Australian Story (1996)

Season 19: Episode 27

This week we meet an 'ageing' activist who admits he's spent close to fifty years tilting at windmills without a lot to show for it... until now. Drew Hutton seems as surprised as anyone that nearing seventy, he masterminded 'Lock the Gate' a big and effective people power campaign against coal seam gas. And he's done it by uniting former sworn enemies – the farmers and the greens. He's also mobilised the support of his old school teacher, influential 'shock jock' Alan Jones. But as we reveal, this late life 'success' has come at a high cost to his health and his personal life.