ABC Friends celebrates 50th anniversary

Next date: Friday, 04 July 2025 | 06:00 PM to 07:30 PM

The short documentary recounts how four friends in 1976 — Corin Fairburn Bass, Walter Bass, Hans Bandler and Faith Bandler sat in their Turramurra home and shared their fears and dreams for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). This pivotal conversation ignited a movement that has grown to over 70,000 supporters nationwide, dedicated to ensuring a strong, independent, and well-funded ABC.

This short 30-minute film will feature Corin Fairburn Bass sharing her personal story about that transformative moment, when Hans and Faith Bandler met with her husband Walter to talk about what they could do to help the ABC, following news that the ABC’s budget would be cut in 1976.

Walter Bass (1931-2015) and Hans Bandler (1914-2009) had come to Australia in 1939 to escape the Nazi regime. Faith Bandler (1918-2015) was a highly influential leader in the fight for Indigenous Rights.