ABC TV Studios - 221 Pacific Highway, Gore Hill, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Angry Anderson

Reggie Bullard

Lyn Comben

The Portland Boy Rock musician Angry Anderson is the guest presenter for this week&apos;s first item in Australian Story. Angry introduces the remarkable story of Pat Comben, a former state environment and education minister in Queensl...

The Portland Boy/Harold the Kangaroo

The Portland Boy Rock musician Angry Anderson is the guest presenter for this week's first item in Australian Story. Angry introduces the remarkable story of Pat Comben, a former state environment and education minister in Queensland. Mr Comben grew up in Portland in the south of England. His family background was unhappy and abusive. His parents, he says, seemed to care more about the pet dog than him. He was, he believes on the verge of "seeing the inside of an English Jail" when he met a teacher who turned his life around. Pat had limited schooling and no encouragement to do anything with his life and he had had some brushes with the law over, among others things, the burning down of a school building. Of that incident he says only "I am making no admissions". At sixteen, fired with new belief in himself, he came out to Australia. He worked as a jackaroo on an outback NSW property, and then with a mining company before turning to study. He acquired a degree and went on to become a minister in the Goss Labor Government. Now his life has taken another turn. After leaving politics, he did a stint of cab driving. He is now director of the Wildlife Preservation Society and he is also training to become a deacon in the Anglican Church. In telling his story, we have filmed in Queensland and in England where we tracked down the teacher who changed Pat's life, Reggie Bullard, now eighty one years old. Pat credits Reggie with effectively saving his life, giving him hope and direction and exerting an influence that continues to this day. Pat's wife, Lyn is also interviewed. She says she sees hope in Pat's story for other kids from difficult backgrounds who just need a bit of help to make something of their lives. PLUS: Harold the Kangaroo Our second story is introduced by film maker Courtney Gibson. Ms Gibson telephoned the program about a man who lives in her suburb of Darlinghurst in Sydney. She thought he was an amazing character and a good Australian Story. We agreed and the result is "Harold the Kangaroo". Harold "the Kangaroo" Thornton is an artist and an irreverent thorn in the side of the Australian art establishment. He is now eighty-two years old and has just launched a major exhibition of his work. He is a major, unsung national treasure. His work has won praise from Ken Done and others but Harold is confined to the outer fringe of the art world, working out of a dingy apartment in inner Sydney but intensely alive, mischievous and fiercely independent.

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The Portland Boy/Harold the Kangaroo

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