the form once the weather settled.

Cara in the Hunter Valley

Cara, once from St Kilda and now in the Hunter Valley, phoned with her Cup tips and a memory of saving a stranded Christmas beetle — “fed her up for nine days and let her go.” Expecting a wet track, she fancied Flatten the Curve, winner of the Bowling Green Gold Cup in Kentucky, and Half Yours, ridden by Jamie Kah. “It’s the race that stops the nation,” she said. “Everyone comes together for it.”

Brian on Bribie Island

Brian remembered attending the 1971 Melbourne Cup with friends, carrying eskies of champagne, beer and Kentucky Fried Chicken straight onto the lawn. At the time, he was working on the tunnel under Arthur’s Seat for the Melbourne Sewerage Scheme. “We just spread out rugs in front of the main stand — you couldn’t do that now,” he laughed.
He’s lived on Bribie Island for nearly 30 years and still loves a flutter. This year he’s backing Absurd. “I came over from New Zealand, sold everything, and never looked back.”

Jan from Brookton, WA

In Brookton, Jan reported a strange theft: both the Anglican and Catholic church bells had vanished. “The Anglican bell had hung there 130 years,” she said. “The Catholic one for 70.” Fearing they’d been stolen for scrap, she appealed for their return. Macca mentioned Peter Olds’ foundry in Maryborough, one of the few places still casting new bells, but Jan said that wasn’t the point — “They were gifts to the community.”

Richard on the Road to Melbourne

Truck driver Richard was hauling two huge tractors south from Far North Queensland. “It’s lush up here,” he said, after chatting with cheerful service-station staff that morning. He noted that Australia’s population had grown by 1.25 million in two years, then joked that many were now living on wheels: “We’re not house-os or wheel-os — we’re wheelies living in our bloody vehicles.”

Richard also carted vintage Studebaker army trucks built under the 1945 Lend-Lease Program, and finished his call with a grin about a lucky $61 bet that came good at the marina bar.

Joan from Skye

The last call of the show came from Joan in Skye, still glowing from Derby Day at Flemington. “The fashions were beautiful — lots of black and white,” she said. She’d met Michelle Payne — “a beautiful young woman” — and watched Pride of Jenny win by ten lengths. “Sometimes I just make up my mind and go,” she laughed. “The roses, the weather, the people — it’s wonderful.”

Ordinary Sunday Doing Extraordinary Things

From Nhulunbuy’s red earth to Brookton’s wheat fields, from Yackandandah’s fiddles to a truck stop near Hay, the voices on Macca’s show carried the sound of a country still connected by conversation. These callers spoke of work and weather, of bells gone missing and beetles saved, of old cars and new songs, of belonging and gratitude.

What ties them together isn’t distance or background but attitude — that easy warmth that starts with “G’day.” Week after week, Australia All Over reminds us that ordinary people, simply telling their stories, make the nation extraordinary.

Listen to the podcast episode here.

Disclaimer: ‘Australia All Over’ is a program produced and broadcast by the ABC Local Radio Network and hosted by Ian McNamara. Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara, the ABC, or the ‘Australia All Over’ program. This weekly review is an independent summary based on publicly available episodes. All original content and recordings remain the property of the ABC. Our summaries are written in our own words and are intended for commentary and review purposes only. Readers can listen to the full episodes via the official ABC platforms.

It was the kind of Sunday that only Macca could conjure — a cross-country chorus of voices, stitched together by warmth, wit, and a weather report or two. From foggy Bemboka to sun-washed Esperance, truckies, farmers, and flyers rang in to share their patch of the world. What unfolded was a morning of stories about endurance, kindness, and that unmistakable Australian mix of humour and heart.

Ian from Bemboka – The Road That Never Ends

The first voice of the morning was Ian’s, steady as the diesel hum behind him. He was somewhere between Goulburn and Hay, hauling bricks to Adelaide, when he called through the crackle. From Bemboka, near Bega, he described the fog and the way frost clung to the edge of the road. “Bit of a white one, mate — you could hang your breath on the mirror,” he said. He’d left at three a.m. and told Macca that he liked those dark hours when the world is half-asleep. They talked about the life of long-haul drivers — servo bacon rolls, half-finished coffees, and the comfort of the road’s rhythm. Ian admitted he sometimes pulls over just to listen to the dawn chorus. “Magpies don’t care if you’re late,” he said with a grin you could hear down the line. For a while the two compared favourite routes and truck-stop characters before Ian signed off to keep the wheels turning. “You keep us moving, mate,” Macca said. “Someone’s got to,” Ian replied, and the laugh that followed sounded like gravel under tyres.

