I joined the Australian Army because of this Great Man In 1980 , he was awarded a Defence Fellowship to research survival in Northern Australia. He was also the principal Author of the Australian Army's Military survival Manual(1987). This research turned into the TV Series Vietnam Veteran Thankyou Major Les Hiddens Love your work
I'm Irish and remember watching Les as a kid on TV. The Bush Tucker Man was one of my favorite shows, it was absolutely fascinating watching him wandering the outback, in his Land Rover and trailer, surviving off the land. He's a true genius, and an absolute legend, who probably saved many lives by sharing his vast knowledge and skillset. Guys like Bear Grylls are complete amateurs compared to Les, they're just weekend warriors.
@@Mathews69 ..so cool😎..my childhood hero...that's why I love Landrovers and still love practise bushcraft/survival skills..and I m 52 now...greetings to Les from the Netherlands 🇳🇱🍻
My favourite TV programme of all time. Was lucky to receive it all downloaded onto a USB drive one year for my birthday from a very dear friend who now lives in.. yep Australia. Les is a hero of mine. And yes, alot of gold untapped down under. And other things...
Takes me straight back to my earlier years. I love this guy. Great story teller and teacher. May his show live on for many generations. Good on ya bush tucker man.
As someone that was born in 1998 after this show had well finished i have enjoyed every moment of abc reuploading this show i found out about it through my dad watching reupload videos of these epsiodes on other channels but glad abc has done this man justice by uploading them in highest quailty they can for older and younger generatations to watch it really makes me appreciate things alot more and the country we live in ♥
I'm with you. Born in the 90's and can't get enough of the vintage Australia on display here. I've rewatched the series twice already and will likely watch again soon
I just adored this fellow, I tried for many years to land a job with Govt Wildlife Departments unsuccessfully. No matter what I spent time in the area and continued to be inspired by Les, long live you Les. I can attest to the bloody flies .
This brought back memories, used to watch this with my old man. I've never been, and probably never will but the vast expanse, scale and variety of the landscape there will always be something on my bucket list if ever things change.
Watched les in the 90's. Really interesting bloke. Backpacker Aus in 93/94. It's vast. I always tell the story of flying from Darwin to Brisbane. You fly in the same country for over three hours on a jet and don't overfly a tarmacadam road. Vast doesn't do it justice...
As a kid growing up in the UK with "a girl's name" Les Hiddins was an absolute hero of mine! His "Bush Tucker Man" series still has me with dreams of renting a dugout in Alice one day!
A friend of my late father was a producer at the ABC, he worked in current affairs and was also involved in this series I believe. Like Torque with Peter Wherret it was very well received and groundbreaking for its time.
Spent years working this area west of Alice with some of the major gold companies.. exploration work. Very interesting to have this history as background. The ABC of old used to make these great programs, nothing compares today.. thanks Les.
one of the first shows on the then new TV channel in the UK was bush tucker man , and i learned so much and became a big fan of les ..me and my mates would ask each other when buying fast food after a might out " good tucker boss??"
Enjoyed this episode as I do all of them, great research and history injected into your adventures. One of the legends of Australia is you Bush Tucker Man. ❤
My father, contracted by the Commonwealth Govt drilled for water for the mica miners in about 1943ish. This was at the Harts Ranges, East of Alice. He told me in later years that that area was very mineralised. I believe the area West of Alice is sedimentary with few mineral deposits. If I were to look for "Lassiter's" reef, I would look to the Eastern fields.
Hi Alan,Im from SA. an been a Gold Miner with Permits ,several States. As for Mica mining here in SA. even the humble Watts Gully Area ,Mt. Crawford. Adelaide Hills Sa. is abundant with Mica! If U simple pan a dish, its full off it! along with maybe a flake or speck Gold! Good Luck! Cheers!
