Life on the road
2019 AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC
SOCIETY GALA AWARDS
ANYONE OVER THE age of 40 who grew up in Australia is likely to remember the Leyland brothers, the pair of tousle-haired adventurers who pioneered outback filmmaking through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Together Mike and Mal Leyland–who were true brothers, Mike being older by three years–made more than 330 hours of Australian film and television. Their work included feature-length documentaries and television series and they became national treasures.
The brothers are best known for their weekly television show, Ask the Leyland Brothers, which aired from 1976 until 1984 and, at its peak, was watched by more than 2.5 million people. It saw the duo travel to far-flung places across Australia and New Zealand. The program’s premise was that people could write in and ask about “anything…as long as the answer is interesting”. The brothers would then chase the answer, usually to remote locations, and present their findings.
Each episode, after the show’s jaunty introductory tune that
