Hurry up! Moon man Mr Squiggle lands at National Museum
Mr Squiggle and Friends was the life's work of multi-talented puppeteer Norman Hetherington and was on television for four decades, with the program's final episode airing on July 9, 1999.
As the voice and operator of the Mr Squiggle puppet, he completed more than 10,000 drawings during that time - many of them upside down, and with his friend Blackboard telling him to "Hurry up!".
The museum acquired the Norman Hetherington collection in 2024, including more than 800 objects, such as scripts, props and production notes.
About 300 of those are going on show at the museum in Canberra and, don't worry, Mr Squiggle's friends Blackboard, Rocket, Bill the Steam Shovel and Gus the Snail will be on display too.
Visitors can also try an interactive squiggle drawing exercise, so those who grew up in the post-Squiggle television era can see what drawing one is like.
Norman Hetherington's daughter Rebecca presented Mr Squiggle and Friends as "Miss Rebecca" during its final decade.
She worked with the museum for years to help curate the collection that showcases her father's life's work.
Hearing from the public over the years since the show finished has made her realise the special place Mr Squiggle has in people's hearts.
"It was meaningful, and people really treasure it, which is lovely," she said.
The first inkling of the television show came from the quick sketches her father would do - upside down - as part of an entertainment act while he was in the army in the 1940s.
Later, he joined the ABC TV Training School, with his early puppets Nicky and Noodle appearing on the first night of ABC television on November 5, 1956.
Mr Squiggle touched generations of television audiences, said museum deputy director Sophie Jensen.
"You should see the level of interest, interaction, warmth, memory, and humour that we get every time we talk about this collection," Dr Jensen said.
As part of the exhibition, the National Museum is re-publishing some vintage Mr Squiggle books: Mr Squiggle and the Preposterous Purple Crocodile, and a set of three colouring books.
Mr Squiggle and Friends: The Creative World of Norman Hetherington opens on Friday at the National Museum in Canberra and runs until October 13 before touring nationally.
One of Australia's most beloved television characters, the pencil-nosed blue-haired puppet Mr Squiggle, is being celebrated with an exhibition at the National Museum.
Mr Squiggle and Friends was the life's work of multi-talented puppeteer Norman Hetherington and was on television for four decades, with the program's final episode airing on July 9, 1999.
As the voice and operator of the Mr Squiggle puppet, he completed more than 10,000 drawings during that time - many of them upside down, and with his friend Blackboard telling him to "Hurry up!".
The museum acquired the Norman Hetherington collection in 2024, including more than 800 objects, such as scripts, props and production notes.
About 300 of those are going on show at the museum in Canberra and, don't worry, Mr Squiggle's friends Blackboard, Rocket, Bill the Steam Shovel and Gus the Snail will be on display too.
Visitors can also try an interactive squiggle drawing exercise, so those who grew up in the post-Squiggle television era can see what drawing one is like.
Norman Hetherington's daughter Rebecca presented Mr Squiggle and Friends as "Miss Rebecca" during its final decade.
She worked with the museum for years to help curate the collection that showcases her father's life's work.
Hearing from the public over the years since the show finished has made her realise the special place Mr Squiggle has in people's hearts.
"It was meaningful, and people really treasure it, which is lovely," she said.
The first inkling of the television show came from the quick sketches her father would do - upside down - as part of an entertainment act while he was in the army in the 1940s.
Later, he joined the ABC TV Training School, with his early puppets Nicky and Noodle appearing on the first night of ABC television on November 5, 1956.
Mr Squiggle touched generations of television audiences, said museum deputy director Sophie Jensen.
"You should see the level of interest, interaction, warmth, memory, and humour that we get every time we talk about this collection," Dr Jensen said.
As part of the exhibition, the National Museum is re-publishing some vintage Mr Squiggle books: Mr Squiggle and the Preposterous Purple Crocodile, and a set of three colouring books.
Mr Squiggle and Friends: The Creative World of Norman Hetherington opens on Friday at the National Museum in Canberra and runs until October 13 before touring nationally.
One of Australia's most beloved television characters, the pencil-nosed blue-haired puppet Mr Squiggle, is being celebrated with an exhibition at the National Museum.
Mr Squiggle and Friends was the life's work of multi-talented puppeteer Norman Hetherington and was on television for four decades, with the program's final episode airing on July 9, 1999.
As the voice and operator of the Mr Squiggle puppet, he completed more than 10,000 drawings during that time - many of them upside down, and with his friend Blackboard telling him to "Hurry up!".
The museum acquired the Norman Hetherington collection in 2024, including more than 800 objects, such as scripts, props and production notes.
About 300 of those are going on show at the museum in Canberra and, don't worry, Mr Squiggle's friends Blackboard, Rocket, Bill the Steam Shovel and Gus the Snail will be on display too.
Visitors can also try an interactive squiggle drawing exercise, so those who grew up in the post-Squiggle television era can see what drawing one is like.
Norman Hetherington's daughter Rebecca presented Mr Squiggle and Friends as "Miss Rebecca" during its final decade.
She worked with the museum for years to help curate the collection that showcases her father's life's work.
Hearing from the public over the years since the show finished has made her realise the special place Mr Squiggle has in people's hearts.
"It was meaningful, and people really treasure it, which is lovely," she said.
The first inkling of the television show came from the quick sketches her father would do - upside down - as part of an entertainment act while he was in the army in the 1940s.
Later, he joined the ABC TV Training School, with his early puppets Nicky and Noodle appearing on the first night of ABC television on November 5, 1956.
Mr Squiggle touched generations of television audiences, said museum deputy director Sophie Jensen.
