Author: Columnist

This week’s Australia All Over brought in the kind of grounded, deeply regional stories that form the show’s backbone. From dry paddocks and long fence lines to an old bread truck turned tool library, the episode had a practical tone—interrupted only briefly by a poem, a piano, and a passionate runner asking Australians to show up.

• A notable call came from Julian, a 57-year-old IT professional from Sydney, who spoke about his routine of running a half marathon every month as a personal challenge. He said he wasn’t doing it competitively—“just me and the stopwatch”—but used the runs to keep fit and stay grounded. More importantly, he used the segment to issue a public call for more Australians to volunteer. “We’ve got millions of people with time and skills who aren’t doing anything with them,” he said. He encouraged people in their 40s, 50s and 60s to look at community groups that need help—particularly aged care, youth mentoring, SES, and local events. “You don’t have to change the world—just be someone people can count on,” he said plainly. It was one of the more direct and purposeful calls of the morning—delivered without fanfare but hard to forget.

• Elsewhere, a grazier from Walgett, NSW described walking the edge of his last full dam and finding it almost dry, weeks before winter. He gave a clinical description: cracked banks, goat tracks leading in, and the sound of frogs gone silent. His bore water was brackish, good enough for sheep but too harsh for young calves. He was carting 1,000 litres at a time, every second day, to keep up. After three years of flood and one of dry, he said this was the kind of season that quietly breaks your back if you’re not watching.

• From Marree, SA, a fencing contractor detailed his work patching sections of the Dog Fence, especially in spots where floodwaters had twisted mesh or loosened tie wires. He mentioned the surprising uptick in wild dog sightings this autumn and described the scent trails that lure them through gaps—mostly roo carcasses and feral pig offal. He’s using heavier pickets and double tying the joins. “You can’t out-build nature,” he said, “but you can slow it down.”

• A Horsham grain grower checking his seed drill phoned in with an update on wheat sowing—going in dry, 80 kg/ha, with trifluralin on board. His gear had just been re-rigged after a bearing collapse last year. He said three of his neighbours were still hesitating, waiting for a break in the weather. “We’ll know in six weeks who bet wrong,” he added.

• A banana grower near Carnarvon, WA, reported improved results using shade cloth and bunch covers to control ripening and wind damage. His crop, sold through a local delivery run, is packed in re-used cartons and mostly bought by small shops. “No cold chain, no shrinkage,” he said.

• One inventive segment came from Coffs Harbour, where a retired mechanic has turned a decommissioned bread van into a mobile tool library. The van houses drills, clamps, saws, and chargers, all lent out to men’s sheds and small DIY groups. “People need tools more than advice,” he said. The whole operation runs off two marine batteries and a solar panel.

From Winton, QLD, a schoolteacher called in about her students’ homemade weather stations. Built from PVC pipe and Arduino boards, the sensors were recording data every 12 hours and being compared to Bureau forecasts. “Kids trust real numbers. They’ll believe a thermometer faster than a whiteboard,” she said.

• Other calls included:
  • A Mount Gambier dairy farmer using pasture mapping apps to schedule rotations based on real-time dry matter readings.
  • A Castlemaine woman who sorts her firewood stacks by species and purpose, with chalk labels for ironbark (cold nights), redgum (fast start), and box (general use).
  • A Goolwa rail historian cataloguing dozens of NSWGR depot library books, with thumb-worn covers and pencilled-out borrow slips.
  • A Bungendore researcher recording oral histories of shearer’s cooks, including one woman who worked 46 sheds before age 40 and never lost a pot roast to dust.
  • The show closed with a final stanza from a 93-year-old bush poet in Longreach, recalling frost-bitten boots, a drover’s grin, and the clink of enamel mugs before dawn.

Listen to the podcast episode here.

Disclaimer: Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara or the “Australia All Over Show.” This weekly review is an attempt to share the wonderful stories that Ian broadcasts each week and add value to what is a smorgasbord of great insights. 

• The morning began with a call from north of Bourke, where Clem, a fencing contractor, was on day three of replacing six kilometres of boundary fence torn apart by floodwaters in February. He described in detail how the old star pickets had folded under debris—mostly timber and grass washed in from upstream—and how he’d begun spacing out new galvanised pickets and triple-running plain wire, using strainers reinforced with ironbark stays. He said he and his son were working from sun-up to sundown, trying to finish before cold mornings set in. When asked about ferals, Clem said wild pigs had torn through parts of the old fence, “like they owned the place,” but newer wiring and solar gates were holding them out for now. His matter-of-fact tone underscored just how routine big repairs have become across the floodplain.

