Famous Australian people and landmarks on Burke’s Backyard
Bob Prudhoe is an electrical engineer, with an MA in systems engineering and a post-graduate diploma in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning. In 1992, while he was working toward a PhD on alternative energy systems, his Tibetan-style home burnt down. Although...
David and Pauline Bowden have lived on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for six years. Their 4 hectare (10 acre) property was first settled in 1946 by the Plummer family, who grew various small crops including ginger, peas, bananas and strawberries. In the past the...
Don visited sculptor James Corbett at his studio in Caboolture, near Brisbane. Unlike traditional sculptors, who work in stone or bronze, James makes his sculptures from old car parts. He first discovered his knack for sculpting when he ran a wrecking business...
Don and the ‘Burke’s Backyard’ team visited Margaret Porritt and Warwick Callander, who were spending the weekend at their spectacular beach house at Portsea, on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. The 80 square house was completed at the end of...
Laurie Seaman is a retired civil engineer who spent most of his life designing bridges all over the world. He lives in a sandstone house built by his grandfather in 1918, when there were only four other houses on the hill overlooking Palm Beach and Pittwater. Today...
Julie Harvey was once a Sydney businesswoman, but had to take time off work due to illness. During her convalescence she became interested in painting, and then enrolled in art school to learn how to sculpt figures. Julie never returned to her job – instead she...
Don looked at a beachside house in Victoria, which was not what it seemed. What appeared to be a spacious, modern house had been created by converting and linking two farm machinery sheds. The result was a beautifully appointed, six-bedroom, 60-square home at...
Home owner Louise Holly was inspired when she saw the Burke’s Backyard in Spain program. She painted her white Spanish-style house with Dulux ‘Tuscan Gold’.
Balconies can be real problem areas for people who live in apartments. When space is very limited, it’s often difficult to come up with a design that is both functional and attractive. Jamie Loft’s innovative design for a tiny balcony includes a fountain,...
Don visited a Mexican-style house and garden in Noosaville, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. The front garden uses the structural form of succulent plants such as euphorbias and yuccas to reinforce the design of the house, and to set off the white and terracotta...