"You should see the level of interest, interaction, warmth, memory, and humour that we get every time we talk about this collection," Dr Jensen said.
As part of the exhibition, the National Museum is re-publishing some vintage Mr Squiggle books: Mr Squiggle and the Preposterous Purple Crocodile, and a set of three colouring books.
Mr Squiggle and Friends: The Creative World of Norman Hetherington opens on Friday at the National Museum in Canberra and runs until October 13 before touring nationally.
One of Australia's most beloved television characters, the pencil-nosed blue-haired puppet Mr Squiggle, is being celebrated with an exhibition at the National Museum.
Mr Squiggle and Friends was the life's work of multi-talented puppeteer Norman Hetherington and was on television for four decades, with the program's final episode airing on July 9, 1999.
As the voice and operator of the Mr Squiggle puppet, he completed more than 10,000 drawings during that time - many of them upside down, and with his friend Blackboard telling him to "Hurry up!".
The museum acquired the Norman Hetherington collection in 2024, including more than 800 objects, such as scripts, props and production notes.
About 300 of those are going on show at the museum in Canberra and, don't worry, Mr Squiggle's friends Blackboard, Rocket, Bill the Steam Shovel and Gus the Snail will be on display too.
Visitors can also try an interactive squiggle drawing exercise, so those who grew up in the post-Squiggle television era can see what drawing one is like.
Norman Hetherington's daughter Rebecca presented Mr Squiggle and Friends as "Miss Rebecca" during its final decade.
She worked with the museum for years to help curate the collection that showcases her father's life's work.
Hearing from the public over the years since the show finished has made her realise the special place Mr Squiggle has in people's hearts.
"It was meaningful, and people really treasure it, which is lovely," she said.
The first inkling of the television show came from the quick sketches her father would do - upside down - as part of an entertainment act while he was in the army in the 1940s.
Later, he joined the ABC TV Training School, with his early puppets Nicky and Noodle appearing on the first night of ABC television on November 5, 1956.
Mr Squiggle touched generations of television audiences, said museum deputy director Sophie Jensen.
"You should see the level of interest, interaction, warmth, memory, and humour that we get every time we talk about this collection," Dr Jensen said.
As part of the exhibition, the National Museum is re-publishing some vintage Mr Squiggle books: Mr Squiggle and the Preposterous Purple Crocodile, and a set of three colouring books.
Mr Squiggle and Friends: The Creative World of Norman Hetherington opens on Friday at the National Museum in Canberra and runs until October 13 before touring nationally.
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He was the pencil-nosed puppet who ruled kids prime-time telly
It's only when you start describing some of the shows you grew up with that you realise how surreal they all sound. And isn't this what makes them great? A puppet with a pencil for a nose, who lives on the moon and comes down every afternoon in a creaky, patched-up rocket to draw pictures? A family of blue heelers living an ordinary suburban existence in Brisbane? A pair of walking, talking bananas, wearing, yes, pyjamas? A dad and his three kids living in a lighthouse and having supernatural adventures most weeks of the year? A young boy and his trusty pet kangaroo? The list goes on. And they all, in their own ways, hit the spot of comfort and safety. That warm embrace we all felt, at some stage in our early lives, of afternoon telly - after school, before the news, snack in hand and little else to distract us. It's no surprise that a major new exhibition at the National Museum of Australia focused on Mr Squiggle, the aforementioned pencil-nosed puppet, is set to be a crowd-pleaser. Think of all of the adults mired in the highs and lows of parenting. Why, we wonder, can't our kids just be happy with something as simple, innocent and ingenious as Mr Squiggle? Created in the earliest days of Australian television by a young cartoonist named Norman Hetherington, Mr Squiggle had a basic premise that would remain the same for the next 40 years. Children would write in with a "squiggle", and Mr Squiggle - a marionette operated from above by Hetherington himself - would turn them into recognisable drawings with his pencil nose. Quite often, the picture would be upside down, and Mr Squiggle would ask his human companion to flip it the right way, revealing the picture. Viewers can date themselves by the companion they most remember - Miss Gina, then Miss Pat, then Miss Sue, then Miss Jane (my era for sure) then, after they dropped the "miss", Roxanne and finally, Rebecca Hetherington, Norman's daughter. It's Rebecca who's behind the show; she had the solemn task, after Hetherington died aged 89 in 2010, of deciding what to do with his vast collection of work. In his home studio, which remained intact, he had kept every drawing, sketch, script, letter and puppet he'd ever been involved in, as well as stage designs, set decorations and costumes. "Years ago, when dad was still alive, I didn't really think that anyone would be necessarily interested in them," she says. "So I actually thought, oh, it's going to be me and a storage unit for the rest of forever." But with both her parents gone, and with no rush to pack up the family home, she had the luxury of time to consider the collection, and ensure it remained intact. "I could unpack it in my head, and I started talking to different institutions, just to find out what the process was," she says. "But obviously no one, except for the museum, could really look at the whole collection. "He really kept all his creative output. It really told such a great story that it was a shame to break it up." Last year, the museum took into its collection more than 800 objects from the Hetherington archive, one of its most significant acquisitions. The exhibition takes in Hetherington's life and career, which intersected with several historical touchpoints in Australia, and includes about 300 items on display. But there's no question that the main event is the quaint little fellow in stripey tights and a calico smock. Displayed in a glass case alongside his co-stars the grumpy Blackboard and his trusty little rocket, Mr Squiggle (there was only ever one version of the puppet) will be getting a hero's welcome every day of the week, as people make a beeline for him. Sophie Jensen, the National