• A call from Narrandera, NSW came from a citrus grower beginning the Valencia harvest after a warm, dry end to summer. She reported a better-than-expected yield, but noted that smaller fruit size and high freight costs were cutting into profits. She explained how they use handheld refractometers to check sugar levels and pick by hand to avoid bruising. She also mentioned the return of picker shortages, saying her family’s relying heavily on grey nomads and local teenagers. “We’re not fussy—we just need hands and hats,” she said. This brief but concrete update painted a clear picture of small-scale fruit farming in a challenging year.

• In a more unusual segment, a listener from Mount Barker, SA, described how he’d recently moved an upright piano from his grandmother’s house into a converted shearing shed on his property. He gave a precise account of how he and his brother constructed a timber sled using fence posts and a steel winch, then slid the piano down a ramp and loaded it onto a tandem trailer. The whole project took two afternoons and three fridge dollies. Now installed in the shed, the piano will be used for monthly folk nights with neighbours. “It’s a bit out of tune,” he said, “but no one here minds.”

• A farmer outside Deniliquin phoned in to report on a trial of mixed cover cropping in fallow paddocks. He had recently sown a mix of vetch, oats, tillage radish, and crimson clover, hoping to improve organic matter and suppress ryegrass. He explained how they’d rolled the seed mix in with a cultipacker behind a light disc and said early results were promising: good germination and less weed pressure than last year’s fallow. He added that his agronomist is planning to graze sheep on the stand in late winter before terminating it ahead of spring planting. This kind of rotational, multispecies grazing update—practical, dry and useful—was the type of call bush farmers tune in for.

• From Bunbury, WA, a retired brickie gave a quick run-through of how he uses leftover scaffolding planks and concrete bricks to build raised garden beds for mates on pensioner blocks. “Four bricks, one plank, repeat,” he said, adding that he’s built twelve beds across four homes in his neighbourhood. The caller said he sources soil from the local tip’s green waste recycling depot and gets seedlings cheap from the Lions Club markets. His motto: “No one should be too broke to grow.”

• One of the more entertaining calls came from a horse transport driver somewhere near Roma, QLD, who phoned in during a stopover to stretch his legs. He was on a four-day run carting six show horses from Tamworth to Mount Isa for a rodeo clinic. He explained how each horse was given its own feed bay, padded sides, and 3-hour rest intervals. “It’s not just a float—it’s a stable on wheels,” he said. He described how the horses react to traffic noise differently—some sleep standing, others sway with every corner. The transport rig runs a light spray system to keep dust down and a side fan system powered by an inverter. It was a rare insight into the logistics of long-distance animal transport done properly.

• A woman in Castlemaine, Victoria rang in to describe her firewood rotation system, which uses a combination of ironbark, box and redgum across three drying racks. She detailed how she stacks by species and burn time—ironbark for the coldest nights, box for regular use, and redgum for kindling or fast-start fires. Each load is dated with chalk. She mentioned that she processes most of her own wood with a hired log splitter, after a friendly tree lopper drops off clean cuts. “I’ve got firewood dated out to 2027,” she laughed.

@highcountrysnakecatcher Firewood, redgum for the win! #firewood #woodheat #eucalyptuscamaldulensis #redgum #stihl660 #stihl #warmth #coldweather #winter #highcountry #victoria #australia ♬ Something in the Orange (Z&E's Version) – Zach Bryan

• From Bridport, Tasmania, a call came in from a volunteer involved in restoring the town’s old surf club hall, recently repurposed as a community shed. She described how volunteers were using salvaged weatherboards from a nearby demolition site and had installed a new corrugated roof with donated insulation from a local builder. The building, which once hosted lifesaving classes, is now used weekly for men’s shed meetings, knife-making demonstrations, and ukulele practice. “We’ve kept the sea breeze but added power points,” she said.

• Later in the program, a call from Cunnamulla came from a bloke who’d just completed 20,000 km in a 1981 Toyota LandCruiser, circumnavigating Australia. He gave a short field report on tyre pressure, road conditions, and fuel pricing from Ceduna to Kununurra. He also mentioned his custom water tank setup, which held 70 litres under the tray and was refilled mostly via campgrounds and filtered creeks. “I did the whole thing solo—no trailer, no fridge. Just me, a swag, and the weather band on the radio,” he said. Macca asked where he slept most. “Gravel pits, mostly. And one tennis court.”

• The episode ended with a brief but rich update from a historian in Gundagai, who’s been compiling local letters from the 1891 shearers’ strike. He read from one account by a station cook describing a week of feeding 60 men on damper, mutton and cold black tea. The researcher said he’s working on a short publication that includes never-before-published union minutes and anecdotes from station hands who walked off the job. “It’s not textbook history—it’s muddy-boot stuff,” he said.

Listen to the podcast episode here.

Disclaimer: Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara or the “Australia All Over Show.” This weekly review is an attempt to share the wonderful stories that Ian broadcasts each week and add value to what is a smorgasbord of great insights.