Mitch and Roy from Kalbarri – Fences, Floods and Family Humour

A burst of static, then Mitch came through from Kalbarri with his son Roy chiming in from somewhere nearby. “Lost the gate in that last blow,” Mitch said. “Found it two paddocks over,” Roy added, setting both of them laughing. They’d spent the week wrestling with twisted wire and a restless flock after storms had torn through their place. Macca joined the fun, teasing that Roy ought to be on wages. “He’s on one — it’s called dinner,” Mitch shot back. The conversation bounced from weather to wool prices to a story about a neighbour’s sheepdog that chased a fence panel clear across the yard. Between jokes, Mitch talked about how hard seasons test patience and how families hold farms together. “You’ve just got to keep showing up,” he said. Before hanging up, Roy shouted, “Tell everyone Kalbarri’s still standing!” “And laughing,” Macca added, still chuckling as the line dropped.

Danny in Melbourne – Waiting Rooms and Resilience

Danny’s call slowed the tempo. He was phoning from Melbourne, his voice quiet but clear. He’d spent time in hospitals recently and wanted to talk about waiting — not the inconvenience, but the humanity in it. “You see people who’ve been there longer than you, still smiling,” he said. He spoke about strangers sharing sandwiches, nurses who remember names, and the way small talk becomes a lifeline. Macca, listening intently, said, “That’s courage too, mate.” Danny agreed, adding that real strength isn’t loud. “Sometimes it’s just keeping your seat while the hours crawl.” The conversation ended softly, leaving a pause that seemed to linger through the next song.

Clarky from Cambelligo – Wires, Dust and Bush Ingenuity

Somewhere outside Cobar, Clarky was knee-deep in red dust, elbows in a Telstra phone box that had stopped working weeks ago. “You wouldn’t believe what’s in here — ants, dirt, someone’s old lunch,” he told Macca between bursts of static. “Dust gets in everything out here — even the bread.” He works out at the Mount Poppy Gold Mine and said the phone box is their line to the rest of the world. “When it dies, the fellas reckon civilisation’s over.” Macca laughed as Clarky described cleaning the terminals with a toothbrush and coaxing a faint dial tone back to life. “Got her singing again,” he said, and behind him came the sound of miners cheering. “Telstra should give you a medal,” Macca told him. “Just send me a new screwdriver,” Clarky answered. They both laughed, and for a moment listeners could almost smell the dust and grease of the outback, where persistence and humour fix everything eventually.

Chris – Between Accents

Chris, a British expat now living in Australia, rang to talk about language. “Back home you say ‘cheers’ for everything,” he said, “but here ‘mate’ does the lot — hello, sorry, even goodbye.” Macca teased that he’d gone native. “I probably have,” Chris said, laughing. They traded examples of how Aussies stretch vowels until they sound like music. Chris confessed he still catches himself using British slang that earns him funny looks at the pub. “You learn fast,” he said, “if you order a ‘pint of bitter’ in Queensland, you’ll just get bitter looks.” Macca roared with laughter. Then Chris turned reflective. “I still miss the rain,” he said, “but I wouldn’t swap this light for anything.” It was one of those small, smiling calls that show belonging is often found in conversation.

Pete from Watheroo – Machines and Miracles

Pete from Watheroo sounded energised by the season. “The crops are a picture, Macca — best I’ve seen in years.” A machinery dealer by trade, he spent most of the chat describing how the new harvesters talk to satellites and to each other, sending yield maps straight to a laptop in the ute. “They’ll tell you moisture, speed, even how level you’re sitting,” he said, “but they can’t tell you when the weather’s about to turn.” Macca asked if he trusted the tech. Pete laughed. “I trust my gut more. You know it’s a good year when you can hear the bins filling before the thunder.” The pride in his voice made it sound like music — steel, rain, and satisfaction blended together.

Anthony and Catherine from Petrie – The Sunday Market Run

Anthony and Catherine called from the car on their way to the Petrie markets, radio on loud enough for Macca to hear the turn signal clicking. “Not selling, Macca — buying,” Catherine said. “Plants we don’t need.” Anthony laughed that they were “rescuing ferns from neglect.” Macca told them they were single-handedly supporting the nursery industry. The trio chatted about Sunday rituals — coffee, markets, and the small extravagances that make weekends feel earned. Catherine said, “That’s what Sundays are for — spending a little on happiness.” It was a short, sunny exchange that felt like a smile on air.

