Major Hiddins served in the Army in Vietnam and was later tasked by the ADF to catalogue all of the edible plants in far north Queensland, which he did working with Aboriginal people from the area – who gave him the nickname “the Bush Tucker Man”.

In 1988, the ABC turned Major Hiddins’ research into a television show featuring him as the host and the aptly named show the Bush Tucker Man, with three seasons beamed into Australian homes.