William Hedley Richardson Bunbury (born 7 October 1940, in

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

, England), known as Bill Bunbury, is a former radio broadcaster and producer for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

, and an accomplished historian and writer.

Early life

Bunbury was born in

, England in 1940, to an Australian father and an English mother. He graduated with an honours degree from the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

in 1963, then decided to visit his father's homeland, Australia. He worked as a farmhand on his cousin's farm in Broomehill for 2 months before moving to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, where he taught English at

Guildford Grammar School Guildford Grammar School, informally known as Guildford Grammar, Guildford or GGS, is an independent Anglican coeducational primary and secondary day and boarding school, located in Guildford, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Initia ...

. A visit to the school by an

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

television crew introduced Bunbury to ABC producer Roger Penny. Penny recommended Bill to apply for an ABC position and he joined the ABC'S Education in May 1969.

Career

Bunbury's first couple of years at the

consisted of radio work. He moved to television shortly afterwards to present a children's program called ''Here in the West''. Later, while making a film series about significant communities, he came across the experience of Group Settlers in Denmark, Western Australia in the 1920s. Unable to get funds for a TV production he recorded a 30 minute radio documentary THEY SAID YOU'D OWN YOUR OWN FARM Its unexpected popularity prompted Bunbury to move full time to radio, travelling around Western Australia recording series called LIVING HISTORY. In 1985, historian and broadcaster

Tim Bowden Timothy Gibson Bowden (born 2 August 1937), is an Australian author, radio and television broadcaster and producer, and oral historian. He was born in Hobart, Tasmania, and studied at the University of Tasmania, where he graduated with a Bachel ...

founded the ABC's social history unit, and invited Bill to join the unit. He had already produced a Background Briefing on the death of John Pat in the Pilbara and then produced ''Hindsight', ''Verbatim'', ''Street Stories'' and ''Encounter''. He retired from the ABC in 2007. Bunbury said, "I wanted to go while I was still doing good work. I think I've quit while I was, hopefully, still winning races. I think maybe some ournalistsretire too early. Perhaps some go on orkingtoo long. You try to pick the right time." He has subsequently worked with Community Arts WA, producing radio features which assist Aboriginal communities to tell their own stories and has also presented VoicePrints for the Perth International Arts Festival' Bunbury's documentary series covered such topics as

Cyclone Tracy Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. The small, developing easterly storm had been observed passing clear of the city initially, but then turned t ...

, Australia's involvement in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, and the granting of equal wages to Aboriginal stockmen in 1966. His work had a strong focus on

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

history. Bunbury won several awards for his radio programmes and series, including the NSW Premier's Media Prize in 1996 for his six part series UNFINISHED BUSINESS,- RECONCILIATION & THE REPUBLIC, the New York Radio Festival Gold medal for Best History Documentary, "Timber for Gold", Gold Mining and Timber ] in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

, and the UN Australia Peace Prize for "The War Rages On", Australians in Vietnam. His interest in oral history and recording of people's memories has created a vast resource in the Western Australian state library,

Battye Library The J S Battye Library (more properly known as the J. S. Battye Library of West Australian History) is an arm of the State Library of Western Australia. It stores much of the state's historical records and original publications including books, ...

, of recorded interviews with people from various documentaries and programmes. Journalist Andre Malan has described this as Bunbury's legacy, "a priceless archive of the State's rich oral history that would otherwise have been lost forever". Bunbury has published extensively with the

Fremantle Press Fremantle Press (formerly known as Fremantle Arts Centre Press) is an independent publisher in Western Australia. Fremantle Press was established by the Fremantle Arts Centre in 1976. It focuses on publishing Western Australian writers and writin ...

, and is currently Adjunct Professor of History and Media at

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

where he was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Literature in 2008 for services to broadcasting and history. In 2017 Bill Bunbury was awarded an Order of Australia for his services to broadcasting and Aboriginal communities.

Personal life

Bunbury and his wife, Jenny now live in

Margaret River The Margaret River is a river in southwest Western Australia. In a small catchment, it is the eponym of the town and tourist region of Margaret River. The river arises from a catchment of just 40 square kilometres in the Whicher Range. The ...

. They have two daughters, Alison and Kate and two grandsons, Sam and Jack. On 26 January 2017, Australia Day, Bill Bunbury was awarded the Order Of Australia for services to the broadcast media and the Indigenous people of Australia.

Published works

* Bunbury, Bill & Bunbury, Jenny (2020) ''Many Maps, Charting Two Cultures:First Nations and Europeans in Western Australia,'' Crawley, WA, UWA Publishing, ISBN 978-1-76080-141-0 *Bunbury, Bill (2015). ''INVISIBLE COUNTRY South-West Australia: Understanding a Landscape'' Crawley, WA : UWA Press *Bunbury, Bill & Bunbury, Jenny, (2015)'', Sound of the Cockies, Perenjori: One hundred Years of Stories,'' Shire of Perenjori/ Fremantle Press ISBN 9780646936918 * Bunbury, Bill. (2010). ''Till the stream runs dry. A history of hydrography in Western Australia.'' Department of Water WA * Bunbury, Bill. (2006). ''Caught in time: talking Australian history''. Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Arts Centre Press. * Bunbury, Bill. (2002). ''It's not the money it's the land: Aboriginal stockmen and the equal wages case / talking history with Bill Bunbury''. North Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Arts Centre Press. * Bunbury, Bill. (2002). ''Timber for gold: life on the Goldfields woodlines / talking history with Bill Bunbury''. North Fremantle, WA : Fremantle Arts Centre Press. * Bunbury, Bill. (1998). ''Unfinished business: reconciliation, the republic and the constitution'' Sydney: ABC Books. * Bunbury, Bill. (1995). ''Rabbits & spaghetti: captives and comrades, Australians, Italians and the war, 1939-1945 / talking history with Bill Bunbury''. Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Arts Centre Press. * Bunbury, Bill. (1994). ''Cyclone Tracy: picking up the pieces / talking history with Bill Bunbury''. South Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Arts Centre Press. * Bunbury, Bill. (1993). ''Rag, sticks & wire: Australians taking to the air '' Sydney: ABC Books. * Bunbury, Bill. (1993). ''Reading labels on jam tins: living through difficult times'' South Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Arts Centre Press. * Bowden, Ros, & Bunbury, Bill. (1990) ''Being Aboriginal : comments, observations and stories from Aboriginal Australians / from the ABC Radio programs by Ros Bowden and Bill Bunbury''. Sydney: ABC Enterprises.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunbury, Bill Living people 1940 births People from Glastonbury Australian historians ABC radio (Australia) journalists and presenters Writers from Perth, Western Australia Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham British emigrants to Australia