Ken in Missouri – Flying Far, Listening Home

Half a world away, Ken, an Australian pilot living in Missouri, tuned in before take-off. “Still flying freight across the Midwest,” he said. “Flat country — if you squint, it could be the Nullarbor.” He misses the magpies and the scent of eucalyptus after rain. Every Sunday, before the engines start, he streams the show through his headset. “You’re my bit of home, Macca.” The reply was gentle. “Good to have you aboard, mate.” For a moment, the static between them sounded like wind over open sky, the distance folded small enough to fit inside a radio wave.

Jeff from Palm Beach – A Paddle-Out for Jack McCoy

Jeff rang from Palm Beach, his voice still carrying the hush of the morning. He’d just returned from the paddle-out for surf filmmaker Jack McCoy. “The water was glassy, not a ripple,” he said. “Hundreds out there, boards in a circle, quiet as a church.” He spoke about McCoy’s gift for finding beauty and his generosity toward young surfers. Macca answered softly, “That’s a life well lived.” The silence that followed was brief but full — the sound of listeners remembering someone they might not have known but somehow felt they did.

Rhonda from Esperance – Wildflowers and Wonder

Then came Rhonda from Esperance, her voice bright as the morning she described. “You’ve never seen colour like it, Macca — pink wreath flowers everywhere.” She was calling about the Ravensthorpe Wildflower Show, where tourists lie on the verge to photograph blooms shaped like halos. “We had one couple arguing over which pink was pinker,” she said, laughing. Her family runs a broadacre farm nearby, and she told Macca that after months of dust, the sight of wildflowers lifts everyone. “Even the blokes who never smile start whistling.” They talked about how the show brings the town together, school kids painting signs, locals baking for visitors. “Out here, spring doesn’t arrive,” Rhonda said, “it bursts in.” Macca agreed that Australia could always use more bursts like that.

Alastair Calder from Mildura – Counting Sheep and Sharing Stories

When Alastair Calder from Mildura came on, the pace quickened again. He’d just wrapped the first Sheep Pregnancy Scanners Conference and sounded proud. “We’ve scanned six-point-one million this year,” he said. He explained how scanners use ultrasound now — “From guesswork to heartbeats, that’s the jump we’ve made.” He talked about the camaraderie in a job that keeps you on the road for months, living on thermos tea and roadside lunches. “We might work alone most days, but the community’s real — someone’s always a phone call away.” Macca joked, “That’s a lot of wiggly tails to count.” Alastair laughed and said every lamb’s heartbeat still feels like good news. It was a mix of hard numbers and human warmth — science meeting the paddock with a handshake.

Doctor from Ballina – The Mind’s Gym

The last call of the morning was from a doctor at Ballina Hospital. His voice was calm, reflective. He spoke about mental health in medicine and the need to keep minds fit as well as bodies. “We do all this physical training,” he said, “but the brain needs exercise too — what I call ‘brain gym.’” He explained how laughter, rest, and community can protect doctors from burnout. “We mend others best when we remember to mend ourselves.” Macca paused, then said quietly, “That’s a good note to finish on.” For a heartbeat the air was still — just the faint hiss of the transmitter — before the next song rolled in, soft and slow, carrying the morning away.

Listen to the podcast episode here.

Disclaimer: ‘Australia All Over’ is a program produced and broadcast by the ABC Local Radio Network and hosted by Ian McNamara. Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara, the ABC, or the ‘Australia All Over’ program. This weekly review is an independent summary based on publicly available podcast transcripts and episodes. All original content and recordings remain the property of the ABC. Our summaries are written in our own words and are intended for commentary and review purposes only. Readers can listen to the full episodes via the official ABC platforms.

Disclaimer: ‘Australia All Over’ is a program produced and broadcast by the ABC Local Radio Network and hosted by Ian McNamara. Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara, the ABC, or the ‘Australia All Over’ program. This weekly review is an independent summary based on publicly available podcast transcripts and episodes. All original content and recordings remain the property of the ABC. Our summaries are written in our own words and are intended for commentary and review purposes only. Readers can listen to the full episodes via the official ABC platforms.

From Perth to Hobart, the Oct 5 edition of Macca’s program unfolded like a road map of Australia — conversations stitched together by travel, music, work and memory. It was a Sunday morning soundtrack of real voices: people doing what they do best, keeping the country quietly alive.

