Australians

- Season 1

(1988)

Explores the short but spectacular career of Les Darcy, rated by many boxing critics as the best fighter Australia ever produced.

Tells the story and examines the legend of English-born A.I.F soldier John (Jack) Simpson and his donkey at Gallipoli during World War I.

Vivian Bullwinkel was a volunteer nurse during the Second World War. While being evacuated from Singapore the ship on which she was travelling sank.

Examines the life of Mary MacKillop, an exceptionally single-minded and dedicated woman who became Sister Mary of the Cross in the Order of St. Joseph, Australia's first religious order.

As well as starring in films, Lottie Lyell worked behind the cameras as a script writer, art director, costume designer, editor, and business manager.

After discovering that she was terminally ill, Lola Montez, the notorious courtesan and internationally known singer and dancer, undertook a world tour in an attempt to provide financial security for her final years.

Clyde Fenton was a skilled aviator and a brilliant surgeon. Together with fellow doctor, Cecel Cook, the Northern Territories chief medical officer, he pioneered the creation of the Flying Doctor Service.

In 1954, Jack Davey was arguably the most famous radio personality in Australia. In the same year, he entered the first around-Australia car race, the Redex Trial.

Betty Cuthbert held a very special place in the affections of the sporting world, not only because she could run faster than anybody else, but because of her immense courage, optimism and innate modesty.

General Henry Gordon Bennett is usually remembered as the Australian general who left his troops after Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942 and fled back to Australia.

Following World Wars I and II large parcels of Australian farming land were purchased, divided up into small blocks and given to returned soldiers by the Federal Government.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Errol Flynn's natural charm and good looks saw him become a screen legend as Hollywood's greatest swashbuckling lover and matinee idol.

John Norton was one of Australia's earliest and most colourful, if not likeable, press barons. He was an eccentric with a power complex who controlled a chain of newspapers which extended across Australia and New Zealand.