Museum of Australia's deputy director and chief curator, well remembers the first time she encountered Mr Squiggle in the flesh, so to speak. It was several years ago, as part of the years-long conversation between Rebecca Hetherington and the museum, that Jensen finally visited the studio. It was an eerie wonderland, filled with drawings and tools and fabric. Puppets hung from the ceiling, many covered in cloth to protect them. "Rebecca inevitably said, 'Do you want to see Mr. Squiggle? And in my heart, I was thinking, I'm really just more excited to see Blackboard, because I love Blackboard," she says. It's worth noting that Jensen is one of the most senior figures in her trade - a museum curator with decades of experience. She's also a grown adult with the fondest possible memories of Miss Jane and Bill Steamshovel, and the rest of the gang. This was the ultimate celebrity experience. "Rebecca hung him on the stand, and she pulled up his calico. And, you think, 'Oh, my goodness, that's Mr. Squiggle, that's amazing'. "But it wasn't. It was just this puppet," she says. "And then Rebecca just tweaked one little thread, and he moved his head. And literally, my heart stopped ... it was him, come to life." The show is about the life and work of Norman Hetherington, but it's also a masterclass in history, good fortune, Australia's creative landscape, and the joys of just giving it a go. Born and bred in Sydney, Hetherington enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1942 and was quickly identified as someone with a gift for entertaining. He was then transferred to the 2nd Division Concert Party - which was later known as no. 4 Detachment, 1st Australian Army Entertainment Unit - when his lightning sketch and performing abilities were recognised. He served with the First Australian Army Entertainment Unit throughout the war, performing shows, capturing scenes in watercolours, and making quick sketches of his fellow officers, to great effect. "It's a really important part of military life, the morale of the troops," Jensen says. "They [the entertainment unit] were there to ensure that people were entertained, that there was a warmth and humanity, in fact, to their military experience." Rebecca says her father was diffident about his experience - he had a "good war", through sheer good fortune, but still saw things he wouldn't talk about until many years later. He also lived through the Depression, which taught him resilience, and gave him a creative outlook when it came to making do. After the war, he discovered the art of puppetry and became involved in the dawn of television. "His lifespan constantly intersected with some very interesting times," Rebecca says. "I also say about him that it's all very well having good fortune, but if you don't meet it with hard work and perseverance, it's wasted." She remembers her father constantly working. Mr Squiggle was a family affair; he created the puppets and performed all the voices, his wife Margaret wrote the scripts, and Rebecca was his final onscreen companion. But he always had multiple projects on the go - books, new characters and public campaigns. "He never stopped thinking about what he could do to entertain people. He was wildly imaginative but always with a great sense of purpose and direction," she says. Jensen, who has led a large team of conservators in bringing together the visual narrative of an extraordinary life, says Norman Hetherington was "utterly, relentlessly creative". "I still get amazed when I think that he sold his first cartoon to the Bulletin at 16," she says. "He was, even at that stage, really quite a creative talent in terms of his ability to be able to think, 'I want to be a cartoonist. That's my dream', and he was actively working in that space. "So the collection has to trace his whole creative arc, and it creates, at that same time, an arc of the Australian creative industries." It is, she says, an exhibition for the many adults who grew up in simpler times, when a puppet with a pencil for a nose was considered entertainment royalty. And it's a chance for the children of today to rediscover him, and try their hand at the art of the squiggle. Rebecca says her father would be amazed, and bewildered, by the exhibition - its scope, and innovation, and especially the interactive drawing wall where visitors can make their own squiggle, projected onto a massive screen. "He would just be shaking his head and looking around and loving it," she says. "That is one thing I'm sorry that he hasn't had the enjoyment of, meeting and working with people like Sophie and the conservators ... he would be really interested in their expertise." Most of all, she says, he'd want people to understand that his whole life and career had been about giving things a go and having fun. "When you say it's about Norman Hetherington, yes, it is. But I really hope that people walk out with a sense of, you can really do anything you want. "Why not be a cartoonist? Why not pick up and start drawing? Why not take up that watercolour class I was thinking about doing? "What's holding me back?" It's only when you start describing some of the shows you grew up with that you realise how surreal they all sound. And isn't this what makes them great? A puppet with a pencil for a nose, who lives on the moon and comes down every afternoon in a creaky, patched-up rocket to draw pictures? A family of blue heelers living an ordinary suburban existence in Brisbane? A pair of walking, talking bananas, wearing, yes, pyjamas? A dad and his three kids living in a lighthouse and having supernatural adventures most weeks of the year? A young boy and his trusty pet kangaroo? The list goes on. And they all, in their own ways, hit the spot of comfort and safety. That warm embrace we all felt, at some stage in our early lives, of afternoon telly - after school, before the news, snack in hand and little else to distract us. It's no surprise that a major new exhibition at the National Museum of Australia focused on Mr Squiggle, the aforementioned pencil-nosed puppet, is set to be a crowd-pleaser. Think of all of the adults mired in the highs and lows of parenting. Why, we wonder, can't our kids just be happy with something as simple, innocent and ingenious as Mr Squiggle? Created in the earliest days of Australian television by a young cartoonist named Norman Hetherington, Mr Squiggle had a basic premise that would remain the same for the next 40 years. Children would write in with a "squiggle", and Mr Squiggle - a marionette operated from above by Hetherington himself - would turn them into recognisable drawings with his pencil nose. Quite often, the picture would be