It’s been a life of adventure for TV legend
Mal Leyland on travel, marriage and his move to the Garden City
FAMILY is key when it comes to understanding why the Leyland brothers have engrossed Australian audiences since the 1960s.
Mal and his late brother Mike’s catalogue of travel documentaries captured the beauty of Australia, but it also captured a group of tight-knit loved ones with a grand sense of adventure.
“I think when people watched our show they related to us as family,” Mal said.
“People today say they were inspired to see Australia. It means we must have done something right.”
For those unacquainted with these icons, their life of exploration began in 1963.
Sparked by a desire to create an Australian version of David Attenborough nature documentaries, the young brothers filmed their ambition to navigate the full length of the Darling River.
“We were so smitten with everything we had seen. Everything was new to us,” Mal said.
“We learnt as we went. The thing that happened more than anything else is we were introduced to Australian outback hospitality.”
Their first documentary
Down the Darling quickly caught the attention of not just Australia, but 67 countries around the world after it was acquired by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Just three years later, the brothers were back on the road attempting a feat no one had accomplished – crossing Australia from its most western point to its most eastern.
Rather than broadcasting their new footage, the Leyland brothers decided to take the film on an Australian cinema roadshow.
“In the end it was hugely successful. It put the same number of bums on seats as Crocodile Dundee did when it came out a few years later,” Mal said.
More documentaries followed over the course of a decade, including a wild expedition from Darwin to Sydney and a run of shortlived television shows.
But the Leyland brothers realised they were running out of places to travel.
A simple idea evolved into a travel show that turned Mal, Mike and their family into bona fide Australian icons – asking the public where they should go next.
There were sceptics about the idea but the Leyland brothers had faith in their vision.
That faith was rewarded after the pilot, Ask the Leyland
Brothers, aired on Australian screens in 1976.
“We went to the post office after a week expecting to find letters … there was just a note saying come to the desk,” Mal said.
Letters from across the country had flooded in – three mail bags, to be exact.
“The biggest expense of making the show was sorting and responding to requests from viewers,” Mal said.
The show took Mal, Mike and their families across the country in their well-known Kombi vans.
“We were showing people what the average person could do,” Mal said.
“We didn’t film five-star hotels and fancy places.
“We were also ordinary people showing what you can do. I think people related to that very well.”
The audience’s connection to the Leyland family is also what made the adventures special to Mal.
“Overall it was quite rewarding work. The thing I loved about the most is I did it with Laraine,” Mal said.
“We were married and started travelling straight away.
WILD TIMES: (top left) Mal and Mike Leyland filming in the Simpson Desert in 1989, (bottom left) Mal Leyland films on the Darling River in 1963 and (right) Australian explorer and documentary film maker Mal Leyland now lives in Toowoomba. Pictures: Nev Madsen/Contributed.
“I feel so privileged to have had such a wonderful marriage. She was the love of my life.”
Following Laraine’s death in 2018, Mal now lives in Toowoomba and regularly visits the Botanic Gardens to remember his beloved wife.
“My wife loved gardening, one of her favourite places here was the Botanic Gardens. It always was. I go down there quite frequently to wander around and have a bit of nostalgia,” Mal said.
But Mal is still touring the country and is itching to get back on Australian screens with his daughter Carmen.
“What’s happening is I’m thinking if we could revive Ask the Leylands, it would still work,” he said.
“I’ve been doing bits and pieces for Channel 10 and I’m getting a good response.”
Mal spoke to The Chronicle on the eve of receiving the Lifetime of Adventure Award from the Australian Geographic Society at its annual awards ceremony on Friday.
He is still humbled by his status as an Australian icon.
“It wasn’t what we set out to achieve but it’s rewarding many ways,” Mal said.
“I find whenever I go people still recognise me, they remember the shows and they say they were encouraged to go out and see Australia.”
And after his lifetime of adventure, Mal said it was the personalities he met that stuck with him the most.
“The best parts have been the unexpected. You meet people doing strange and obscure things,” he said.
“Meeting people from different walks of life made the exercise so rewarding.” in
OVERALL IT WAS QUITE REWARDING WORK. THE THING I LOVED ABOUT THE MOST IS I DID IT WITH LARAINE. WE WERE MARRIED AND STARTED TRAVELLING STRAIGHT AWAY. I FEEL SO PRIVILEGED TO HAVE HAD SUCH A WONDERFUL MARRIAGE. SHE WAS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE.
MAL LEYLAND