@@richardoverton57 Small mica flakes are very widespread. But deposits containing large sheets of mica (suitable for electrical insulation - as in electric toasters) are pretty rare. The old Galloping Major lived locally around here for a bit a good few years back before selling up again and returning back down to Townsville. I can't for the life of me remember which vehicle he was driving at the time - lucky I've never come across a lost reef in the past! 😜🙃
The Reef has been discovered apparently, like you said, it's in the east, South West of Bedourie and roughly 14km long quartz/gold reef. Lassater didn't discover the reef himself, but heard about it from a housemate who was a bushman familiar with the region. What Lassater didn't realise though was that Gold Hunters used Reversed Bearings, and QLD had a Mountain Range with the same name. Covid apparently has stopped mining expedition for it. But it is planned.
My question is this, why would anyone walk away from such a huge reef of gold such as the one Lasseter claims to have found without marking the most basic of reference points in order to be able to relocate it ? There is absolutely no way any man would walk away from a reef of gold 7 miles long and 12 feet wide like the one Lasseter describes.
I watched the original bush talker videos sent to me by an Australian friend 25 years ago... I believe Hiddins is an ex-Australian army man and very informative ... thanks for this post.
Great content an I just love the way background music is used to add some sparkle. Rory O'donoghue's - Thin Arthur of Aunty Jack - title theme is a gem.
thank you for breaking it down!!We'll have regrets for things we did not participate in...Investment should always be on any creative man's heart for success in life.
I recall listening to Lasseta's son in an interview, where he was saying he searched for 30 yrs for the gold reef, but never found it. He still reckons its out there. Makes u wonder if it ever existed, for with modern technology surely it would have been found by now.
I recently discovered copper on my country estate in South Australia, the problem is that in SA any minerals found on your land remain the property of the crown. Copper and gold along with uranium often occur together in SA.
I'm sure Lassater just heard the story from some old bloke crazy with gold fever, and if he was only 17 at the time it was probably formative for him, made a big impression and he could never let it go.
He did hear it, from a NT Bushman house mate from in Adelaide. He also didn't understand Reverse bearing or that QLD had a range with the same name, so went in the opposite direction. The Reef has been discovered near Bedourie, AusGeo did a recent piece on it.
some years ago, I took a little course on placer mining along with about 25 other people, one of whom asked the question we all wanted the answer to. “Where do you find gold?” The answer came immediately, “gold is where you find it.” Now I do not know Australia or what the centre area looks like but, I tend to believe gold is more likely to be found in hilly or mountainous country. I live in BC which is the very mountainous west coast part of Canada. There appears to be lots of ‘in-mined’ areas in this part of the world but I’ve never heard of gold being found in the Prairies which, as you probably know, is a very flat terrain. Don’t know if this is any help, but it is the best I can offer, to those who wish to toil for gold. Good luck, hope you find lots.
Australia is geologically very very old,a lot these areas were mountain/high country hundreds of millions of years ago and have eroded massively,lots more alluvial gold to be fond but the reefs can be found in surprisingly flat country. It’s an amazing country for AU
Lasseter worked for my grandfather , Arther Stebbing as a brickie'"s labour and spoke about his gold find many times ,Think he recieved a donation from the brick layers uinion towards his search ...
I've been to Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). If you were west of Kata Tjuta looking east, you'd see a the rounded tops of Kata Tjuta, then Uluru in the distance, and on a clear day, you'll see the table-topped Mt Conner! Maybe that was Lassiters view he was looking for!
If you reverse those coordinates it takes you out to either Tobermorey or Manners Creek. I was on a shale oil exploration project some years ago that took me to both places. I'd estimate that if you ventured out to the south in that desert country, not far south of the Plenty / Donahue, that you might be in for a surprise.
This Guy made me aware of how Harsh n Baron the Bush can be.. I learned loads n with my "Australian" boomerang brought back from AUS I would spend hours trying to crack flying it over the park.. memories..
just another les like so many of these tv presenters back in the day had a real love and understanding of their subject (carl sagan Patrick Moore magnus pike etc etc ) and were able to pout across their love and educate you , its sad to say there are no longer many who love their subjects enough to live them rather regurgitate books and hearsay as fact
Lassiter , if ya beleive his story I have a bridge in Sydney for you to buy . This is best ABC broad cast in 50 years no welcome to country , no smoking ceramony .. PLease more of this sort of modern style programs .........
Gold has always been everything to people, they would die for it until they feel a real hunger. Water and a loaf of bread then become more valuable than the endless deposits of ore.
