What's New December 6, 2021

RIP Gardening Australia’s Peter Cundall

Peter Cundall, has died aged 94.

He was the world’s first talkback radio gardening show host.

A message from his family says:

“On Sunday 5th of December 2021, Peter Cundall passed away peacefully after a short illness, surrounded by his family.

“Peter’s privacy, and the privacy of his family, is to be respected during this very sad time.

“Peter’s family does not wish to be contacted.

“While he was loved by many, as per Peter’s wishes, there will be a private cremation and no memorial services will be held.”

His family has requested that no images of Peter be published with the announcement of his death.

Peter Cundall began answering listeners gardening questions on radio in the late 1960s and continued his gardening program on ABC Radio Hobart until 2018.

When he retired he said:“That very first broadcast in Launceston in 1968, believe it or not, was the very first gardening talkback in the world, because it was the first time that anyone had ever tried it..

“I was only thinking the other day, when I first started the talkback in the late 1960s, the people who were then just born, babies that were born on that day, are now 50 years old, and probably got children and grandchildren of their own, and I’ve been broadcasting, non-stop, almost 52 weeks a year ever since.”

Cundall was born in Manchester UK in 1927. He began vegetable gardening as a child, and had a love of “messing about in the dirt”. Cundall left school at the age of 12 working to support his family before being conscripted to the British Army towards the end of World War II.

It was his military experience that eventually helped him migrate to Australia. Cundall saw an ad in a newspaper looking for volunteers to join the Australian Army to fight in the Korean war.

After his war service, Cundall moved to Tasmania and started a landscaping and gardening business in Launceston, where his career in radio and TV began.