Queensland Divers Take the Leap in Perth

At East Perth, Gary and Anne from Mount Ommaney stood proudly by the pool, watching their grandson William compete in the national elite diving championships. Twenty young Queenslanders had made the trip, each dreaming of a place on the Olympic stage.

“He’s calm, easy to get along with,” Anne said. “He plans, works hard and never gives up.”

They’d come a week early to wander up to Monkey Mia, taking in the Western sun before the competition began. “Wherever our children are, we go,” Gary added. “We trip as far as we can, as much as we can.”

William, barely in his teens, may well be one of those who rise with the 2032 Brisbane Games. For now, it was enough that three generations had crossed the continent together — the kind of quiet, hopeful journey that feels unmistakably Australian.

Stoney on the Nullarbor

Out on the edge of the continent, Stoney keeps watch. Twenty years after Macca first met him at Eucla, he’s still out there, running starling traps that stretch from the Nullarbor Roadhouse to the Eyre Bird Observatory.

“We’ve shot them, netted them, poisoned them,” he said, matter-of-fact. “Most are pushed back to the border now.”

He lives among weather-station workers and fishermen, where the wind whistles off the Great Australian Bight and cliffs rise 100 metres straight from the sea. He fishes from those heights, lowering lines into the swell below. “By the time you get one up the top,” he said with a laugh, “you don’t feel like throwing it back.”

It’s a hard, beautiful life — the sort of self-contained existence only possible in places where the horizon is everything.

The Spell of Lake Eyre

From Stoney’s cliffs, the program turned inland to the shimmering emptiness of Lake Eyre. Macca read from Roma Dulhunty’s The Spell of Lake Eyre, describing mesas and salt plains so stark they seemed carved from another planet.

A small mob of wild camels moved through the mirage, their silhouettes black against gold light. Dulhunty called the place “Little Camel Canyon”, a valley of stillness and sculpted stone. It was a reminder that even the loneliest parts of the map can feel alive when someone takes the time to look and write them down.

Potatoes and the Price of Living

Not far from Mount Gambier, truck driver John was loading 42 tonnes of stored potatoes for Melbourne. The B-double hummed as he called from the road.

“They load you in thirty-five minutes — all bulk now,” he said. Asked about varieties, he chuckled. “Spuds are spuds to me.”

He’s been carting them since February’s harvest, the crop kept fresh in temperature-controlled sheds. But talk soon shifted from logistics to life. “Eggs have doubled in two years,” he said. “Food’s never been this dear.”

Both men remembered the backyard patches of earlier generations — the Pontiacs and Sebagos that came up in every second yard. Those gardens, they agreed, had a kind of quiet wealth no supermarket could replace.

Songs from Newcastle: Bob Corbett

Musician Bob Corbett called from Newcastle, his voice bright with gratitude. “Thanks for playing Long Weekend, Macca. You’ve sent a lot of good people my way.”

He’s a working musician in the Hunter Valley, playing three gigs a week while raising kids. “Spending time together, creating — that’s the joy of it,” he said.

The two reminisced about the old studio days — Slim Dusty recording at EMI, the Beatles in two-day sessions. “You don’t book time in a big studio anymore,” Bob said. “We all have our own now.”

In his backyard studio, surrounded by guitars and the easy noise of family life, Corbett keeps writing songs that feel like travel postcards from an ordinary weekend in Australia.

Bathurst’s Cortina Nationals

In Bathurst, the main street gleamed with vintage paintwork. Paul Geeran had trailered his classic Cortina all the way from Alice Springs for the Cortina Nationals, marking sixty years since the GT500’s famous Mount Panorama win.

“Everyone was on the track yesterday — nose to tail all the way round,” he said, still sounding amazed. Cars from every state, and even Tasmania, had filled the paddock.

Paul’s been in the Alice since 1983. “People think it’s all trouble,” he said. “But we love living there.” The festival of engines and memory, under a crisp Bathurst sky, carried that same sentiment — a love of place that runs on petrol, polish and pride.

All Over News: Roads, Wheat and Bread

The All Over News segment crossed from red dirt to grain fields. There’s a plan to bitumenise the road from Laverton (WA) through Alice Springs to Winton (Qld) — the Outback Way. Advocates say it’ll open a diagonal freight link across the nation; locals fear it could change their remote rhythm forever.

Macca then turned to the story of Gabo wheat, bred from Gaza and Bobbin strains. “To see my father in a field of wheat was to see a man at prayer,” poet Max Fetchin once wrote — and that line hung in the air like dust at harvest.

