Red Dust Tapes

About Red Dust Tapes

OVER 55 YEARS AGO multi-award-winning journalist John Francis interviewed ageing Australian Outback characters, before their voices were lost in the red dust. THIS IS UNIQUE Aussie history. NEARLY ALL lived largely solitary lives, in the harsh and lonely inland, on the edge of deserts, in a world of searing droughts, and occasional fierce floods. THEY WERE prospectors, sheep and cattle men, boundary riders, drovers, railway workers, truck drivers, Aboriginal groups, and isolated but hardy women. AUSTRALIA'S AVIATION HISTORY also started in the red dust. You'll hear interviews with some of Australia's most famous pioneer airmen (many of whom started flying in the First World War), who used aircraft to make the Outback a little less lonely. JOHN ALSO interviews the descendants of other unique characters, reads fascinating tales from Australia's Outback past, and spins tales of his own red dust adventures. WEBSITE: www.reddusttapes.au

Publisher

John Francis

Category

society & culture · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

29 Mar 2024

Latest episode

9 May 2026

Latest episodes

25 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 May 2026

   Learning to love the nauseating smell of castor oil, when you’re in a leather helmet and goggles, and bouncing about in an open cockpit

   Greetings, Red Dusters. This is the 13th episode of Season Two, so I’m taking a break. But fear not, I have a dilly-bag full of tasty tales that I’ll be working up for Season Three. Now … I have a fascinating episode for you. I’ve mentioned before, that Australian aviation rose above the dust and mud, into the cold cold cold blue, to cover mighty distances. Many of you will remember Episodes Four, five and six, where I interviewed former World War 1 fighter pilot Sir Norman Brearley, who star...

2. 

   27 Apr 2026

   Chuff-chuff-chuffing through the bush

   Red Dust Tapes rocks and rattles back into the early days of Australian rail. You’ll hear: A 1914 account of the flies, the dust and the mind-numbing isolation, by a man who was right there with pick and shovel for the building of the 1,710 kilometre Nullabor Railway, the Transcontinental. We visit the tiny railway settlement of Cook, in the middle of that desolate track, in the later days of diesel. It’s deserted now, but back in 1970 when I recorded there, it had a school, post office, a lo...

3. 

   14 Apr 2026

   Slow Slogging Over The Horizon And Beyond: Early Australian Transport

   I’ll never forget roll-yer-own, coughing, cursing, tell it as it was, Nicholas Tallack. He was a bushman of wide experience, and with a swag of stories for every one of them. Nick Tallack was my favourite yarn spinner, and in this episode of Red Dust Tapes Nick will wax lyrical about camels and donkey teams. And later, we’ll chuff/clunk/whistle our way at a leisurely pace in the boiler room and wheelhouse of Murray River paddlesteamers, in the jolly good company of stokers and captains, and h...

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Spotify

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

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