Bristol Community FM documentary reveals city's significant contribution to the development of modern Australia.
‘Convicts, Geniuses & Dreamers: How Bristol shaped Australia’ explores Bristol’s historical connections with Australia, in particular through the remarkable and contrasting stories of Francis Greenway and the Steam Ship Great Britain. Greenway was a Bristol architect turned convict, transported for forgery but who eventually became 'Father of Australian Architecture'. The SS Great Britain was the forerunner of long-haul commercial travel between Britain and Australia, and Bristol’s leading visitor attraction once provided passage for thousands looking to start a new life in a new world.
The documentary features interviews with a broad range of experts and historians, recently recorded in Bristol and Sydney. There’s a rare interview with the Great Great Great Granddaughter of Francis Greenway, we hear from the Bristol academic on why shipping teenage criminals to the ends of the earth was once a cornerstone of the criminal justice system, and Rhian Tritton from the SS Great Britain shares tales of life aboard the 'floating Big Brother' as hundreds of people from all backgrounds made the 60-day voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne.

The documentary will be broadcast at 15:00 on Bristol Community FM (BCfm) on Australia Day, Wednesday January 26th 2011 (Australia Day is a public holiday down under marking the date when the First Fleet of white European settlers arrived at Sydney Cove in 1788).

People outside the city can listen online by going to the station’s website – www.bcfm.org.uk. The programme can also be listened to for up to seven days afterwards via the playback facility, also on the website.

The documentary was made by Andrew Parsonage, a volunteer presenter with BCfm. Andrew is happy to answer any questions about the subject or how the documentary was made.