At the Perth Royal Show, baker Lachie Bisse of Big Loaf Bakery in O’Connor explained the secrets of good bread. “Aged flour absorbs more moisture,” he said. “You get a softer loaf and a better rise.” For Bisse, the dawn starts and warm ovens are a kind of calling: feeding the city one loaf at a time.

Outback Airwaves: Martin Corbin

At the airport, Macca ran into Martin Corbin, a former ABC producer now working with NG Media across the Ngaanyatjarra Lands.

“Community radio is hearing your culture brought back to you,” Corbin said. From Wingellina to Warburton, he helps remote broadcasters produce local music and health messages in language.

He spoke too of the Outback Way. “It’ll make travel safer,” he said, “but it’ll also change things — more tourists, more traffic. We’ve got to keep the balance right.”

His own commute — Uluru to Wingellina, four hours on a desert track — shows what connection really means out there.

Deniliquin Ute Muster: Country Pride

Paul from Deniliquin was still buzzing from the Deni Ute Muster, two days of country music and engines under a Riverina sun.

“It’s great for the town,” he said. “They do it tough, but this brings everyone together.” Families and farmers filled the grounds to see The Wiggles, Zac Brown Band, John Williamson and Troy Cassar-Daley.

Visitors had come from across Australia — and even from Wales — proving how far small-town festivals can reach when music and mateship do the marketing.

Ian McDougall and the Music of Snow

From Goulburn, songwriter Ian McDougall phoned in. He’s fronted Canberra’s Acme Jigs and Reels Company for decades and still skis whenever he can.

“The snow here’s heavier,” he said, comparing Australia’s drifts with the fine powder of Colorado and Niseko. His stories of Kiandra and the Snowy Scheme mixed history and affection — the sound of someone who’s spent a lifetime listening closely to both weather and song.

Strings and Feathers: Ian Simpson in Perth

In Perth, banjo master Ian Simpson picked through the difference between Merle Travis’s thumb-picking and Chet Atkins’s alternating bass. Then came the tune that started it all — The Wreck of the Old 97.

He remembered the 1970s, playing three pub shows a Saturday. “You just kept going,” he said. “Now it’s quieter — but the rhythm’s still the glue.”

At home in Armadale, Simpson tends fruit trees and a flock of chooks — recently joined by a stray guinea fowl that simply moved in. “Looks like it’s staying,” he laughed. Music, like birds, finds its own roost.

Speed Cubing in Brisbane

At Eight Mile Plains, Glenn from Bunbury watched his 14-year-old son Declan compete in the National Speed Cubing Championships — a world of flashing hands and memorised moves.

“He’s in the blindfold finals,” Glenn said proudly. “I can’t do it myself.” The two planned a week in a campervan afterwards, exploring Queensland’s hinterland — father and son solving life’s puzzles one stop at a time.

Inline Hockey in Hobart

Down south, Graham from Hobart reported from the National Inline Hockey Championships at MyState Arena. “It’s ice hockey on rollerblades,” he explained. With the city’s rink long gone, players turned to synthetic courts. Twelve age divisions, a thousand competitors — proof that Tasmania’s sporting heartbeat still thumps loud.

The Road Rolls On

When Macca signed off — “If you see me on the road, stop and say g’day” — listeners had already been there: at the diving pool, the bakery, the desert airstrip and the ute paddock. The Oct 5 Show was Australia in real time — voices, distances and dreams stitched together by a signal strong enough to cross them all.

Listen to the podcast episode here.

Disclaimer: ‘Australia All Over’ is a program produced and broadcast by the ABC Local Radio Network and hosted by Ian McNamara. Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara, the ABC, or the ‘Australia All Over’ program. This weekly review is an independent summary based on publicly available podcast transcripts and episodes. All original content and recordings remain the property of the ABC. Our summaries are written in our own words and are intended for commentary and review purposes only. Readers can listen to the full episodes via the official ABC platforms.

Disclaimer: ‘Australia All Over’ is a program produced and broadcast by the ABC Local Radio Network and hosted by Ian McNamara. Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara, the ABC, or the ‘Australia All Over’ program. This weekly review is an independent summary based on publicly available podcast transcripts and episodes. All original content and recordings remain the property of the ABC. Our summaries are written in our own words and are intended for commentary and review purposes only. Readers can listen to the full episodes via the official ABC platforms.

Father’s Day framed this week’s program, and callers from across Australia – and a few further afield – offered a rich tapestry of stories: from sheep stations and steam engines to shark nets and macadamia farms.