You would think that it's likely for there to be gold there. But I wouldn't be looking for that lost mine. There are too many inconsistencies in his story. But I'd go looking through that area to just look in general without having any expectation of finding that deposit.
Worked in the mines in WA , got to know the geologists they say the curse of Australia is it’s so flat you could walk over major deposits and never know any thing was there , often the case of drill, drill and keep on drilling…..
Lasseters was a smart man, had everyone fooled. He found no reef, was just using the government sources to look for one. Hence why he couldn't find it. Very smart man ,still got people fooled today. What a legend .😄
Brilliant stuff. There’s an Englishman named Jack Hargreaves; dead many years now but his TV programmes were just as watchable. I’d be happy just to watch programmes made by LH and JH all day long. Great story tellers with a wealth of knowledge.
a great big donnybrook :) its an irish saying, that goes back to the days of donnybrook fair/market in south dublin, which was said to be a very rambunctious affair🤣
Australia has millions of tones of Unmined gold, BHP has thousands of tonnes of gold, but the IMF has banned them from selling it all at once, because it would tank the price.
Just talked to a guy in New Zealand that worked at Telfa maybe 40 plus yrs ago ,he's retiring, gold all the way around Kalgolie ,up North, got a M8 whose working on a gold mine out from Mecthara somewhere
I know this series is coming to an end but thank you ABC for giving a 40 year old some child hood memories again.
I watched these at midday on Sundays, on Channel4 in The UK!
Wonderful armchair history, geography and geology. Delivered as deadpan as only an Aussie can.
@@capt.bart.roberts4975 ……they used to be on at 2am too……..just before closedown
A national treasure The Bush Tucker Man 👨 👌
back when the abc was great
I joined the Australian Army because of this Great Man
In 1980 , he was awarded a Defence Fellowship
to research survival in Northern Australia.
He was also the principal Author of the Australian Army's
Military survival Manual(1987).
This research turned into the TV Series
Vietnam Veteran
Thankyou
Major Les Hiddens
Love your work
I'm Irish and remember watching Les as a kid on TV.
The Bush Tucker Man was one of my favorite shows, it was absolutely fascinating watching him wandering the outback, in his Land Rover and trailer, surviving off the land. He's a true genius, and an absolute legend, who probably saved many lives by sharing his vast knowledge and skillset.
Guys like Bear Grylls are complete amateurs compared to Les, they're just weekend warriors.
My father served with Les... a family friend
@@Mathews69 ..so cool😎..my childhood hero...that's why I love Landrovers and still love practise bushcraft/survival skills..and I m 52 now...greetings to Les from the Netherlands 🇳🇱🍻
My favourite TV programme of all time. Was lucky to receive it all downloaded onto a USB drive one year for my birthday from a very dear friend who now lives in.. yep Australia. Les is a hero of mine.
And yes, alot of gold untapped down under. And other things...
The best yarn spinner on TV still to this day.......Les is a legend, absolutely tremendous!!!!
G
An absolute gold mine of a series, bush tucker man never gets old! True lion
The best outdoor Australian outback exploration and survival TV show ever!! 🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠
Takes me straight back to my earlier years. I love this guy. Great story teller and teacher. May his show live on for many generations. Good on ya bush tucker man.
Geez what a bloody great show.
Nothing else like it.
Can't get enough of this series. Keep 'em coming!
Loved this series when it first aired. There was a Ray Mears programme where he interviewed Les and he had not aged a day. Top Gezzer 🇬🇧
As someone that was born in 1998 after this show had well finished i have enjoyed every moment of abc reuploading this show i found out about it through my dad watching reupload videos of these epsiodes on other channels but glad abc has done this man justice by uploading them in highest quailty they can for older and younger generatations to watch it really makes me appreciate things alot more and the country we live in ♥
I'm with you. Born in the 90's and can't get enough of the vintage Australia on display here. I've rewatched the series twice already and will likely watch again soon
I just adored this fellow, I tried for many years to land a job with Govt Wildlife Departments unsuccessfully. No matter what I spent time in the area and continued to be inspired by Les, long live you Les.
