Heather Ewart won’t use the word retire, but there’s a reason she’s leaving Back Roads
After 10 years, 234 towns, and countless beers and yarns at outback pubs, Heather Ewart is leaving Back Roads, the rural Australia showcase that sprang from her 2014 documentary, A Country Road: The Nationals, about the history of the National Party. It’s a bittersweet milestone for the former ABC News journalist who won’t use the word “retire”.
In truth, she was ready to keep road tripping for at least another year. But two cancer diagnoses that she has kept to herself over the past decade, and arm injuries sustained from a car crash in May outside the NSW town of Nimmitabel, have contributed to her decision.
Heather Ewart is presenting her final episodes of the popular ABC series Back Roads.
“It was the 10th anniversary of Back Roads coming up. Timing matters. And I just always think it’s good to go out on a high,” she says. “And there’s nothing more to wake you up about life than having cancer, or being hit head-on by a bloke asleep at the wheel. You think, ‘Life can be short.’”
Recently returned from a holiday in the Cook Islands with her husband, fellow ABC News veteran Barrie Cassidy (she was visiting there for the first time since 1980, when she covered then-opposition leader Bob Hawke’s attendance at the South Pacific Forum), Ewart is pleased to be handing the Back Roads car keys to former ABC News Breakfast host Lisa Millar, who, like Ewart, grew up in the country.
“There are certain character traits that country people share, like ‘no bullshit’, and resilience. You never lose that,” says Ewart. “Back Roads has succeeded because it is about country people and not about the presenter or the scenery. You’ve got to be careful not to make it a travelogue. And I think country people, particularly, are really aware of that. I’ve known Lisa a really long time. I don’t need to give her any advice.”
Heather Ewart (right) with Moree’s legendary wedding dressmaker Melinda O’Donoghue and a bride-to-be.
The first episode of Ewart’s final season takes her to the NSW farming township of Moree, where she meets famed wedding dressmaker Melinda O’Donoghue, who has a classic Back Roads story. “She’ll drive through floods and drought to get that wedding dress there on time,” says Ewart.
O’Donoghue is likely to join the long list of friends Ewart has made on the road, many of whom attended her farewell party at the Richmond Bowling Club, in her home town of Melbourne.
“I invited some of the characters that I’ve interviewed, not thinking that they’d actually come,” says Ewart. “And lo and behold, Lyn Westbury, a travelling hairdresser from Innisfail, flew down with her husband, Barry the plumber. And Gail Sharp, the baker from Birchip, came down. And a fantastic fellow, Josh Arnold, a great country singer who goes all around outback Queensland to schools, helping the kids write anthems about their schools and their towns, he flew down.
“It’s just fantastic to think that I’ve made those sorts of friends who I will always stay in touch with for the rest of my life, and be really happy to go and visit.”
Those connections will keep Ewart busy, with invitations pouring in to appear at fundraisers for the Royal Flying Doctors, among other local events. She has no plans to resurrect her short acting career, which began and ended with a role as the governor of a juvenile prison in Chris Lilley’s 2011 comedy series, Angry Boys, at the urging of the late political satirist John Clarke.
“I’ve always loved the comedians,” says Ewart. “They’re just so great to spend time with … I would hope that the ABC rediscovers the braveness that it used to have, and to be fearless once again in comedy and the reporting of news and current affairs. Not to be cowed by the politics of the day.”
As for Back Roads, she is confident it will continue to shine a spotlight on remote communities. “It’s so important to show the people who are out there, especially for city viewers, but also to make country people feel proud of what they do,” she says.
Back Roads returns at 8pm, on Thursday, July 17, on the ABC.
Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.