Don Burke
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Don Burke (born July 16, 1947) is an Australian television personality and author. He is best known as the long time host of Burke's Backyard, a lifestyle program which ran for 17 years from 1987 to its axing in late 2004 on the Nine Network.
Burke was a pioneer in lifestyle TV shows, breaking new ground on Australian TV, with his show paving the way for numerous other shows such as Our House and Getaway. His television shows have launched or furthered the on-air careers of a number of Australian media personalities including Harry Cooper, Dr Rob Zammitt and Jamie Durie. They have also brought him criticism: his ventures into the hobbies of animal fancy with his "road tests" of varying breeds, have been seen as inadequately researched and outside of his area of expertise. Despite his evident interest in dogs and dog breeding and his connections to the Australian National Kennel Council, Burke is often derided in the field, particularly for his stand on the so-called designer dog. Don Burke has a reputation for being cantankerous and litigious; an incident in a restaurant in 2005 made headline news for several days.
In 2004, Business Review Weekly listed Burke amongst its top 50 entertainers list, saying he had earned 8.5 million Australian dollars in 2003.
Burke is a former board member of Landcare Australia Limited and has been active in a number of other community and environment-related roles. He has been an outspoken critic of environmental advocacy groups. In July 2005, Burke became the Chair of the Australian Environment Foundation, a group established in opposition to the broader environmental movement, with links to the Institute for Public Affairs, a conservative thinktank.
Burke recently made a guest appearance on the Australian sketch show Thank God You're Here using his well known segment of celebrity gardens as a skit situation.
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