Mike Gillam’s lifelong passion for documenting the magnificent murmurations of budgerigars masks an even more serious obsession.
Words Tabitha Carvan
Photography Mike Gillam
‘I DESCRIBE myself as a refugee from Melbourne”, is how Mike Gillam begins his story. “I don’t know where you live but, as a 17-year-old, I was pretty unhappy living in Melbourne.” He’s calling on Zoom from his home in Alice Springs. He’s wearing an army-issue khaki jumper, which he apologises for, hoping it doesn’t give the wrong impression. He only noticed he was wearing it two minutes before the interview. He’s not a military guy; it’s just a jumper he’s been wearing for 50-odd winters now. One thing about Gillam is he doesn’t like wastefulness.
“I used to wag school down at a little creek which was, and still is, the most polluted creek in the headwaters of the Yarra, called Koonung Creek,” he continues. “I used to go down there and look at long-necked turtles and catch copperhead snakes, and do the sort of things that any normal teenager should be doing. But I was also watching Melburnians throw dead fridges over the side of the road bridge. It just started a fury in me. So I decided to sack Melbourne.”