I can attest to the bloody flies .
Great series,,,history of Australia,,,wonder if Aussie school children know these great stories ..Australia is truly one BIG GEM..
Bush Tucker Man was my youth and the reason I’ve adventured all across the planet 🌍👊✊🤙🏆
they used to show this, very early, on Sat mornings. I can remember watching this almost every weekend as a child.
This brought back memories, used to watch this with my old man. I've never been, and probably never will but the vast expanse, scale and variety of the landscape there will always be something on my bucket list if ever things change.
Watched les in the 90's. Really interesting bloke. Backpacker Aus in 93/94.
It's vast. I always tell the story of flying from Darwin to Brisbane. You fly in the same country for over three hours on a jet and don't overfly a tarmacadam road.
Vast doesn't do it justice...
This series is amazing. I miss it so much.
These are what should be taught in schools, fantastic story
Thanks for uploading these wonderful programs, I use to love watching these in the 90s and les is a legend 👍
As a kid growing up in the UK with "a girl's name" Les Hiddins was an absolute hero of mine! His "Bush Tucker Man" series still has me with dreams of renting a dugout in Alice one day!
No dug outs in Alice Springs. You must mean the town of Coober Pedy. Most of this town comprises of dug outs and semi dug outs.
I hear you Les, my parents named me Kelly.
A friend of my late father was a producer at the ABC, he worked in current affairs and was also involved in this series I believe. Like Torque with Peter Wherret it was very well received and groundbreaking for its time.
Im a Les and Landrover Defender Tragic because of this brilliant series.
Thanks to you Les.
bushtucker man and ray mears together. some of my fav ever tv
Spent years working this area west of Alice with some of the major gold companies.. exploration work. Very interesting to have this history as background. The ABC of old used to make these great programs, nothing compares today.. thanks Les.
I used to really like this series , I’m going to watch it again , really well produced it’s classic television,,,pS I always loved his hat
An excellent video series featuring the hidden beauty and history of Australia. Thank you!
one of the first shows on the then new TV channel in the UK was bush tucker man , and i learned so much and became a big fan of les ..me and my mates would ask each other when buying fast food after a might out " good tucker boss??"
Wow i remember watching this as a kid with my dad 40 years later i find myself watching it again
Enjoyed this episode as I do all of them, great research and history injected into your adventures. One of the legends of Australia is you Bush Tucker Man. ❤
Wow. I'd totally forgot about Bush Tucker Man. Not seen it for pushing thirty years...fond memories .
He seems such a happy go lucky bloke , but I bet he’s been in some really sticky situations in Vietnam. Top guy. ❤️🇬🇧.
A genuine guy who knows his stuff without the hype and drama
Such a wonderful series of films. Hats off to Major 'Iggins!
I used to love watching this show, The world around us, The leyland brothers, Alby Mangel.
My father, contracted by the Commonwealth Govt drilled for water for the mica miners in about 1943ish. This was at the Harts Ranges, East of Alice. He told me in later years that that area was very mineralised. I believe the area West of Alice is sedimentary with few mineral deposits. If I were to look for "Lassiter's" reef, I would look to the Eastern fields.
Why don't you?
Lets get going. 😉😊
Hi Alan,Im from SA. an been a Gold Miner with Permits ,several States. As for Mica mining here in SA. even the humble Watts Gully Area ,Mt. Crawford. Adelaide Hills Sa. is abundant with Mica! If U simple pan a dish, its full off it! along with maybe a flake or speck Gold! Good Luck! Cheers!
@@richardoverton57 Small mica flakes are very widespread. But deposits containing large sheets of mica (suitable for electrical insulation - as in electric toasters) are pretty rare.
The old Galloping Major lived locally around here for a bit a good few years back before selling up again and returning back down to Townsville. I can't for the life of me remember which vehicle he was driving at the time - lucky I've never come across a lost reef in the past! 😜🙃
The Reef has been discovered apparently, like you said, it's in the east, South West of Bedourie and roughly 14km long quartz/gold reef. Lassater didn't discover the reef himself, but heard about it from a housemate who was a bushman familiar with the region. What Lassater didn't realise though was that Gold Hunters used Reversed Bearings, and QLD had a Mountain Range with the same name. Covid apparently has stopped mining expedition for it. But it is planned.