upside down, and Mr Squiggle would ask his human companion to flip it the right way, revealing the picture. Viewers can date themselves by the companion they most remember - Miss Gina, then Miss Pat, then Miss Sue, then Miss Jane (my era for sure) then, after they dropped the "miss", Roxanne and finally, Rebecca Hetherington, Norman's daughter. It's Rebecca who's behind the show; she had the solemn task, after Hetherington died aged 89 in 2010, of deciding what to do with his vast collection of work. In his home studio, which remained intact, he had kept every drawing, sketch, script, letter and puppet he'd ever been involved in, as well as stage designs, set decorations and costumes. "Years ago, when dad was still alive, I didn't really think that anyone would be necessarily interested in them," she says. "So I actually thought, oh, it's going to be me and a storage unit for the rest of forever." But with both her parents gone, and with no rush to pack up the family home, she had the luxury of time to consider the collection, and ensure it remained intact. "I could unpack it in my head, and I started talking to different institutions, just to find out what the process was," she says. "But obviously no one, except for the museum, could really look at the whole collection. "He really kept all his creative output. It really told such a great story that it was a shame to break it up." Last year, the museum took into its collection more than 800 objects from the Hetherington archive, one of its most significant acquisitions. The exhibition takes in Hetherington's life and career, which intersected with several historical touchpoints in Australia, and includes about 300 items on display. But there's no question that the main event is the quaint little fellow in stripey tights and a calico smock. Displayed in a glass case alongside his co-stars the grumpy Blackboard and his trusty little rocket, Mr Squiggle (there was only ever one version of the puppet) will be getting a hero's welcome every day of the week, as people make a beeline for him. Sophie Jensen, the National Museum of Australia's deputy director and chief curator, well remembers the first time she encountered Mr Squiggle in the flesh, so to speak. It was several years ago, as part of the years-long conversation between Rebecca Hetherington and the museum, that Jensen finally visited the studio. It was an eerie wonderland, filled with drawings and tools and fabric. Puppets hung from the ceiling, many covered in cloth to protect them. "Rebecca inevitably said, 'Do you want to see Mr. Squiggle? And in my heart, I was thinking, I'm really just more excited to see Blackboard, because I love Blackboard," she says. It's worth noting that Jensen is one of the most senior figures in her trade - a museum curator with decades of experience. She's also a grown adult with the fondest possible memories of Miss Jane and Bill Steamshovel, and the rest of the gang. This was the ultimate celebrity experience. "Rebecca hung him on the stand, and she pulled up his calico. And, you think, 'Oh, my goodness, that's Mr. Squiggle, that's amazing'. "But it wasn't. It was just this puppet," she says. "And then Rebecca just tweaked one little thread, and he moved his head. And literally, my heart stopped ... it was him, come to life." The show is about the life and work of Norman Hetherington, but it's also a masterclass in history, good fortune, Australia's creative landscape, and the joys of just giving it a go. Born and bred in Sydney, Hetherington enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1942 and was quickly identified as someone with a gift for entertaining. He was then transferred to the 2nd Division Concert Party - which was later known as no. 4 Detachment, 1st Australian Army Entertainment Unit - when his lightning sketch and performing abilities were recognised. He served with the First Australian Army Entertainment Unit throughout the war, performing shows, capturing scenes in watercolours, and making quick sketches of his fellow officers, to great effect. "It's a really important part of military life, the morale of the troops," Jensen says. "They [the entertainment unit] were there to ensure that people were entertained, that there was a warmth and humanity, in fact, to their military experience." Rebecca says her father was diffident about his experience - he had a "good war", through sheer good fortune, but still saw things he wouldn't talk about until many years later. He also lived through the Depression, which taught him resilience, and gave him a creative outlook when it came to making do. After the war, he discovered the art of puppetry and became involved in the dawn of television. "His lifespan constantly intersected with some very interesting times," Rebecca says. "I also say about him that it's all very well having good fortune, but if you don't meet it with hard work and perseverance, it's wasted." She remembers her father constantly working. Mr Squiggle was a family affair; he created the puppets and performed all the voices, his wife Margaret wrote the scripts, and Rebecca was his final onscreen companion. But he always had multiple projects on the go - books, new characters and public campaigns. "He never stopped thinking about what he could do to entertain people. He was wildly imaginative but always with a great sense of purpose and direction," she says. Jensen, who has led a large team of conservators in bringing together the visual narrative of an extraordinary life, says Norman Hetherington was "utterly, relentlessly creative". "I still get amazed when I think that he sold his first cartoon to the Bulletin at 16," she says. "He was, even at that stage, really quite a creative talent in terms of his ability to be able to think, 'I want to be a cartoonist. That's my dream', and he was actively working in that space. "So the collection has to trace his whole creative arc, and it creates, at that same time, an arc of the Australian creative industries." It is, she says, an exhibition for the many adults who grew up in simpler times, when a puppet with a pencil for a nose was considered entertainment royalty. And it's a chance for the children of today to rediscover him, and try their hand at the art of the squiggle. Rebecca says her father would be amazed, and bewildered, by the exhibition - its scope, and innovation, and especially the interactive drawing wall where visitors can make their own squiggle, projected onto a massive screen. "He would just be shaking his head and looking around and loving it," she says. "That is one thing I'm sorry that he hasn't had the enjoyment of, meeting and working with people like Sophie