One of my most enduring memories from my childhood in Australia during the late 1970’s is this little song: “Travel all over the countryside, ask the Leylands, ask the Leyland Brotheeeeerrrrs!”
Each Sunday evening at around 5.30 we settled down to watch Mike and Mal Leyland take their young families to places around Australia that the viewing public had never heard of. They got around in 4X4’s before your suburban Mum ever got her hands on one and they actually used them for the purpose for which they were created - traversing swamps, deserts, the Cape region in the wet season - and they had all the rigs and winches to get them out of any sticky spots.
Sadly Mike Leyland has died at the age of 68 and he leaves a legacy that we Australians probably have never really appreciated. The Leyland Brothers opened up Australia to it’s people through their weekly show; we learned that ours is wide and vastly varied nation of landscapes, people, flora and fauna. All you had to do was send in a letter and ask them to go somewhere you wanted to see and off they went for you. Remember them standing superimposed on that big map of Australia while reading the viewers letter…?
They were the pioneers of the current roving-travel shows and they did it without the five star comfort; they slept in caravans and the wives cooked on open fires. Great memories for sure.
Copyright © 2008-2010 by Wendy Reid. All rights reserved.Popularity: 41% [?]
