Les Hiddins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Les Hiddins, aka "The Bush Tucker Man", is a retired Australian Army Major, who had a hit TV series in Australia.
As a young private with the Australian Army, Les served in Vietnam. He did two tours of duty between 1966 and 1969, the first as a forward scout in the infantry. In 1980 he was awarded a Defence Fellowship to research survival in northern Australia. He was the principal author of the Australian Army's Combat Survival manual (1987) and was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (AM) in 1987.
This research turned into a hit TV series The Bush Tucker Man. The series involves Les driving around in a Land Rover County with his trademark hat, finding and describing native Australian bush food or "Bush Tucker". Les appeared in two ABC TV series of Bush Tucker Man, and the series Bush Tucker Man - Stories of Survival. He also appeared in the TV documentaries Pandora - in the Wake of the Bounty and The Batavia. His other publications are Bush Tucker Man - Stories of Exploration and Survival (1996), Bush Tucker Man - Tarnished Heroes (1998), and two CD-ROMs, From the Rainforest to Cape York and From Arnhem Land to the Kimberley Ranges.
Les retired from the Army in 1989 with the rank of major but continues to serve with the Army Reserve, working with Indigenous Australian communities in northern Australia.
In recent times Les has been at the forefront of making an area available for Vietnam Veterans as a retreat. "Pandanus Park" is an 800 km² parcel of Normanby River frontage on "Kalpowar", a disused cattle station in Cooktown shire adjoining Lakefield National Park.