and the conservators ... he would be really interested in their expertise." Most of all, she says, he'd want people to understand that his whole life and career had been about giving things a go and having fun. "When you say it's about Norman Hetherington, yes, it is. But I really hope that people walk out with a sense of, you can really do anything you want. "Why not be a cartoonist? Why not pick up and start drawing? Why not take up that watercolour class I was thinking about doing? "What's holding me back?" It's only when you start describing some of the shows you grew up with that you realise how surreal they all sound. And isn't this what makes them great? A puppet with a pencil for a nose, who lives on the moon and comes down every afternoon in a creaky, patched-up rocket to draw pictures? A family of blue heelers living an ordinary suburban existence in Brisbane? A pair of walking, talking bananas, wearing, yes, pyjamas? A dad and his three kids living in a lighthouse and having supernatural adventures most weeks of the year? A young boy and his trusty pet kangaroo? The list goes on. And they all, in their own ways, hit the spot of comfort and safety. That warm embrace we all felt, at some stage in our early lives, of afternoon telly - after school, before the news, snack in hand and little else to distract us. It's no surprise that a major new exhibition at the National Museum of Australia focused on Mr Squiggle, the aforementioned pencil-nosed puppet, is set to be a crowd-pleaser. Think of all of the adults mired in the highs and lows of parenting. Why, we wonder, can't our kids just be happy with something as simple, innocent and ingenious as Mr Squiggle? Created in the earliest days of Australian television by a young cartoonist named Norman Hetherington, Mr Squiggle had a basic premise that would remain the same for the next 40 years. Children would write in with a "squiggle", and Mr Squiggle - a marionette operated from above by Hetherington himself - would turn them into recognisable drawings with his pencil nose. Quite often, the picture would be upside down, and Mr Squiggle would ask his human companion to flip it the right way, revealing the picture. Viewers can date themselves by the companion they most remember - Miss Gina, then Miss Pat, then Miss Sue, then Miss Jane (my era for sure) then, after they dropped the "miss", Roxanne and finally, Rebecca Hetherington, Norman's daughter. It's Rebecca who's behind the show; she had the solemn task, after Hetherington died aged 89 in 2010, of deciding what to do with his vast collection of work. In his home studio, which remained intact, he had kept every drawing, sketch, script, letter and puppet he'd ever been involved in, as well as stage designs, set decorations and costumes. "Years ago, when dad was still alive, I didn't really think that anyone would be necessarily interested in them," she says. "So I actually thought, oh, it's going to be me and a storage unit for the rest of forever." But with both her parents gone, and with no rush to pack up the family home, she had the luxury of time to consider the collection, and ensure it remained intact. "I could unpack it in my head, and I started talking to different institutions, just to find out what the process was," she says. "But obviously no one, except for the museum, could really look at the whole collection. "He really kept all his creative output. It really told such a great story that it was a shame to break it up." Last year, the museum took into its collection more than 800 objects from the Hetherington archive, one of its most significant acquisitions. The exhibition takes in Hetherington's life and career, which intersected with several historical touchpoints in Australia, and includes about 300 items on display. But there's no question that the main event is the quaint little fellow in stripey tights and a calico smock. Displayed in a glass case alongside his co-stars the grumpy Blackboard and his trusty little rocket, Mr Squiggle (there was only ever one version of the puppet) will be getting a hero's welcome every day of the week, as people make a beeline for him. Sophie Jensen, the National Museum of Australia's deputy director and chief curator, well remembers the first time she encountered Mr Squiggle in the flesh, so to speak. It was several years ago, as part of the years-long conversation between Rebecca Hetherington and the museum, that Jensen finally visited the studio. It was an eerie wonderland, filled with drawings and tools and fabric. Puppets hung from the ceiling, many covered in cloth to protect them. "Rebecca inevitably said, 'Do you want to see Mr. Squiggle? And in my heart, I was thinking, I'm really just more excited to see Blackboard, because I love Blackboard," she says. It's worth noting that Jensen is one of the most senior figures in her trade - a museum curator with decades of experience. She's also a grown adult with the fondest possible memories of Miss Jane and Bill Steamshovel, and the rest of the gang. This was the ultimate celebrity experience. "Rebecca hung him on the stand, and she pulled up his calico. And, you think, 'Oh, my goodness, that's Mr. Squiggle, that's amazing'. "But it wasn't. It was just this puppet," she says. "And then Rebecca just tweaked one little thread, and he moved his head. And literally, my heart stopped ... it was him, come to life." The show is about the life and work of Norman Hetherington, but it's also a masterclass in history, good fortune, Australia's creative landscape, and the joys of just giving it a go. Born and bred in Sydney, Hetherington enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1942 and was quickly identified as someone with a gift for entertaining. He was then transferred to the 2nd Division Concert Party - which was later known as no. 4 Detachment, 1st Australian Army Entertainment Unit - when his lightning sketch and performing abilities were recognised. He served with the First Australian Army Entertainment Unit throughout the war, performing shows, capturing scenes in watercolours, and making quick sketches of his fellow officers, to great effect. "It's a really important part of military life, the morale of the troops," Jensen says. "They [the entertainment unit] were there to ensure that people were entertained, that there was a warmth and humanity, in fact, to their military experience." Rebecca says her father was diffident about his experience - he had a "good war", through sheer good fortune, but still saw things he wouldn't talk about until many years later. He also lived through the Depression, which taught him resilience, and gave him a creative outlook when