This history was originally written in 2000 for the 75th anniversary of ABC local radio in Brisbane
For more than 75 years the local radio station has been a distinctive part of Queensland’s way of life.
As part of Australia’s only national, non-commercial broadcaster, 612 ABC Brisbane has shared its history and development with the growth of Queensland.
(more…)
Losing his left foot while trying to clear a blockage on a corn-picking machine never slowed Ian Allen down.
He once told how he took up ballroom dancing to improve his dexterity. A friend of 80 years, Joe Tomerini, once said he thought it was so he could meet women. And whichever is true in the 1950s, he met Joycephine Greenfield, a New Zealand dairy farmer’s daughter, on a working holiday. The two became well known at dances across the north and were married in early 1956.
Born in Atherton at Nurse Austin’s Clinic, to Margaret (nee Rae) and William Stephen Allen, Ian was the youngest son in a family of six children.
He grew up on the family farm near Tolga on the Atherton Tableland in North Queensland, and spent most of his life in the area, buying his farm just across the road.
(more…)
