King of the Outback Skies!
- Simon Cheatham
- Apr 16
- 2 min read
Many of you will know Kerry Slingsby or at least know of him, as he was indeed once King of the Outback Skies - a legend. The documentary of the same name aired on TV in 1998, but has since been sitting unavailable due to copyright laws on a dusty shelf in Canberra at the National Film & Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA).
So in late 2018, I was determined to get this important historical footage of Outback Australia to the public again. After a 9 month journey tracking down and talking to the producer and director, navigating through lawyers to find the rightful owner(s), then successfully getting copyright approval from Prime Media Group to have the footage released for public viewing for the first time in almost 20 years. The documentary was made live in on the 7Plus website in September 2019.
Unfortunately a year later the video was replaced, and the battle to make it accessible to the public began again!
After another year or two of knocking on media executive doors, I finally negotiated last month (July 2023) a copyright arrangement (for a limited time) with the Seven Network to have the documentary made live again exclusively here on the RFTTEJOBS website.
I hope it was all worth it and please email me (Simon Cheatham Founder RFTTE) to tell me what you thought of it - and do any RFTTE members appear in it, apart from Kerry?
Some recognition in the Nov 2019 edition of the Kimberley Echo: https://www.kimberleyecho.com.au/news/the-kimberley-echo/doco-on-outback-air-kingwas-gathering-dust-on-shelf-ng-b881409628z
Footage supplied courtesy of Seven Network. All rights reserved. ©
NB. After 20 years under copyright restrictions, I have also dug out of the archives THE FLYING VET and SARAWAK STOCK TAKE, both featuring in a previous edition of The Hooroo News earlier in 2019 and both important historical documentaries about the Top End from the 1980s, which can now be seen online by the general public.
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