it came to making do. After the war, he discovered the art of puppetry and became involved in the dawn of television. "His lifespan constantly intersected with some very interesting times," Rebecca says. "I also say about him that it's all very well having good fortune, but if you don't meet it with hard work and perseverance, it's wasted." She remembers her father constantly working. Mr Squiggle was a family affair; he created the puppets and performed all the voices, his wife Margaret wrote the scripts, and Rebecca was his final onscreen companion. But he always had multiple projects on the go - books, new characters and public campaigns. "He never stopped thinking about what he could do to entertain people. He was wildly imaginative but always with a great sense of purpose and direction," she says. Jensen, who has led a large team of conservators in bringing together the visual narrative of an extraordinary life, says Norman Hetherington was "utterly, relentlessly creative". "I still get amazed when I think that he sold his first cartoon to the Bulletin at 16," she says. "He was, even at that stage, really quite a creative talent in terms of his ability to be able to think, 'I want to be a cartoonist. That's my dream', and he was actively working in that space. "So the collection has to trace his whole creative arc, and it creates, at that same time, an arc of the Australian creative industries." It is, she says, an exhibition for the many adults who grew up in simpler times, when a puppet with a pencil for a nose was considered entertainment royalty. And it's a chance for the children of today to rediscover him, and try their hand at the art of the squiggle. Rebecca says her father would be amazed, and bewildered, by the exhibition - its scope, and innovation, and especially the interactive drawing wall where visitors can make their own squiggle, projected onto a massive screen. "He would just be shaking his head and looking around and loving it," she says. "That is one thing I'm sorry that he hasn't had the enjoyment of, meeting and working with people like Sophie and the conservators ... he would be really interested in their expertise." Most of all, she says, he'd want people to understand that his whole life and career had been about giving things a go and having fun. "When you say it's about Norman Hetherington, yes, it is. But I really hope that people walk out with a sense of, you can really do anything you want. "Why not be a cartoonist? Why not pick up and start drawing? Why not take up that watercolour class I was thinking about doing? "What's holding me back?" It's only when you start describing some of the shows you grew up with that you realise how surreal they all sound. And isn't this what makes them great? A puppet with a pencil for a nose, who lives on the moon and comes down every afternoon in a creaky, patched-up rocket to draw pictures? A family of blue heelers living an ordinary suburban existence in Brisbane? A pair of walking, talking bananas, wearing, yes, pyjamas? A dad and his three kids living in a lighthouse and having supernatural adventures most weeks of the year? A young boy and his trusty pet kangaroo? The list goes on. And they all, in their own ways, hit the spot of comfort and safety. That warm embrace we all felt, at some stage in our early lives, of afternoon telly - after school, before the news, snack in hand and little else to distract us. It's no surprise that a major new exhibition at the National Museum of Australia focused on Mr Squiggle, the aforementioned pencil-nosed puppet, is set to be a crowd-pleaser. Think of all of the adults mired in the highs and lows of parenting. Why, we wonder, can't our kids just be happy with something as simple, innocent and ingenious as Mr Squiggle? Created in the earliest days of Australian television by a young cartoonist named Norman Hetherington, Mr Squiggle had a basic premise that would remain the same for the next 40 years. Children would write in with a "squiggle", and Mr Squiggle - a marionette operated from above by Hetherington himself - would turn them into recognisable drawings with his pencil nose. Quite often, the picture would be upside down, and Mr Squiggle would ask his human companion to flip it the right way, revealing the picture. Viewers can date themselves by the companion they most remember - Miss Gina, then Miss Pat, then Miss Sue, then Miss Jane (my era for sure) then, after they dropped the "miss", Roxanne and finally, Rebecca Hetherington, Norman's daughter. It's Rebecca who's behind the show; she had the solemn task, after Hetherington died aged 89 in 2010, of deciding what to do with his vast collection of work. In his home studio, which remained intact, he had kept every drawing, sketch, script, letter and puppet he'd ever been involved in, as well as stage designs, set decorations and costumes. "Years ago, when dad was still alive, I didn't really think that anyone would be necessarily interested in them," she says. "So I actually thought, oh, it's going to be me and a storage unit for the rest of forever." But with both her parents gone, and with no rush to pack up the family home, she had the luxury of time to consider the collection, and ensure it remained intact. "I could unpack it in my head, and I started talking to different institutions, just to find out what the process was," she says. "But obviously no one, except for the museum, could really look at the whole collection. "He really kept all his creative output. It really told such a great story that it was a shame to break it up." Last year, the museum took into its collection more than 800 objects from the Hetherington archive, one of its most significant acquisitions. The exhibition takes in Hetherington's life and career, which intersected with several historical touchpoints in Australia, and includes about 300 items on display. But there's no question that the main event is the quaint little fellow in stripey tights and a calico smock. Displayed in a glass case alongside his co-stars the grumpy Blackboard and his trusty little rocket, Mr Squiggle (there was only ever one version of the puppet) will be getting a hero's welcome every day of the week, as people make a beeline for him. Sophie Jensen, the National Museum of Australia's deputy director and chief curator, well remembers the first time she encountered Mr Squiggle in the flesh, so to speak. It was several years ago, as part of the years-long conversation between Rebecca Hetherington and the museum, that Jensen finally visited the studio. It was an eerie wonderland, filled with drawings and tools and fabric. Puppets hung from the ceiling, many covered in