A Buoyant Dunedoo

Dave from Dunedoo phoned in while driving to Coffs Harbour, reflecting on renovating a California bungalow with cypress floors. Once written off as a “cheap rental,” the house has become valuable thanks to an unexpected influx of workers drawn to new wind and solar projects around town. Dunedoo’s café is serving 800 bacon-and-egg rolls a day, he laughed.

Delivering a Cruiser on the High Seas

Chris called from a 41-foot flybridge cruiser off Montague Island, mid-delivery from Melbourne to Sydney. A marine industry man, he revelled in seeing Wilsons Prom by water for the first time and mused on the fragility of relying solely on satellite navigation – “work smarter, not harder,” he quipped, though he still keeps charts and compass on hand.

From London with Dosas

David checked in from London, babysitting his granddaughter while his daughter worked in banking. He praised the uncharacteristically warm English summer and confessed to trekking across the city to Wembley for the best dosa batter, second only to his wife’s.

Father’s Day Reflections

Kelly in Sydney offered a moving tribute to her late father, saying Macca’s voice rekindled the sound of his. She was preparing breakfast with her daughters for her husband. Later, Lindsay from Granville Harbour, Tasmania, praised Kelly’s call and reminded listeners that “there are more pathways than just university” for young people – recalling his own 15-year-old self working underground in a tin mine.

Sharks, Swimming and Safety

Kieran Kelly joined from Utah to comment on the tragic shark attack at Dee Why. A veteran ocean swimmer, Kieran argued sharks rarely target humans deliberately, and that nets are both ineffective and destructive. He advocated humane alternatives like shark-repelling cables, recalling his own long swims from Palm Beach to Manly.

Neil, a truckie hauling 44 tonnes of potatoes, later added poignancy: he’d lost a mate to a shark attack in Ballina. Still, he stressed that beaches popular with families deserve better protection.

Machines, Music and Mentors

In All Over News, Macca met Chris Jericho on the Mildura road, hauling a 1920 Fowler crane engine home from the Toowoomba machinery rally. Jericho’s other life is growing watermelons and pumpkins, though rising costs make the work harder.

Listeners also met Bella Barton, a second-year civil engineering student in Adelaide, who loves designing roads and sees opportunity in blending user experience with engineering.

Dr Fred Cole, a musician and piano tuner in Lismore, spoke about the decline of live pub music, the resurgence of pianos, and his work reviving forgotten Beale pianos.

Life Lessons and Career Pathways

Education became a recurring theme. Anthony, a teacher from Gippsland, urged schools to show children multiple pathways, from fixing motorbikes to technical trades. Callers reflected on how career satisfaction, rather than status, defines a good life.

Outback Memories and Family Reunions

Former pastoralist David Oag rang in to recall Macca’s 1999 broadcast from Woomera and life running sheep at Arcoona Station. He later worked on the SA Pastoral Board.

Alison spoke from the Wellshot Hotel at Ilfracombe, where she and her family gathered to honour their grandfather James Mitchell, once manager of what was the world’s largest sheep station.

Yoli in Bundaberg, a Filipino-born accountant turned macadamia farmer, reminded listeners that true wealth is “doing what makes you happy.”

Collections and Connections

Michael, a passionate collector from Adelaide, described his trove of Holden cars, tools, and memorabilia. His tale of sheds full of rare vehicles – from Monaros to GTs – showed the lengths Australians go to preserve history.

Nicole from Ballarat remembered her late father, harness racing trainer Peter Tompkins, who won the AG Hunter Cup with Paris Affair. She proudly reported that her brother Clayton had just won the $2.8 million Eureka with Bay of Biscay.

Jeremy in Darwin looked back on being in the very first engineering class at Melbourne Uni to include women, praising today’s female engineers like Bella.

Finally, Ray from Bargo, NSW, shared perhaps the most touching Father’s Day story: his 13-year-old son had surprised him with tickets to the Australian Open, bought with wages from a café job.

Listen to the podcast episode here.

Disclaimer: ‘Australia All Over’ is a program produced and broadcast by the ABC Local Radio Network and hosted by Ian McNamara. Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara, the ABC, or the ‘Australia All Over’ program. This weekly review is an independent summary based on publicly available podcast transcripts and episodes. All original content and recordings remain the property of the ABC. Our summaries are written in our own words and are intended for commentary and review purposes only. Readers can listen to the full episodes via the official ABC platforms.