Yarns of Billy Borker, The – Nostalgia Central

1 9 6 4 – 1 9 6 5 (Australia)
20 x 10 minute episodes

Written by prominent communist author and social realist playwright Frank Hardy, The Yarns of Billy Borker starred Australian actor Peter Carver as the titular character, who was always ready to spin a humorous tall tale or racetrack anecdote in exchange for a free beer. Clive Morton co-starred as his fellow drinker.

Filmed in Perth, Western Australia, the ABC TV series captured the atmosphere of traditional working-class Australian pubs as Billy Borker spun his yarns about seamen, wharfies, taxi drivers, racecourse tipsters, bagmen, compo doctors, and men with acid stomachs . . .

Stories included ‘The Only Fair Dinkum Raffle Ever Run in Australia’, ‘The Greatest Slander in the History of the Racing Game’, ‘How Sam Loxton was Trapped at Square Leg’, ‘The Sundowner who Paid his Fair out of Wagga Wagga’, ‘The Taxi Driver who Sat on the Central Bank for Three Days and Nights’, ‘A Shaggy Billliard Table Story’, ‘There’s No Certainty in Racing’, ‘Painists are Made Not Born’, ‘How the Ragged Duke Bagged The Ashes’ and ‘The Hunger for Knowledge is a Powerful Thing’.

The show divided viewers. While it successfully celebrated traditional Australian slang, folklore, and “larrikin” humour, some critics dismissed the televised tall tales as basic, low-budget, or “embarrassingly bad” compared to authentic pub banter.

Following the production of the TV series, Hardy published a collection of the stories in a 1965 book titled The Yarns of Billy Borker. He followed it with a 1967 sequel, Billy Borker Yarns Again.

Billy Borker
Peter Carver
Drinker
Clive Morton