Tim The Yowie Man explores iconic bell towers in the Canberra region

Tim The Yowie Man takes a trip to Reid to meet Charles Body, who has been ringing the St John's Baptist Church bells for half a century.

Transcript

00:00 The Canberra region is blessed with some great towers, including of course the 195 metre

00:06 tall Telstra Tower.

00:08 However, one of my favourites, or at least one of my other favourites, is Boyd's Tower

00:13 on the south coast near Eden, a folly of Ben Boyd, entrepreneur-cum-slave-driver of the

00:19 mid-1840s.

00:20 The original intention of the 23 metre high turreted tower was to shine a light to warn

00:26 passing ships of the southern headland to Twofold Bay.

00:30 However, the government didn't approve of the location of the sandstone structure, so

00:35 it was never fully completed, and instead was briefly used as a whale-watching lookout

00:41 before officially becoming a white elephant.

00:46 I also like the Bell Tower at the St Andrew's Anglican Church in Braidwood.

00:51 Due to its height, soaring above surrounding houses, as the town developed many historic

00:55 photos were taken from the top, and during World War II, the tower even doubled as a

01:00 watch out for enemy aircraft.

01:05 Closer to home, at least in terms of bell towers, I also really love the bell tower

01:11 here at St John the Baptist Church in Reed.

01:15 Not so long ago, I caught up with Charles Boddy.

01:19 He's been ringing the bells here for over half a century.

01:26 [Bells ringing]

01:33 [Bells ringing]

01:41 [Bells ringing]

01:48 [Bells ringing]

01:57 [Bells ringing]

02:08 [Bells ringing]

02:15 [Bells ringing]

02:24 [Bells ringing]

02:29 [Bells ringing]