Back Roads

Heather Ewart visits Mundulla, this tiny South Australian community cherishes its old world values, but doesn't mind a bit of healthy competition.

Heather Ewart joins a big-hearted hairdresser and her 76-year-old apprentice on a ten day road-trip from their home town of Innisfail to Normanton in Queensland's Gulf country.

Heather Ewart visits Mallacoota, a remote place at the end of the road on the far eastern tip of Victoria. Known for its natural beauty and wilderness, its isolation has bred a determination in the town to look after its own.

Thursday Island is a laid-back paradise that most Australians have never visited and know little about. While its isolation can present problems, locals are rising to the challenge and are carving out a new future.

The "ordinary" sheep and wheat town of Katanning in Western Australia has laid out the welcome mat and transformed itself, extraordinarily, holding some delightful surprises.

Heather Ewart visits Hermannsburg (known as Ntaria in Western Arrarnta language), the stunning birthplace of Albert Namatjira. This Northern Territory town is nurturing both culture & creativity in its young people.

Heather Ewart visits White Cliffs, a tiny underground outback town in NSW, which is full of colourful surprises.

This week Heather Ewart discovers the seaside hamlet of Cygnet in southern Tasmania's Huon Valley is undergoing some big changes with runaways from the city flooding in to town.

This week Heather visits Harrow, a creative community that took to heart the mantra "reinvent or perish" and found unique ways to bring new people and fresh ideas into the town.

Heather heads to Corryong, Victoria. A bucket-load of beauty and a fascinating history haven't been enough to cement the town's success. But that's changing, with some of Corryong's young people starting to move back.

Dunalley is a small town in Tasmania that was almost wiped out by bushfires in 2013. But instead of destroying them, the tragedy has proven to be a catalyst for many people to pursue a new path.

Back Roads heads along the legendary Oodnadatta Track in outback South Australia. Heather Ewart begins her journey in the small town of Marree, where the Oodnadatta and Birdsville Tracks meet.

Heather continues along the Oodnadatta Track, SA. She hitches a lift with 'Wally' the truck-driver who delivers essential supplies; meets the Pink Roadhouse owner; as well as the workers at an isolated cattle station.

Robe, SA, is a seaside safe-haven known for helping others and having a generosity of spirit. Local farming families offer their holiday houses to war veterans and give them a free weekend in their stunning town.

Canowindra might be known as the hot-air ballooning capital of Australia, but there's plenty more going for this town. The Canowindra community is looking to reinvent its future, doing big gestures of kindness along the way.

Heather travels to Pine Creek, a pioneering outback town in the Northern Territory. On the fringes of Kakadu National Park, Pine Creek has long been a boom or bust mining area, but the town now finds itself at a cross roads.

Heather Ewart heads to the Pilbara region of Western Australia to meet some of the remarkable locals who are driving change as the mining boom ends. There's also plenty of 'girl power' to be found out in this harsh landscape.

In this episode Heather Ewart returns to communities whose good humour and inventiveness will inspire and uplift in the best of Back Roads.

Violet Town, Victoria, is a small place with a very big heart. It might be well-known by some for its popular monthly market, but it's the way Violet Town locals embrace creativity & diversity that really makes a difference.

Heather Ewart travels to Waterfall Way in NSW, one of the most beautiful drives in Australia. But it's not just the scenery that's spectacular, Heather meets some wonderful locals including celebrated pianist, David Helfgott.

Heather Ewart travels along the southern Murray River. She meets locals who've weathered drought & flood. She experiences many shades of the river from its bountiful Riverland to the spectacular limestone cliffs of Big Bend.

Guest presenter Paul West visits the small, yet spectacular, town of Natimuk in Victoria. Paul discovers that two worlds have collided in Natimuk, where the community is a mix of rock climbers and German-Lutheran farmers.

Heather visits Scottsdale in Tasmania's north-east. After losing three major industries, the area's unemployment figures doubled. With the only options to move or innovate, locals started creating new jobs.

ABC News presenter Joe O'Brien visits the tiny Queensland town of Thallon. Joe grew up in regional Queensland, and he gladly leaves the studio behind to head into the outback.

Heather Ewart visits Robinvale, in Victoria, which was named after a local soldier, Lieutenant George 'Robin' Cuttle, who was killed at the Somme during the First World War, near the town of Villers-Bretonneux in France.

Guest presenter and triple j newsreader Brooke Boney is taking over the Back Roads reins this week, travelling to the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin.

In the midseason final, Heather Ewart travels to the surprising little town of Nyngan. The gateway to the outback in NSW, this isolated spot on the Bogan River, Nyngan locals are changing the lives of others.

Heather Ewart is on a road trip in Queensland with a much-loved travelling greengrocer. For 30 years, Fari Rameshfar has travelled through droughts, cyclones and floods to deliver fresh food to people living in isolation.

Heather Ewart heads to the NSW outback town of Lightning Ridge, a place of dreamers and drifters, with most residents lured by the black opals. Heather discovers the many stories of Lightning Ridge's outback grit.