cloth to protect them. "Rebecca inevitably said, 'Do you want to see Mr. Squiggle? And in my heart, I was thinking, I'm really just more excited to see Blackboard, because I love Blackboard," she says. It's worth noting that Jensen is one of the most senior figures in her trade - a museum curator with decades of experience. She's also a grown adult with the fondest possible memories of Miss Jane and Bill Steamshovel, and the rest of the gang. This was the ultimate celebrity experience. "Rebecca hung him on the stand, and she pulled up his calico. And, you think, 'Oh, my goodness, that's Mr. Squiggle, that's amazing'. "But it wasn't. It was just this puppet," she says. "And then Rebecca just tweaked one little thread, and he moved his head. And literally, my heart stopped ... it was him, come to life." The show is about the life and work of Norman Hetherington, but it's also a masterclass in history, good fortune, Australia's creative landscape, and the joys of just giving it a go. Born and bred in Sydney, Hetherington enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1942 and was quickly identified as someone with a gift for entertaining. He was then transferred to the 2nd Division Concert Party - which was later known as no. 4 Detachment, 1st Australian Army Entertainment Unit - when his lightning sketch and performing abilities were recognised. He served with the First Australian Army Entertainment Unit throughout the war, performing shows, capturing scenes in watercolours, and making quick sketches of his fellow officers, to great effect. "It's a really important part of military life, the morale of the troops," Jensen says. "They [the entertainment unit] were there to ensure that people were entertained, that there was a warmth and humanity, in fact, to their military experience." Rebecca says her father was diffident about his experience - he had a "good war", through sheer good fortune, but still saw things he wouldn't talk about until many years later. He also lived through the Depression, which taught him resilience, and gave him a creative outlook when it came to making do. After the war, he discovered the art of puppetry and became involved in the dawn of television. "His lifespan constantly intersected with some very interesting times," Rebecca says. "I also say about him that it's all very well having good fortune, but if you don't meet it with hard work and perseverance, it's wasted." She remembers her father constantly working. Mr Squiggle was a family affair; he created the puppets and performed all the voices, his wife Margaret wrote the scripts, and Rebecca was his final onscreen companion. But he always had multiple projects on the go - books, new characters and public campaigns. "He never stopped thinking about what he could do to entertain people. He was wildly imaginative but always with a great sense of purpose and direction," she says. Jensen, who has led a large team of conservators in bringing together the visual narrative of an extraordinary life, says Norman Hetherington was "utterly, relentlessly creative". "I still get amazed when I think that he sold his first cartoon to the Bulletin at 16," she says. "He was, even at that stage, really quite a creative talent in terms of his ability to be able to think, 'I want to be a cartoonist. That's my dream', and he was actively working in that space. "So the collection has to trace his whole creative arc, and it creates, at that same time, an arc of the Australian creative industries." It is, she says, an exhibition for the many adults who grew up in simpler times, when a puppet with a pencil for a nose was considered entertainment royalty. And it's a chance for the children of today to rediscover him, and try their hand at the art of the squiggle. Rebecca says her father would be amazed, and bewildered, by the exhibition - its scope, and innovation, and especially the interactive drawing wall where visitors can make their own squiggle, projected onto a massive screen. "He would just be shaking his head and looking around and loving it," she says. "That is one thing I'm sorry that he hasn't had the enjoyment of, meeting and working with people like Sophie and the conservators ... he would be really interested in their expertise." Most of all, she says, he'd want people to understand that his whole life and career had been about giving things a go and having fun. "When you say it's about Norman Hetherington, yes, it is. But I really hope that people walk out with a sense of, you can really do anything you want. "Why not be a cartoonist? Why not pick up and start drawing? Why not take up that watercolour class I was thinking about doing? "What's holding me back?"
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
ABC wins Best Young Journalist, Best Rural/Regional Journalist at SA Media Awards
4 July 2025 ABC journalist Eva Blandis was named Best Young Journalist, Bill Ormonde was named Best Rural/Regional Journalist and the ABC won eight awards overall at the 2025 South Australian Media Awards in Adelaide last night. Blandis received the Max Fatchen Award for Best Young Journalist for reporters aged 25 or under whose work displays creativity, research, technical skills, newsworthiness, writing flair and impact. The judges said: 'Eva's entry displayed the work of a journalist, mastering their craft, well beyond her years. 'The ability to gain trust of contacts, secure exclusive content, and give in depth analysis of highly complex and sensitive issues, required a mature approach, usually associated with experienced reporters.' ABC video journalist Bill Ormonde was named Best Rural/Regional Journalist for his body of work and also won Visual Storytelling for Out of the Darkness, an interactive online story exploring mental health in remote Australia. The judges said: "Bill's entry epitomises what a rural journalist should strive to achieve. "Shining a light on the mental health stigma, that burdens regional Australia, is vital. This body of work is a fine example of gaining trust, to tell brave and personal stories, respectfully. Coupled with stunning imagery, this makes for a captivating and compelling entry." Other ABC winners included Che Chorley, Lincoln Rothall and Daniel Keane in the Text Formats – News category for 'Surface Tension' and Briana Fiore in Radio/Audio Journalism – News Reporting for 'Losing Ashleigh – Asthma in SA'. Nicholas Maher won the Multimedia News or Feature category for 'International Law & Democracy Explained', Jack Evans won Culture and Arts Report for 'BTN High – Class of Cabaret' and Stephanie Richards won Social Equity Report for 'Uncovering SA's Baby Removal Practices'. ' Full list