Between 1941 and 1972 The Argonauts Club was one of ABC Radio’s most successful children’s programs. In 1956 it was attracting 10,000 new members a year. Many went on to have illustrious careers, like broadcaster Margaret Throsby, satirist Barry Humphries, broadcaster and writer Robert Dessaix, journalist and writer Anne Summers and composer Peter Sculthorpe, to name just a few. Open to any child between the ages of 7 and 17 years, The Argonauts Club inspired creativity and inquiry for a genera...

As the ABC celebrates its 90th Anniversary, Managing Director David Anderson has penned a timely and heartfelt essay, giving a personal insight into the values of the public broadcaster to which he has devoted his entire working life. The MD covers everything from decision-making considerations to budget and other challenges of recent times, as well as his hopes and plans for the future. Former ABC Editorial Director Alan Sunderland offers this assessment.      By Alan Sunderland / 17 February ...

For many ABC staff it’s an ambition to become an overseas correspondent or cameraperson. It’s a rare opportunity to travel to extraordinary locations and cover major events. Yet the work of the foreign correspondent often means dealing with dangerous and life-threatening situations whether it be war, terrorists attacks, natural disasters or terrible tragedies. John Tulloh spent nearly 20 years assigning ABC correspondents and crew around the world. Their safety and security have been forefront ...

In the early hours of 5th September 1972, the Munich Olympic Games were rocked by a terrorist attack. Eight terrorists from the Palestinian organisation Black September (BSO) seized members of the Israeli Olympic team, killing two in the initial attack, with nine more Israeli athletes and officials taken hostage – and worse to come. Six days earlier, John Highfield thought he’d finished his current affairs reporting assignment at the Olympics, but within hours he was back in Munich, an eyewitne...

Around the world, growing government hostility is threatening independent media who do their job, ask tough questions, and hold the powerful to account. Here Alan Sunderland explains why the recent UK government’s announcement to freeze the BBC licence fee for the next two years, and potentially eradicate it, is about a lot more than funding models and has worrying parallels with what has been happening to the ABC for several years. By Alan Sunderland / 25 January 2022 In Berlin recently, anti-...

There was a time when academics rarely talked about their work to anyone outside of the universities, a time when Australia was so genuflective to Britain and Europe that it lacked a distinctive cultural voice.  And then came the ABC. Or more specifically, the radio service now known as RN – Radio National. With the ABC celebrating its 90th Anniversary in 2022, ABC Alumni is publishing a series of articles throughout the year, ranging from little-known history to recollections of significant an...