Michael James Leyland, MBE (4 September 1941–14 September 2009) and Malcolm Rex Leyland, MBE (born 2 October 1944), jointly known as the Leyland brothers, were Australian explorers and documentary filmmakers, best known for their popular television show, Ask the Leyland Brothers, which aired on Australian television between 1976–1980 and 1983–1984. Through their exploits the brothers introduced many Australians to the sights of the Australian outback. Biography Early life In 1950, when Mike was eight and Mal was five they migrated with their parents from Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, England to Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Their parents ran a local store. Mike would later attend Wallsend Public School. When aged 15, Mike won a trip to the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne from a cartoon-drawing competition, and his father bought him a 16mm movie camera to take along. The teenage brothers would later use the camera to film themselves and their friends as they explored outback New South Wales. They also planned to use the camera to film a journey to Uluru in their father's Morris Minor; a mechanic friend persuaded them to trade in the car for an old Land Rover. Once there the brothers then attempted to drive the vehicle up the side of the rock but were unsuccessful. Documentary films and television series Mike started his media career aged 21 as a news cameraman at NBN Television, whilst Mal, age 18, was working as a cadet at Newcastle's now-defunct newspaper The Sun. The Leylands soon realised there existed a wide public interest in seeing the Australian outback, and starting in 1961 they set out on their own to make documentary films that explored Australia. The first, Down the Darling, was released in 1963, and saw the brothers becoming the first people to travel the length of the Darling River in an aluminium dinghy. For their next adventure, 1966's Wheels Across a Wilderness, the brothers decided to film a 5 month 4WD trek from the western-most point of Australia to the eastern-most point of the country, crossing straight through the arid interior while bringing along a sample of water from the Indian Ocean all the way with them. During the journey the Leylands became the first filmmakers to capture Uluru during the wet season. One of the two 1956 Land Rover Series I 4WDs the brothers completed their journey with is now on display at the National Motor Museum