I used to watch the Bush Tuckerman on tv many years ago, now I am much older and have forgotten them I can watch them again, fresh.
My question is this, why would anyone walk away from such a huge reef of gold such as the one Lasseter claims to have found without marking the most basic of reference points in order to be able to relocate it ? There is absolutely no way any man would walk away from a reef of gold 7 miles long and 12 feet wide like the one Lasseter describes.
Loved this guy when I was a kid🏴
I watched the original bush talker videos sent to me by an Australian friend 25 years ago...
I believe Hiddins is an ex-Australian army man and very informative ... thanks for this post.
Great content an I just love the way background music is used to add some sparkle.
Rory O'donoghue's - Thin Arthur of Aunty Jack - title theme is a gem.
Stunning cinematography!
Australia most definitely has some eye charming countryside.
As I've always said about Australia, not only do the flora and fauna kill you, the geography does as well. 😐
Brilliant series I have all of them on dvd lol 😁
You can't beat a Les Hiddins adventure.
thank you for breaking it down!!We'll have regrets for things we did not participate in...Investment should always be on any creative man's heart for success in life.
I recall listening to Lasseta's son in an interview, where he was saying he searched for 30 yrs for the gold reef, but never found it. He still reckons its out there.
Makes u wonder if it ever existed, for with modern technology surely it would have been found by now.
Bill Decarli eventually found the reef near Boulia in Queensland in 1991.
@@MitchMiller123 So it wasnt in the NT afterall?
@@MitchMiller123 was it as big as Lassiter described then?
@@catey62 About 14km long apparently. Australian Geographic did a recent piece on it.
I recently discovered copper on my country estate in South Australia, the problem is that in SA any minerals found on your land remain the property of the crown. Copper and gold along with uranium often occur together in SA.
take out a mining licence and peg the land then lodge a claim for a lease
The crown ,, just the sound of that sticks in my gullet , they’ve got a nerve
Don’t tell anybody
Very well presented and enjoyable. Good on ya mate!
I'm sure Lassater just heard the story from some old bloke crazy with gold fever, and if he was only 17 at the time it was probably formative for him, made a big impression and he could never let it go.
He did hear it, from a NT Bushman house mate from in Adelaide. He also didn't understand Reverse bearing or that QLD had a range with the same name, so went in the opposite direction. The Reef has been discovered near Bedourie, AusGeo did a recent piece on it.
Got this on VHS cassette that I recorded off the telly in the early 80's.
love the show, so much better then being stuck in the city.
met Les once... a true gentleman
some years ago, I took a little course on placer mining along with about 25 other people, one of whom asked the question we all wanted the answer to. “Where do you find gold?” The answer came immediately, “gold is where you find it.”
Now I do not know Australia or what the centre area looks like but, I tend to believe gold is more likely to be found in hilly or mountainous country. I live in BC which is the very mountainous west coast part of Canada. There appears to be lots of ‘in-mined’ areas in this part of the world but I’ve never heard of gold being found in the Prairies which, as you probably know, is a very flat terrain.
Don’t know if this is any help, but it is the best I can offer, to those who wish to toil for gold.
Good luck, hope you find lots.
Australia is geologically very very old,a lot these areas were mountain/high country hundreds of millions of years ago and have eroded massively,lots more alluvial gold to be fond but the reefs can be found in surprisingly flat country. It’s an amazing country for AU
Thanks for the history lessons and adventures bushtucker man
use to watch Les years ago on bush tucker man what a great guy spell bound ,respect Les ,think he use to train Aussie special forces on survival.
Lasseter worked for my grandfather , Arther Stebbing as a brickie'"s labour and spoke about his gold find many times ,Think he recieved a donation from the brick layers uinion towards his search ...
Les is a legend. The best!!
Kind of sounds like the Aussie version of the Lost Dutchman Mine in Arizona in the US.
:38 "one of the most beautiful and unforgiving places on Earth." Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder but most definitely unforgiving.