Guest presenter Paul West visits the Furneaux Islands, a wild and windswept group of islands in Bass Strait, just off Tasmania. The cold ocean waters are full of treasures like lobsters and abalone, plus rusted shipwrecks.

Heather Ewart travels to the historic Victorian town of Beaufort, which is halfway between the two 'rats' - Ararat and Ballarat. 160 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, it's a place where old and new collide.

Back Roads travels to Marble Bar, known as the hottest place in Australia. Singer-songwriter and ABC Radio's Saturday Night Country presenter Felicity Urquhart takes the wheel as we visit red-dirt country in the Pilbara, WA.

Heather Ewart visits The Coorong, an area spanning 130kms of South Australian coastline. It's a stunning mosaic of wild ocean beaches, lagoons and wetlands, but in many ways it's become the forgotten end of the Murray River.

ABC's Joe O'Brien visits the remote Northern Territory community of Finke, traditionally known as Aputula and famous for the Finke Desert Race, a 460 kilometre off-road endurance rally, one of the toughest in the world.

Heather Ewart visits the small town of Windorah in Queensland's Channel country between Longreach and Birdsville. Many people live there because they love the splendid isolation, but it comes with a price.

Back Roads returns with an epic journey in the Northern Territory, from one of the world's most remote cattle stations to some of the most spectacular landscapes in the heart of Australia.

Heather visits Tolmie, tucked away in Victoria's High Country. In the past it was known as a hideaway for bushrangers, near the infamous Stringybark Creek ambush where Ned Kelly and his gang murdered three police officers.

Heather Ewart explores a vibrant coastal community in northern New South Wales, where East meets West and which the locals affectionately call Woopi.

Guest presenter, chef and farmer Paul West heads to the Gulf of Carpentaria to see one of the world's most extraordinary weather events.

280kms from Perth, Kulin is home to less than 400 people. From the 'Tin Horse Highway' - horse-shaped sculptures made out of 44 gallon drums to a giant waterslide, the quirky town is known for its generosity of spirit.

Fish Creek is a whimsical town straight from a storybook, home to children's book authors and illustrators, world-renowned botanical artists, musicians and sculptors. It is near the southernmost tip of Australia's mainland.

Incoming News Breakfast co-host Lisa Millar traces the footsteps of her Prussian ancestors who migrated to SA in the mid-1800s, discovering a town rich in film history and a spectacularly coloured yellow-footed rock wallaby.

Heather visits one of the flattest places on earth, the dusty Hay Plains. Home to a fascinating bunch with a dry sense of humour, the town hosts the Hay Rodeo and Rainbow on the Plains - the Hay Mardi Gras.

Heather Ewart discovers a very different type of community on the roof of Australia as she visits the peaks of Victoria and New South Wales' snow country.

Heather Ewart catches a ride to the Bulloo Shire in south-west Queensland, a community that thrives despite its isolation.

Guest presenter Joe O'Brien leaves the ABC newsroom for the wilds of Wynyard in north west Tasmania.

Heather Ewart visits the preserved gold rush town of Clunes, in the Victorian Central Goldfields. Its golden days might be long gone, but a wave of newcomers is putting its untouched 19th century main street back on the map.

Heather Ewart discovers a patch of Ireland tucked away in coastal Victoria. Koroit is reportedly home to the largest Irish community in regional Australia, and it's a place that thrives on music, poetry and potatoes.

Last summer, Menindee in NSW made worldwide news when a perfect storm of drought and poor water management caused a mass fish kill of nearly a million fish. Guest presenter Lisa Millar uncovers the town behind the headlines.

Heather joins a cavalcade of showmen and their little town on wheels on an 800 km run through far north Queensland. It's a journey that will bust every preconceived idea of what the travelling carnival life is like.

Join award-winning journalist and Murawari-Gomeroi man Allan Clarke as he uncovers the small community of Jabiru. Buried deep in Kakadu National Park, it is one of the most extraordinary places on the planet.

Back Roads returns this winter to take you to some of the widest open spaces on Earth. Join Heather Ewart on a journey across the Nullarbor Plain, discovering why people are drawn to this remote landscape and why they stay.

Heather Ewart resumes her Nullarbor Plain odyssey, this time from the South Australian border travelling west across Western Australia. It is a very special tale of time travel, outer space and underground secrets.

Guest presenter Lisa Millar presents a COVID-19 special program about how the Rokewood-Corindhap community has come together when the heart of the town is not able to beat.

The Central Queensland town of Biloela hit the headlines in its bid to stop a Sri Lankan Tamil family being deported. The town, traditionally conservative, is now welcoming and full of opportunity.

Heather meets a community embracing rejuvenation and taking life head on. Once the overlooked Cinderella of Tasmania's picturesque north-west coast, a makeover transformed Penguin.

Heather visits a Victorian town transformed by the power of music. The dairy industry and the community was hit hard by the Millennium Drought but creative ideas included a Moosic Muster.

Discover the cultural and culinary delights of WA's Dampier Peninsula, an the 'undiscovered' part of the coastline. Presenter Paul West meets people who have a deep connection to this land and the sea.