of ABC winners and finalists at the MEAA SA Media Awards: Max Fatchen Award for Best Young Journalist Eva Blandis, ABC, 'Body of Work' - WINNER Text Formats – News Isabella Carbone, Sophie Landau & Josephine Lim, ABC, 'Global Shortage of Saline Solution Affecting Australian Healthcare System' Text Formats – Feature Che Chorley, Lincoln Rothall & Daniel Keane, ABC, 'Surface Tension' - WINNER Che Chorley, Lincoln Rothall & Daniel Keane, ABC, 'Surface Tension' - Bill Ormonde, ABC, 'Out of the Darkness' Television/Video Journalism – Feature Amelia Moseley, ABC, 'What to Do if You've Been Doxxed' Amelia Moseley, ABC, 'What to Do if You've Been Doxxed' James Wakelin, ABC, 'Snowtown Stories' Radio/Audio Journalism – News Reporting, Briana Fiore, ABC, 'Losing Ashleigh – Asthma in SA' - WINNER Briana Fiore, ABC, 'Losing Ashleigh – Asthma in SA' - Angus Randall, ABC, 'Community Grapples with Snowtown Accomplice Parole' Visual Storytelling Bill Ormonde, ABC, 'Out of the Darkness' - WINNER Bill Ormonde, ABC, 'Out of the Darkness' - Lincoln Rothall, Che Chorley, Jody Kestle & Michael Clements, ABC, 'Protecting a Predator' Multimedia News or Feature Briana Fiore, ABC, 'Ex-Brethrens on Breaking Free' Briana Fiore, ABC, 'Ex-Brethrens on Breaking Free' Nicholas Maher, ABC, 'International Law & Democracy Explained' - WINNER Nicholas Maher, ABC, 'International Law & Democracy Explained' - Bill Ormonde, ABC, 'Broken Hill High School Mould Outbreak' Best Rural/Regional Journalist Eugene Boisvert, ABC, 'South East SA Stories' Eugene Boisvert, ABC, 'South East SA Stories' Bill Ormonde, ABC, 'Body of Work' - WINNER Bill Ormonde, ABC, 'Body of Work' - Amelia Walters, ABC, 'A Voice for Victims, Placement Poverty Burning Out Medical Students and Love that Defied the Odds' Business, Economics or Finance Report ABC News South Australia, ABC, 'Whyalla Woes' Culture and Arts Report Jack Evans, ABC, 'BTN High – Class of Cabaret' - WINNER Jack Evans, ABC, 'BTN High – Class of Cabaret' - Sarah McLean, ABC, 'South Korean Recluses' Political Report Stephanie Richards, ABC, 'One of 'Fewer than Five'' Social Equity Report Cale Matthews, ABC, 'South Australia's Accessibility Problem' Cale Matthews, ABC, 'South Australia's Accessibility Problem' Stephanie Richards, ABC, 'Uncovering SA's Baby Removal Practices' - WINNER Sports Report Eugene Boisvert, ABC, 'Inclusive Sport in South East' Eugene Boisvert, ABC, 'Inclusive Sport in South East' Neil Cross, ABC, 'In the Pool, in the Game, in the Saddle'
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Why Andy Lee's Do Not Watch This Show is his biggest creative challenge yet
Andy Lee is no stranger to the media sphere, with top-rating projects across TV, radio, podcasting and writing. But when it came to turning his best-selling kids' book into a TV show for the ABC, it was a process unlike anything he had experienced. So, what made it so challenging? "Long, it's so long [to make]!" Lee said, laughing. "I went into a sound booth some time in March last year and, finally, people can see what happened with it when [the show airs] in July this year. "To give you perspective, the first book took 40 minutes [to write] on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne. "[The show] has been quite the process, but I've loved it, I've absolutely loved it." For anyone new to the Do Not Open This Book series, Lee wrote and released the first book for his nephew, George, as a birthday present in 2016. He's since written 10 more, with the next book set to be released before the end of the year. The TV adaptation, Do Not Watch This Show, sees the book's main character, a blue monster named Wizz (voiced by Lee), brought to life. He takes viewers on fantastical journeys with life lessons along the way, all while imploring them not to watch any further. With him on screen are his friends Douglas (also voiced by Lee), Tortoise (Denise Scott), Lime (Joel Creasey), Kiwi (Kura Forrester) and Goblin (Dave Hughes). As well as the main cast, expect cameos from other notable Aussie voices, including: "David Hughes being Goblin I find the most fun because I think Hughesy's natural voice does sound like a goblin," Lee joked. "It was funny when he came in to do it, he was like 'So mate what voice do you want?' and I was like 'Oh man, I want your voice. You know, I didn't hire you because you're an amazing character actor — all due respect — I want Hughesy'. "I love the idea of this show [going] international, that Hughesy will be the voice of the goblin next door that's constantly feuding with Wizz." Lee said part of the extra time it took to make the show was crafting hand-drawn expressions or movements for the characters. While the animation used 3D technology to produce Wizz and friends' basic movements, any adjustments Lee or the team wanted were made by hand by illustrator Heath McKenzie. "The amount of drawings has been quite incredible," Lee said. "To give you an idea of just Wizz's expressions, I think we ended up with 60 mouth shapes." Retaining creative control was a priority for Lee, and was part of the reason talks with a Hollywood studio for the show didn't come to fruition. But Lee himself says being so deeply involved in the show's creation was both a blessing and a curse. "The strange thing about making an animation versus a live action is we used to go out and film something and we'd get back into the edit and I'd go 'Oh do we have a shot of that? Oh no, we don't, OK well that's all it is,'" he said. "Now I sit in the edit and go '[It] would've been good if he kind of fell from the ceiling here' and the editor goes 'OK, well let's just draw that in.' "The problem is it's endless, you could keep changing things. "That was my big learning: 'OK, there has to be a point where you can't creatively keep changing it because otherwise this thing will never get finished.'" Given the effort it's taken to bring Wizz to life on the screen, is Lee nervous about sharing the show with the world? "Not until you said that," he joked. "No, not really. I suppose I've had the benefit of making them and you watch them back and ... watch every frame and ponder it. While Lee says he's not nervous for the show's release, he admits his measure of success has "never been a numbers" game. "As I get slightly older — gosh that's an old person thing to say — it's certainly more about how much fun you have," he said. "It's so hard when you release something, you never know how it's going to go and there's so many things that can dictate how something resonates. "It's important not to hang too much on the results because that would be a pretty nerve-wracking game." Stream Do Not Watch This Show free on ABC iview.
