When I was a mere broth of a lad, and photography was something my Mum did with the family box camera, there was a radio show on a Sunday Evening on our local radio station.
We didn’t google, facebook, instagram or snapchat. Stange as that may sound, and we didn’t have an endless range of tv programmes to watch, we didn’t even have tv. We had Radio.
On Sunday Evening “Along the Track” with Crosbie Morrison would take a young lad on a journey into some form of the natural history. Interestingly enough, at the height of his popularity, and it was syndicated all over Australia, its been estimated that he had a listener base of 75% of the radios in australia. (how one determines such number crunching, ohhh and ahh, is beyond me. 1/125 of a second at f/16 still amazes me!)
From possums, to crocodiles, blue wrens to electricity generation, we all went along the Track with Morrison and dreamed big bold dreams.
Did his talks bring out the inquisitive, insightful need to know about things in natural history. Who knows, but I do remember being glued to the radio as he explained about a spider that someone had sent him in a matchbox, or the migratory skill of birds around the world. David Attenborough is as close as the tv audience of today gets to that. But, and this I think is where radio was so adept. Without the visuals. We explored it all in the theatre of our mind.
One thing that legacy still holds for me, is an interest in even the most common of creatures.
I was fascinated last evening while working with some wader and sandpipers, of how long, long, long the legs of a Pied Stilt are. Normally see them knee-deep in water and its hard to appreciate the length of those long pink legs.
This one graced me by wading out of the shallows and standing on the water’s edge long enough for me to make a frame.
Enjoy
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER - --doesn't mean I'm LOST 
Ah! The joys of listening to the wireless! I still listen more than I watch TV. I remember how exciting it was to build my first crystal set so I could tune to 3 MA (Mildura) 3 WV (ABC) and on a good night 3 SH (one you would definitely know) and 5 RM Renmark! Some of the syndicated programs were just the best.
A lovely look at the super long legs of the Stilt! It is nice when they come out of the water for us.
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Hi David, we used to raid the local dumping ground (not the local tip), for old bits of radio, and a good find was one that still had the station tuner in it.
Or using the fence at school as an aerial for the crystal set. Yep, 3SH was just around the corner, and the transmitter was about 10km on the road south. 🙂
All good fun, and look where we all ended up. 🙂
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We live in the regional areas of Australia 🇦🇺 and there’s nearly nothing worth looking at on the box, we’ve started listening to the abc radio most nights now, some interesting discussions and information. Enjoy
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Ahh, the theatre of the mind. Such a great place to develop imagination. I have a theory that too much visual explanation, eg talking heads, and visual cutaways to cats up a tree somewhere in Florida on the news, is mind numbing and dream stealing.
Good radio is so involeming. Look at the effect in the late 1930s whne Orson Wells produced “War of the Worlds”.
Keep listening and enjoy.
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Ah, we old codgers who remember the days before TV! Were you an Argonaut? Meanwhile, what a lovely shot of the Stilt. Those legs go on forever – quite amazing.
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Hi Eleanor, no I can’t recall being in the ‘club’, but I did have to go google the theme song, just couldn’t remember most of the worlds and pick the tune.
Here tis
Come, Old Mother Hubbard and Jack and Jill
And Tom the Piper’s son
Leave your cupboard forget your spill
We’re going to have some fun
The wireless says to hurry and run
To leave your games and toys;
The wireless says the time has come
For all the girls and boys.
So come with a hop, a skip and a run,
It’s time for the Session, it’s time for the fun
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I used to listen to him as well and never missed an episode. I loved the program. Great shot of the stilt, Dave.
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He was such an authority wasn’t he. I keep searching the secondhand book shops for a copy of his talks that his wife had printed sometimes after his death in the 1960s.
i wish I could find the theme music.
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