Victoria's High Country is famous for cattlemen & horsemen. Heather tracks down the extraordinary women of Omeo and its surrounds whose grit and determination have seen them survive droughts & bushfires.

Heather Ewart visits Cobar, NSW, where she meets the stoic locals who want to keep the community together, trying to discover what it is that makes people fight so hard for Cobar.

Heather Ewart visits Kyogle in northern NSW. The traditional farming town is growing and changing as it welcomes newcomers from all walks of life. Heather discovers a town that dreams big and doesn't take no for an answer.

Guest presenter Poh Ling Yeow explores a remote outpost connected by their love of opal but also each other. Coober Pedy in SA has dust, tumbleweeds, no trees and a lunar-like landscape but it attracts people from everywhere.

On a wild ride through remote country we discover people need resilience, a sense of humour and creativity to make isolation work. Heather Ewart brings together the inspiring characters she's met and shares their latest news.

Heather Ewart visits a town at the centre of the richest gold escort heist in Australian history and discovers where Eugowra's real treasure lies. She has a crack at driving a horse-drawn plough in this rich, farming country.

Join guest presenter Paul West as he discovers the heart and soul of the twin towns Agnes Water and 1770 in Queensland, where science is harnessing the 'power of people'.

Heather Ewart reconnects with some of our favourite characters - remarkable local heroes who live on the back roads. From the parched red dirt of Roebourne in WA to the rolling green hills of Corryong in Victoria.

Heather Ewart returns to Mallacoota after the New Year's Eve 2019 firestorm engulfed the town. Heather catches up with some old friends to find out how they've dealt with the impact of the bushfires, then a global pandemic.

Cooktown is a place heaving with history. Guest presenter Craig Quartermaine discovers what locals make of Captain Cook and how the community is making sense of its past in a story of connections, friendships and forgiveness.

Heather travels through time in historic Tenterfield, a town drawing on its past to try and preserve its future. Tenterfield suffered major drought, fires and COVID. Heather meets the characters who are making a difference.

Heather Ewart takes a walk on the wild side of the Top End. In Adelaide River, she joins the Fawcett sisters on a buffalo muster, a rollercoaster ride which has her literally on the edge of her seat.

Guest presenter Lisa Millar heads to the 'land of a thousand lakes' in the wild beating heart of Tassie. The Central Highlands is a harsh, beautiful and isolated place regarded as one of the world's best fly-fishing spots.

Heather Ewart discovers the Mallee spirit, where locals know how to roll up their sleeves and get things done. The Mallee people know the importance of investing in their children and the future to have a vibrant community.

Guest presenter Kristy O'Brien heads to north-west Queensland and big cattle country. A community that pulls together in tough times, they know how to look out for their mates and getting back on the horse is a way of life.

Heather Ewart heads into silo country on a journey through Victoria's Wimmera. Meet the hard-working and humble people of Rupanyup and Minyip, whose fighting spirit and hard work ensure their future is full of opportunities.

Heather Ewart travels to Strahan in Tasmania, a tiny coastal community in one of the oldest and most spectacular wilderness landscapes, a place of world heritage beauty and an open library of stories.

As the ABC celebrates its 90th year, Heather Ewart takes a look at the evolution of the great Australian road trip, and revisits some of the very best she's taken on Back Roads.

There are unexpected encounters when colourful South Pacific and traditional cultures kick up the red dust of the Pilbara as Back Roads heads to the town of Tom Price in Western Australia.

Guest presenter Joe O'Brien taps into his inner Bear Grylls in this Back Roads adventure to Cradle Mountain in the wilds of the Tasmanian Highlands.

Heather Ewart finds there are many surprises in the tiny town of Boulia on the edge of the Simpson Desert about 1700km from Brisbane.

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In this special 100th episode of Back Roads, Heather Ewart looks at The Great Australian Pub. Our very own unique style of watering hole, the humble pub sits at the heart of many communities.

Back Roads heads to one of the country's largest cattle stations, Brunette Downs in the NT. Heather Ewart discovers what makes life on this remote and rugged property so attractive and arrives in time for the Brunette Races.

Foodie and farmer Paul West packs his surfboard for a Back Roads visit to tiny Marrawah in northwest Tasmania for the legendary West Coast Classic: three days of big swells, blowing gales and woolly beanies.

Heather Ewart visits the Quilpie shire in outback Queensland. With an average age of under 40, residents have transformed this former Opalopolis into a vibrant community, with a little help from Australia's biggest dinosaur.

Wiradjuri woman and journalist, Rae Johnston, takes Back Roads on a water fuelled odyssey to the East Kimberley region, at the very top of WA, where the mighty Ord River is the lifeblood of the community.

Nhill and Pyramid Hill lie 260km apart but are connected in the most surprising ways. These two old farming towns offer newcomers a fresh start and a fair go. Heather discovers the spin offs were surprising and unexpected.

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Heather Ewart hitches a ride with singer-songwriter Josh Arnold across western Queensland as he makes stars of local kids, teaching them how to celebrate their community by writing their own town anthem.

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