ABC TV’s much-loved series Back Roads returns for a new 16-week season in a new timeslot tonight on ABC
Season 7 will see Back Roads travel to more of Australia’s most remote regions and towns including Cobar (NSW), Kyogle (NSW), Coober Pedy (SA), Eugowra (NSW), 1770 (Qld), Tenterfield (NSW), Cooktown (Qld), Mallacoota (Vic), Strahan (Tas), Cloncurry (Qld), Adelaide River (NT), Central Highlands (Tas), Rupanyup (Vic) and Darkan (WA).
So, embrace your spirit of adventure and join Heather Ewart and guest presenters Poh Ling Yeow, Lisa Millar, Paul West, Christie O’Brien and Craig Quartermain as they discover the amazing people living life just off the back roads of Australia.
Heather Ewart will also present two Best of Back Roads episodes: Conquering Isolation, and Local Heroes. Heather revisits the inspiring characters she’s had the privilege to meet on the back roads and shares their latest news.
First stop in this new series is Cobar, New South Wales – Digging deep to secure its future.
Heather Ewart visits the mining town of Cobar in New South Wales, where the burnt red earth is the first sign of what lies beneath. Copper might be the reason Cobar exists, but it’s also the cause of a transient population with many miners flying in and flying out. Heather meets those who are proud to call themselves locals and who are working harder than ever to keep this small community thriving.
In charge is the extraordinary Lilliane Brady, Cobar’s 90-year-old Mayor! With 20 years as mayor and nearly 40 years as a councillor, Lilliane’s famous for playing hard ball with the politicians and refusing to take ‘no’ for an answer. She’s found funding for everything from hospitals to festivals and her latest project is attempting to open a mining school in town so that Cobar’s miners come from Cobar.
Heading underground, Heather descends into the second deepest mine in Australia. It takes over an hour just to drive to the working face 1.7km deep beneath the surface. Heather meets some of the 670 people working on site, digging out fifty thousand tons of copper as part of an operation running 24/7 every day of the year.
Cobar wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the mines. But the mines wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the local Ngiyampaa people who first showed the Europeans where to find the copper. But as European settlement spread, the Ngiyampaa people were moved off the land and placed in missions. Local Elder Elaine Ohlson recalls living in the missions as a young girl as well as her long fight to try and reclaim the land for the Ngiyampaa people.
There’s a smell of burnt rubber in the air. That’s because Cobar loves hoons! The 1982 cult street racing movie ‘Running on Empty’ was partly filmed in town. Looking for a fundraising idea, local car enthusiast John DeBruin decided to hold a ‘Running on Empty’ festival and petrol heads travelled from all over the country. It was so successful the town now wants more old hoons to come for the next festival marking the film’s 40ᵗʰ anniversary.
You don’t have to dig too deep to see what makes Cobar work. Heather 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. There’s clearly more to the red dirt in Cobar than meets the eye.
Executive Producer, Brigid Donovan. Story Producer Damian Estall.
please NO guest presenters! we love heather!
Did not enjoy Poh as presenter. All mouth and teeth when she laughs. Put me off a show I usually want to watch.
What a fantastic show especially tonight in Eugowra.
And I loved Poh as a presenter as her laugh and happy disposition is a joy and she made Cooper Pedy come to life