SKIPPY : The Bush Kangaroo Story

A perennial TV favourite from a distant cultural time, a show that on a pop culture level, took Australia’s Bush Landscape and sold its beauty and glamourised living there to a world wide audience. Yes of course we have Kangaroo’s hopping down the main streets, if they’ve escaped from a sanctuary or you’re just on the fringe of a wildlife park. I never knew that Kangaroos are dumber than sheep ! That might explain some of situations this hopping marsupial got itself into. I visited Waratah Park, saw and walked through the Rangers Headquarters. There was the Skippy/Sonny jigsaw puzzle you see in the collectors segment here, I think mine eventually ended up in landfill ... whoops. I had a little stuffed Kangaroo at one point and thought life would be a great adventure living in a National Wildlife Reserve but I was a soft city boy so, that wasn’t going to happen. I remember countless repeats on Channel 9, well into the 70’s. This TV documentary looks back in quite a bit of detail as to how Australia’s well known favourite marsupial Kangaroo export was conceived and the almost ridiculous lengths and trauma associated to make this dumber than sheep animal look like a superstar ! In terms of cultural politics, the behind the scene stories of how animals were handled and how women were treated on the set, would’ve had a lot of its creators in a bit of trouble in todays world. The show reflected cultural morays of 1950s- 60s and the rise of feminism, equality and that political awakening was a few years off yet. Boys were boys and Girls did girly things and were hapless, outside of the usual domestic domain as was portrayed on screen. I liked it I suppose because it was a simple (corny) premise show with situations that were not too far fetched, except for a Kangaroo that could play drums, use a CB radio, learn Italian, go get help and tsk tsk it’s messages in a way that humans could understand !! Hmmm maybe someone’s been smokin too much special wildlife park herbs hey lol It was a different more simple surface time, where the complexity of today was a distant concept in that ole analogue world when people politics were black & white, like Australian TV which eventually switched to colour on 1st March 1975. Still in a vague distant memory, I guess Skippy is in essence still, a friend ever true. Skippy Intro - Outro    • Skippy the Bush Kangaroo 1968 - 1970 Openi...   Australian Icon Skippy the Kangaroo star of exhibition | Nine News Australia    • Australian icon Skippy the Kangaroo star o...   NFSA – National Film Sound Archive https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/skippy... Scott chats with Gary Pankhurst    • Scott chats with Gary Pankhurst   Skippy The Bush Kangaroo - In French !    • Видео   Skippy - WiKi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skippy_... Fast Forward - Comedy Send Up Skippy    • [FAST FORWARD] Skippy - Skippy and the Nuc...      • [FAST FORWARD] Skippy - Special Performance      • Fast Forward - Skippy and the Bank Robbery      • Fast Forward - Skippy vs The Devil      • [FAST FORWARD] Best Performance in a film ...   Skippy the Bush Kangaroo - An Australian Icon    • Skippy the Bush Kangaroo - An Australian Icon   Celebrating 50 Years Of Skippy    • Celebrating 50 Years Of Skippy      • Australia's most iconic TV show turns 50   Sonny Hammond (Garry Pankhurst) - My Pal Skippy    • Sonny Hammond (Garry Pankhurst) - My Pal S...   Skippy Montage    • SKIPPY montage