I think I figured it out. We can't find any records of Back of Bourke because maybe it never existed... at least not in the way we remember it. My dad used to tell me about this show when I was a kid. He swore it aired on ABC in the mid-60s. But when I asked him about it recently, he says it was definitely Channel 9 in the 70s. When I pointed out the contradiction, he got really confused and now he's not sure he ever watched it at all. Here's what I've found trying to research this: 1. No network has any record of broadcasting it 2. No one can agree what decade it's from 3. Everyone remembers different episodes 4. The only consistent detail is the sundial 5. But even that changes in people's memories The weirdest part? The more I try to write down what I remember about the show, the more my own memories seem to shift.

It definitely existed. I watched it every week with my family. Black and white, must've been early 60s. EDIT: Just asked my sister and she says we watched it in color in 1978. But that's impossible because I was overseas then. EDIT 2: Now I'm not sure. The memories feel real but they don't make sense.

I work in television archives and this has been driving me crazy. There's no paperwork, no production stills, no broadcast logs. Nothing. But here's what's really strange - I've talked to dozens of people who remember watching it, and they all describe completely different shows: - 60s vs. 70s vs. early 80s - ABC vs. Nine Network vs. regional stations - B&W vs. colour vs. "both somehow" The only consistent elements are: 1. The name "Back of Bourke" 2. The host always opened the episode with a monologue trying to get out of the town. 3. He was always stopped some way at the end 4. Everyone says it was really important somehow. 5. The Twilight Zone/Anthology Format

I grew up in Bourke. There was never any TV show filmed here. But... I remember watching it. How is that possible? The statue everyone talks about - I know exactly where it's supposed to be. But when you go there, there's nothing. Never has been. Yet I remember seeing it every day walking to school. Sometimes I think we're all remembering something that happened in a different... Never mind. This sounds crazy.

Has anyone else noticed that when you try to describe an episode to someone, the details change while you're talking? Like, I'll start telling someone about the painting gallery episode, but halfway through it becomes the clock tower episode, but by the end I'm describing something completely different? And yet it all feels TRUE while I'm remembering it?

I've been researching Australian television for 30 years. I can state with absolute certainty that this show never existed. And yet... I have detailed notes about it in my research journals. Notes I apparently wrote myself, but don't remember writing. The pages are dated 1985, 1972, and 1968 - simultaneously. The more I try to analyze this logically, the less sense it makes.

T̷h̷e̶ ̵p̵o̷d̷c̷a̵s̶t̶ ̸e̷p̶i̸s̷o̵d̴e̴s̴ ̷k̸e̵e̷p̴ ̵c̶h̶a̵n̸g̷i̶n̶g̴

I̷ ̶l̵i̶s̶t̷e̶n̸e̷d̶ ̸t̷o̵ ̴t̴h̷e̸ ̵p̷o̴d̵c̶a̶s̵t̸ ̷y̶e̶s̶t̶e̶r̶d̶a̶y̴ ̴b̴u̵t̶ ̷i̷t̸ ̶h̶a̶s̶n̶'̶t̴ ̶b̶e̶e̶n̴ ̶r̶e̶c̶o̶r̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶y̶e̶t̴