Bill Bunbury

William Hedley Richardson Bunbury (born 7 October 1940, in Glastonbury, England), known as Bill Bunbury, is a former radio broadcaster and producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and an accomplished historian and writer. Early life Bunbury was born in Glastonbury, England in 1940, to an Australian father and an English mother. He graduated with an honours degree from the University of Durham 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, where he taught English at Guildford Grammar School. A visit to the school by an ABC 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 ABC 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 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 [journalists] retire too early. Perhaps some go on [working] too long. You try to pick the right time."