Peter Cundall
Peter Cundall AM | |
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Born | Peter Joseph Cundall 1 April 1927 Manchester, England |
Died | 5 December 2021 , Australia | (aged 94)
Citizenship | Australia |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1969–2019 |
Known for | Host of Gardening Australia (1989–2008) |
Television | Gardening Australia |
Awards |
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Peter Joseph Cundall,
Cundall was an environmentalist and pacifist. He became a household name to Australian gardeners. In a 2008 issue of Reader's Digest, he came eighth in a poll of the 100 most trusted Australians.[3][4]
Early life and military service
Cundall was born into an impoverished home, "the poorest of the poor", in
In 1946, Cundall was stationed in south-east Austria at
Eager to hasten his emigration to Australia, Cundall enlisted in the Australian Army in 1950, believing that he was enlisting for a non-combat role as a librarian. He was immediately posted to Korea, however, with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and once again saw action overseas as a machine gunner during the Korean War.[10] During a year-and-a-half based in Japan, he studied Japanese garden design and rock garden construction. He gained access to many famous gardens and bonsai nurseries and regularly went to observe new gardens being built in Hiroshima, which was undergoing reconstruction after the atomic bombing in 1945.[8]
Political career and activism
Cundall was a
Gardening and broadcasting
After leaving the Australian Army in 1956, Cundall moved to Tasmania, where he started his own gardening and landscaping business designing and constructing gardens in Tasmania. During this period he specialised in landscaping a large number of schools, hospitals, universities, factories, hotels, shopping centres and private gardens in Tasmania and Victoria.[8] He was also an active founding member of the Organic Gardening and Farming Society. In 1967, he started a gardening talkback program on a Launceston radio station. In 1969, he began presenting a television gardening program for Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Originally called It's Growing and then Landscape, it was another world-first which concentrated on the design and construction of new gardens in Tasmania. This show became one of the longest-running, most iconic shows in Australia—Gardening Australia.[8][12]
In 1974 he was awarded a Churchill Fellowship. This enabled him to travel through the United States, Britain and Africa to study organic gardening, landscaping methods, children's playground design and the presentation of television gardening programs in colour. With WGBH Boston and the BBC he studied the way television gardening programs were made for differing climatic conditions.[3][8]
In December 2007, Cundall and the ABC announced that the 2008 series would be his last.[16] On 18 June 2008 he filmed his last Gardening Australia episode at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. His last appearance was broadcast on ABC TV on 26 July 2008.[17]
After his regular work on Gardening Australia, Cundall appeared for the "Help Wanted" segment on the ABC's programme Can We Help? on 11 September 2009 to help adenocarcinoma sufferer Michael Carson and his wife Dympna with rebuilding a vegetable garden in their backyard. About a month after the segment had been filmed, Carson died from his illness.[18] Cundall was a panellist on ABC's Q+A on 25 July 2011.[19]
Later and personal life
After his retirement from Gardening Australia, Cundall continued his work as a garden writer for
Cundall died on 5 December 2021 at the age of 94 after a short illness.[22][23] He had four sons from his first marriage along with two sons and a stepson from his second wife Tina, whom he married in 1980.[8][23]
Awards
In 2006, Cundall was named Australian Humanist of the Year.[24] In 2007, he was awarded a Membership of the Order of Australia "For service to the environment, particularly the protection of wilderness areas in Tasmania, and to horticulture as a presenter of gardening programs on television and radio."[2] He was also awarded Organic Federation of Australia's Lifetime Achievement Award in that year.[8] He was the 2009 Tasmania State Recipient Australian of the Year.[25] In 1994 Cundall was appointed Envoy for the Save the Children Fund.[8]
References
- ^ "Happy 90th birthday Peter Cundall". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 March 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ a b "It's an Honour: Peter Cundall". Government of Australia. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ a b c Gadd, Denise (5 July 2008). "An Earthly Delight". The Age. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ "Australia's Most Trusted People 2008". Reader's Digest. Archived from the original on 21 February 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
- ^ Compass. 16 October 2011. ABC Television. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- ^ a b c "Peter Cundall". Wisdom Interviews. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 1 August 2004. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ a b c Laskie, Alexandra (26 June 2018). "Peter Cundall puts down the pen but not the gardening gloves". Weekly Times. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Leu, Andre (27 September 2007). "Peter Cundall receives OFA Lifetime Achievement Award" (PDF). Organic Federation of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- ^ "Peter Cundall". Talking Heads. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 26 March 2007. Archived from the original on 5 November 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
- ^ "Peter Cundall". Enough Rope. 13 June 2005. ABC Television. Archived from the original on 6 July 2005. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
- ^ Kermond, Clare (15 July 2004). "Seeds of sanity". The Age. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ a b Schmidt, Lucinda (28 March 2006). "Profile: Peter Cundall". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ "Peter Cundall arrested at pulp mill protest". ABC News. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ "Cundall accuses Gunns of corruption". ABC News. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ "Cundall fined over Parliament Cundall vows to fight on despite court fine". ABC News. 11 February 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ "Gardening expert Cundall to retire". ABC News. 13 December 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ "Late bloomer". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 17 July 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ "Help Wanted – Episode 31 (2009)". Can We Help?. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 September 2009. Archived from the original on 2 February 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
- Q&A. ABC Television. 25 July 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ "Memorable moments to mark Peter Cundall's 90th birthday". ABC News. 1 April 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^ "Gardening guru Peter Cundall retires after five decades on the air". www.abc.net.au. ABC Australia. 29 December 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ "Peter Cundall, long-time Gardening Australia host, dies aged 94". ABC News (Australia). 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ a b Veitch, Harriet (5 December 2021). "'That's your bloomin' lot': Australia's favourite gardener dead at 94". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ "Australian Humanists of the Year". Humanist Society of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 August 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
- ^ "Peter Cundall AM". Australian of the Year. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2021.