I was Taught Gold sheds to the East in Australia. Wicked as usual from Les
More of this please 😍
I forgot how much I loved this show.
just loved this show ans Les
I've been to Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). If you were west of Kata Tjuta looking east, you'd see a the rounded tops of Kata Tjuta, then Uluru in the distance, and on a clear day, you'll see the table-topped Mt Conner! Maybe that was Lassiters view he was looking for!
What a wonderful story.
Bill Decarli eventually found the reef near Boulia in Queensland in 1991.
Watching this makes me feel like I am back in primary school.
wow! sensational ! very interesting story ! thanks ABC! 🏜️🌄🛻🏞️🎬🤙😎🇦🇺
Remember watching this as a kid, before the footy show i think it was aired the same night
If you reverse those coordinates it takes you out to either Tobermorey or Manners Creek. I was on a shale oil exploration project some years ago that took me to both places. I'd estimate that if you ventured out to the south in that desert country, not far south of the Plenty / Donahue, that you might be in for a surprise.
This Guy made me aware of how Harsh n Baron the Bush can be.. I learned loads n with my "Australian" boomerang brought back from AUS I would spend hours trying to crack flying it over the park.. memories..
just another
les like so many of these tv presenters back in the day had a real love and understanding of their subject (carl sagan Patrick Moore magnus pike etc etc ) and were able to pout across their love and educate you , its sad to say there are no longer many who love their subjects enough to live them rather regurgitate books and hearsay as fact
Lassiter , if ya beleive his story I have a bridge in Sydney for you to buy .
This is best ABC broad cast in 50 years no welcome to country , no smoking ceramony .. PLease more of this sort of modern style programs .........
Another cracking episode :)
I can't remember if this is true, but I seem to remember that Lassiters in the TV show Neighbours is named after Lassiter?
Lasseter's reef the legend story continues . .
Watching you from Chandler Arizona. Ya, you got a real funny looking hat there.
Gold has always been everything to people, they would die for it until they feel a real hunger. Water and a loaf of bread then become more valuable than the endless deposits of ore.
loved this series
You would think that it's likely for there to be gold there. But I wouldn't be looking for that lost mine. There are too many inconsistencies in his story. But I'd go looking through that area to just look in general without having any expectation of finding that deposit.
What an amazing place Australia used to be
What an amazing channel the ABC used to be!
R.I.P
Still is .
It’s still pretty nice out there😂
it is a fairly depressing place
Never knew any of the stuff Les presented on the Bush Tucker Man only because they never ever taught this in school it’s crazy
Legendary
Like that old M-416 military jeep trailer!
Worked in the mines in WA , got to know the geologists they say the curse of Australia
is it’s so flat you could walk over major deposits and never know any thing was there , often the case of drill, drill and keep on drilling…..
Love the Aussie voice
Lasseters was a smart man, had everyone fooled. He found no reef, was just using the government sources to look for one. Hence why he couldn't find it. Very smart man ,still got people fooled today. What a legend .😄
Brilliant stuff. There’s an Englishman named Jack Hargreaves; dead many years now but his TV programmes were just as watchable. I’d be happy just to watch programmes made by LH and JH all day long. Great story tellers with a wealth of knowledge.
a great big donnybrook :) its an irish saying, that goes back to the days of donnybrook fair/market in south dublin, which was said to be a very rambunctious affair🤣
Australia has millions of tones of Unmined gold, BHP has thousands of tonnes of gold, but the IMF has banned them from selling it all at once, because it would tank the price.
Fantastic!
Les should be on our 50 dollar note
i think the most fascinating thing is he lugged around a facsimile machine,Like i didnt even know they had them back then..🤷♀
My favourite survival show
Indonesia Watching this video 👍
You cant understand australia until you know this mans body of work.
The Telfer gold mine in WA is huge, so there is gold out there.
Just talked to a guy in New Zealand that worked at Telfa maybe 40 plus yrs ago ,he's retiring, gold all the way around Kalgolie ,up North, got a M8 whose working on a gold mine out from Mecthara somewhere
Thank you again for the upload 👍🏼
I want that hat, and a dollar for the bloody tyres I've changed. He's proper. Got a good beer drinking voice.
Very interesting.