28 Facts About Peter Cundall

Peter Cundall lived in Tasmania's Tamar Valley, and until 2008, at the age of 81, presented the ABC TV program Gardening Australia.

Peter Cundall's father was an alcoholic and battered his mother.

Peter Cundall was sent to a Catholic school, but never believed the dogma he was taught.

Peter Cundall left school at age 12 after only three years of formal education, but straight away had a love for knowledge, books and reading.

Peter Cundall worked as a milk boy and a tram conductor.

Peter Cundall was stationed in various countries in post-war Europe in France, Austria, Germany, Italy and Yugoslavia; and in the Middle East in Egypt and the British Mandate for Palestine.

Peter Cundall was stationed at a liberated concentration camp and said the things he saw and heard had a deep impact on him.

In 1946, Peter Cundall was stationed in south-east Austria at Sankt Paul im Lavanttal where he was guarding captured Nazi Waffen-SS troops.

Peter Cundall was enticed across the border into Yugoslavia by a beautiful girl named Angela, and was arrested by Marshal Tito's forces after she disappeared.

Peter Cundall was sentenced without trial to four years' imprisonment for espionage, but was released into Trieste, Italy after six months in solitary confinement in a prison in Ljubljana, after pressure from the British government led to his release.

Eager to hasten his emigration to Australia, Peter Cundall enlisted in the Australian Army in 1950, believing that he was enlisting for a non-combat role as a librarian.

Peter Cundall was immediately posted to Korea with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and saw action overseas as a machine gunner during the Korean War.

Peter Cundall gained access to many famous gardens and bonsai nurseries and regularly went to observe new gardens being built in Hiroshima, which was undergoing reconstruction after the atomic bombing in 1945.

Peter Cundall was a Federal Senate candidate for Tasmania for the Communist Party of Australia in the 1961 federal election.

Peter Cundall supported many left wing political and environmental groups by speaking at rallies and events.

Peter Cundall was an ardent pacifist and a keen environmentalist.

Peter Cundall was the chairman of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society during the battle to stop the building of the Franklin Dam, and campaigned against the construction of the Bell Bay Pulp Mill.

On 19 November 2009, Peter Cundall was arrested by police after refusing to obey requests to move from the Tasmanian state parliament's front steps.

Peter Cundall was protesting against the Gunns' Bell Bay Pulp Mill.

Peter Cundall was found guilty without conviction and was fined about A$47 in court costs on 11 February 2011.

Peter Cundall was an active founding member of the Organic Gardening and Farming Society.

Peter Cundall was a panellist on ABC's Q+A on 25 July 2011.

In June 2018, Peter Cundall announced that he had been diagnosed with glaucoma when he was 87 and that he would eventually lose his eyesight.

Peter Cundall died on 5 December 2021 at the age of 94 after a short illness.

Peter Cundall had four sons from his first marriage along with two sons and a stepson from his second wife Tina, whom he married in 1980.

In 2006, Peter Cundall was named Australian Humanist of the Year.

Peter Cundall was the 2009 Tasmania State Recipient Australian of the Year.

In 1994 Peter Cundall was appointed Envoy for the Save the Children Fund.